Haiku favorites of mine and of other poets from the 2013 NaHaiWriMo month

Dear followers and readers,

I’d like to apologize for a ‘long absence’ here. I could give you a thousand reasons but none would make up for the time that had flown by. In that flow, however, I had gathered more skies, more suns rising and setting, stars, fallen petals and laughing fishes, herons and gulls and countless sighs. And in them or because of such harvest, my haiku, tanka, haibun, and haiga have taken wing onto wind paths I couldn’t have imagined. Most of all, perhaps because I persisted, my haiku writing has grown stronger limbs with daily prompts at NaHaiWriMo (NHWM). Herewith then, like a ‘take home’ gift from a long trip are haiku by me and my choices by other poets during last year’s NHWM anniversary when founder, Michael Dylan Welch gives the daily prompt. He made us chose  favorites from ours and those of other poets–these are mine, of which I hope yours, too. Thanks so much for being with me all these years and for those who simply stumbled into here, welcome!

Alegria 

#04/02/13 (spice) 

First off, I’d like to thank you, Michael, for NaHaiWriMo, and for this year’s month, your concrete prompts that are so everyday, it was a challenge yet a joy to see them with a new eye. Second,  I’d like to say , “Many thanks, Pamela and Carole for choosing one each of my haiku for your favorite!!” Third, I wish to thank the many poets, a lot of them I’ve written with a haiku daily here (except for a few weeks that I couldn’t) for the past three years, flourishing in our community. Such joy to find not just a few of yours that resonate, nay, sun-splash on my way everyday. I’ve learned so much about and from you.

And now because I’m always overwhelmed and overjoyed, I cannot limit my choices to just one, of course,  except for mine. But I have gathered those of others as if they were mine, too! Indeed, as in one of the resources you posted here, Michael, haiku binds because we open up ourselves to and for its  lines. What greater bind is there than one that’s straight from one’s heart (spirit) and into another’s and into one’s own from another’s.

 

A favorite from mine though there’s about a dozen in my shortlist!

cardamom

in curry rice, a past

she cracks open

 

Of others and like the process for mine, dozens in my shortlist!

 

orange blossom –

lifting her burqa

just enough

 

Eider Green

 

sleepless . .

the path from my bed

to the Pleiades

 

Sandi Pray

 

the secret door


to grandpa’s room


in grandma’s closet


wild roses

 

Stevie Strang

 

garage sale


my past fills


a stranger’s car

 

Michele Harvey

 

closet 



my rebellion 
taped inside 


a cardboard box

 

Scott Abeles            

 

father’s garage


the painted outline

of a missing tool

 

Bret Mars

 

a red mark

on her test paper . . .

Indian summer

 

Michael Dylan Welch

 

blue

as her corsage

wallflower

Haiku Elvis—Carlos Colon

 

riverbed…

the sound of moonbeams,

playing rocks

 

Ted van Zutphen

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What is ‘zoka’? (Prompt at NaHaiWriMo: My response, added comment and Alan Summers’ reply)

 

 

15/10/12 (prompt by Scott Abeles: zoka)

Zoka is defined as “the process of creation, transformation, and destruction in nature”. The presence of “zoka” separates “object-based” haiku from “activity-based” haiku. Indeed, some argue that an object-based, zoka-free poem is not, by definition, a haiku.

Not quite sure I get it but here are my attempts at a response to the prompt:

sniveling wind
a puppy looks at me
for a nod

oak shadow—
a nesting moon rusts
on cloud mist

autumn stillness
a doddering mosquito’s
break-away
(Comment I added) 

Honestly, the prompt almost made me sleepless as the term, ‘zoka’, intimidated me but I wrote three, in case, any might be the right response to the prompt. This happens every time I’m confronted with Japanese terms. And yet, as I’ve been resistantly dealing with my doubts whether or not I’ve been writing haiku, I realized like the other evening, some of what I’ve tried to put in lines are quite ‘zoka’.

