happily watching
the dewdrops forming…
a frog
– Kobayashi Issa
Translation by David G. Lanoue
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not yet dead
but sleeping at journeyโs end
autumn evening– Matsuo Bashล
Translation by Jane Reichhold
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almost full moon
tonight at thirty-nine years
a child– Matsuo Bashล
Translation by Jane Reichhold
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full moon –
thrusting against my gate
tidal crests– Matsuo Bashล
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come, firefly!
firefly, come!
drinking alone– Kobayashi Issa
Translation by David G. Lanoue
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The #HaikuSeed prompt last week was sunny with an additional photo prompt
sunny day–
the heron takes a bit
of river with him
LafcadioYou could see water dripping down the heron as it lifts off from the water. And if you are mindful and there isn’t much noise at this moment, you might even hear the sound of water falling back into the river between the wing flaps.
Picture this with the sun behind the heron, likely at sunrise or sunset, the glare of the golden sun in the river, and then in the drops falling into it, a glint on the heron’s wet wings and legs – what an image!
Even after a bit of the river falls back, the heron’s legs and feathers would still be wet – the heron taking the river to the tree it nests in far inland. Wonderful imagery.
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A Few Tips About Writing Haiku:
- A good haiku consists of two images juxtaposed together using as simple a language as possible allowing the reader to visualize the scene and fill all the things left unsaid.
- Usually in haiku, one image acts as a fragment and the other as a phrase. These two are traditionally separated by a keriji (cutting word). In English, we make use of punctuation like ellipses (…), em-dash (โ) and other characters to denote a cut/break between the two images. This break between the two images in the haiku has a lot of significance and plays a major role in how deep and vivid your haiku becomes in the reader’s mind. It is not merely a punctuation!
- The #HaikuSeed prompt is just that – a seed. Your haiku need not feature the prompt word as long as the haiku is triggered from the prompt word and contains some aspect relevant to the prompt word.
- Try to use a kigo (seasonal word/reference/context) in your haiku, be it the prompt word itself or something else you find apt as historically the likes of Basho, Issa, Buson have created wonders with haiku themed around nature, allowing portals to open up in the reader’s minds into unseen and unexperienced worlds.
Useful Resources To Learn More About Haiku
- The Heart of a Haiku by Kala Ramesh – The British Haiku Society
- New to Haiku? – The Haiku Foundation
Submission Guidelines
There are three ways you can submit your haiku written for #HaikuSeed prompt:
- On Twitter, use hashtag #HaikuSeed in your tweet along with your haiku.
- On your blog/website, add a link to this post so we get a pingback that allows us to be aware of your blogpost hosting your haiku.
- Leave your haiku as a comment here with your name.
Please submit only 2 or 3 haiku for each prompt. We strongly request writers to not spam the #HaikuSeed hashtag on Twitter for other haiku you’ve not written for our prompt as it becomes difficult to sift through all the entries each week.
Hope wonderful haiku blossom from our #HaikuSeed prompts.
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