How I tackled Alan Summers’ prompts at NaHaiWriMo last May
Here’s a week of responses to Alan Summers’ prompts at the NaHaiWriMo (National Haiku Writing MOnth, which Michael Dylan Welch created at Facebook three years ago). YES, definitely, a daily challenge to write haiku has cranked up my mind or better yet, like a fit body, oiled it to resiliency. Writing with a group on cyberspace without the politics of bodily presence and its complications of commitments, has also made me fearless about risking my inadequacies–this turned out to be the secret to finding out who I am as a haiku poet as my lines do reveal. But who this is, until now, I can’t put it in a word…perhaps you can! Here then for you to enjoy, I hope.
#05/07/13 (green/gold/gone )
lunar eclipse—
his eyes on her frayed
jeans front
shattered eye what’s left of her mirror
gold leaf saint—
his indifferent stare
#05/06/13 (found as implied)
petal gust–
the street flutist’s
scrambled notes
under her hat…
the missing stubbles
tunnel spigot …the broken loo
fan tail on second thought
pointed fingers his guilt in black nails
#05/05/13 (echo)
weaving
through a cross stitch
of their argument…
her echo
spring echo–
the baby confronts
a Buddha
echo–
he smiles to his own smile
his other smile
#05/04/13 (den)
behind
the den mother’s back…
murmuring cubs
den of iniquity he finds his own sky
reeking of prey the fox’s den
#05/03/13 (curve)
the curve in her thighs wind chart
Lothario–
the river curves
out by rote
curved furrows a worried moon
05/02/13 (blue)
blue dawn…
the rain’s last phrase
on a glass pane
05/01/13 (asperity)
next I look…
the staccato scratching
of his rake
tea rings in my cup the grumbling darkness
on gravel
a day moon’s
sniffle
As usual…you are astonishing…i am always surprised …always ! Thank you for sharing these and much success in your poetic endeavours xoxo
kathleen aka Bl8ant
Oh, thanks so much for a powerful lift, Kathleen!! It takes hard work, I now continuously realize, and spans of empty spaces to make a cocoon, there to birth a line. I love it, for sure, but I also know this period could wane, and so, I’m simply rolling with it. Thanks again.
Hi,
I have a problem with most haiku writers because they ‘miss’ the ‘intention’ of haiku, or perhaps they don’t study the form much and miss the important ‘mechanics’ (for lack of a better word in English) of haiku. I struggle with haiku myself, and go back to Basho and especially Saigyo for reference and direction.
However, I think you come closest to haiku. Of course, I am an old fogey and I go to the classics for instruction. I really like these of yours. And haiku isn’t easy and it’s not a shortened version of freeverse which is what I find with most writers of haiku.
Best,
Lady Nyo
Oh, thank you so much for your comments on my haiku, Lady Nyo! Thank you for confirming that I do ‘come closest to haiku’, dispelling my doubts. With one like you, who studies Japanese masters of the short poetry form, it’s an honour!! Thank you so much again!
Best regards,
Alee
I think you are doing very well….and you write interesting haiku. I may not immediately recognize the form, but the theme always entices…
Lady Nyo
not Saigyo (tanka) ,,, Issa….or Buson.
Lady Nyo
Haha…I caught that. But it’s understandable–your focused more on Saigyo and other tanka poets!
LOL! For me…tanka is easier than haiku…so I appreciate those who endeavor to present haiku.
Lady Nyo
Thanks so much again, Lady Nyo!!