what are you eating
to make such a noise!
cuckoo
– Kobayashi Issa
Translation by David G. Lanoue
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Tag: literary journal
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The #HaikuSeed prompt last week was candle with an additional photo prompt
A lot of senryu or senryu-like submissions for this prompt. Usually, if the verse centers around concrete elements of nature while having a light human presence in some form, the line between haiku and senryu becomes blurred. And if the verse includes no nature and on top of that includes deep thoughts or expressions that are abstract and are hard to perceive as concrete images, I see them being strongly senryu than haiku even if there are elements of nature in it. Not surprising given the prompt. Few of the common scenes, words & aspects in the haiku submitted this week include flickering candle, wind-flame & love-candle juxtapositions. I would have liked to see more nature-themed haiku for this prompt (and for all #HaikuSeed prompts, after all, this is intended to be a nature-themed journal). But the senryu that were written contain some exquisite craft and depth, so I’m not one to squander the chance to showcase how haikai poets’ minds and spirits work wonders with just a few words irrespective of what label of Japanese poetry it falls under.
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knowing no parent
the fly clings piggy-back
to me– Kobayashi Issa
Translation by David G. Lanoue
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spring breeze–
three ride the same horse
home– Kobayashi Issa
Translation by David G. Lanoue
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the ants’ road
from peaks of clouds
to here– Kobayashi Issa
Translation by David G. Lanoue
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The #HaikuSeed prompt last week was ivy with an additional photo prompt
There are a lot of great haiku and senryu submitted this week and it was difficult choosing which to comment on. I’m also preoccupied with other stuff related to designing the website and magazine, so this week’s commentary might not go too deep. But I hope you enjoy these brilliant haiku that beg your mind to imagine and think.
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lake wind–
a wall ripples
in Chicago
Pippa PhillipsThe idea of a wall rippling is too interesting to not stop and picture it. If the fragment in L1 (line 1) is not about wind in one form or another, do you see how the brilliantly written L2 might not work the same way. The idea of a wall covered in ivy or creepers rippling would be a stretch but Pippa quite cleverly and tenderly directs the reader
towards the desired interpretation of a wall rippling. From there on, it is up to the reader to interpret the phrase a wall ripples anyway they could.
(more…)Great haiku make you want to read them over and over again. Why? There is no single reason. Sometimes you do not understand what you read completely but the verse has your attention anyway. Sometimes you love the imagery and your mind can’t help but go back to the first line to relive it. And so on. But the result is that with every re-read the scene and moment the haiku captures becomes increasingly vivid and sensory. This haiku is doing that to me.
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they cry to each other
across a river
deer in love– Kobayashi Issa
Translation by David G. Lanoue
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the weak mosquito
whines to amuse…
a cold night– Kobayashi Issa
Translation by David G. Lanoue
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