Learning more of this poetry form is constantly challenging given the many ‘voices’ that spangle the haiku-sphere. I do read and hear them as ‘voices’ rather than this and that ‘form/term’ because as in any art, each line for me, is of the writer’s/artist’s world.

Again, this too, had confused me when first reading haiku. It was a challenge to be ‘objective’ (stripped of the personal or hints of it as perhaps I misunderstood), a view quite alien to Poetry as I know. But I’ve persisted and still do bravely write haiku the way I filter a seeming sea of knowledge on it from a mosaic of my own lenses. I wonder though if it’s valid, ‘voice in haiku, I mean.

(Alan Summers’ reply)

Yes, all debates such as this do enlighten greatly. Thanks for the discussion. And thanks for the challenge, Scott!

“Honestly, the prompt almost made me sleepless as the term, ‘zoka’, intimidated me but I wrote three, in case, any might be the right response to the prompt.”

It made you write some good haiku using that prompt. Sometimes too easy prompts do not push us into stretching.

You should never feel uncomfortably intimidated, just enough to stretch those writing muscles.

In fact I’ve observed you, and many others, become incredible writers of haiku, in various styles, through NaHaiWriMo prompts, thanks to MDW!

“This happens every time I’m confronted with the Japanese terms. And yet, as i’ve been resistantly dealing with my doubts whether or not I’ve been writing haiku, I realized like the other evening, some of what I’ve tried to put in lines are quite ‘zoka’.”

Exactly! What’s good about the NaHaiWriMo page is that we are all in this together, and out of that support there has been some incredible work.

When I did my recent prompt courtesy of MDW, I was astonished how many fine, not just good, but very fine haiku I had to reduce to the nominated number for the forthcoming anthology. And it was a difficult prompt too!

You can always use Google or Bing to search these terms out. I have a huge database backed up on my computer for the benefit of my workshops.

You can always email or FB message if you are not sure. We are always learning, so I keep up to date as much as possible, and have a useful set of resources.

“Learning more of this poetry form is constantly challenging given the many ‘voices’ that spangle the haiku-sphere. I do read and hear them as ‘voices’ rather than this and that ‘form/term’ because as in any art, each line is of the writer’s world.”

Exactly!

“ Again, this too, had confused me when first reading haiku. It was a challenge to be ‘objective’ (stripped of personal perception as perhaps I misunderstood), a view quite alien to Poetry as I know. But I’ve persisted and still do write haiku the way I filter a seeming sea of knowledge on it from a mosaic of my own lenses.”

You have a remarkable style and voice in haiku, it’s a privilege to know you and read your work.

“ I wonder though if it’s valid, ‘voice in haiku, I mean. Yes, all debates such as this do enlighten greatly. Thanks!”

Having a voice in poetry is what we all aspire to, and so I’d say we can also have our own voice in haiku. After all Basho wanted his students (and in a way, we are his students too) to go their own way in haikai literature, not to copy what he had done.

We don’t know what he’d like or dislike but I think many of us would be both surprised and delighted that he’d like certain developments and progressions in haiku. Alan Gibbons

my stone soup haiku as Carlos Colon ‘concretized’ it (yet another NaHaiWriMo moment)

watingtobouncetoaboil stone soup ….my haiku at NaHaiWriMo in response to the food prompt of Judith Gorgone had so stimulated responses from fellow haiku writers, some on what to throw into the soup, but most especially on how the haiku might be turned into a concrete (innovative) poem by multi-published haiku poet, Carlos Colon. I had earlier posted my interpretation of a suggestion he posted on the comment space for my haiku at NaHaiWriMo and here two posts down. Here’s his, or what I had imagined but couldn’t quite figure out how to do it. I just love it, and I’m sure you would, too!  An extra note on what happens at NaHaiWriMo: gained friends like Carlos whom I wouldn’t have met in an ordinary ‘mortal ‘ way. Friends who care genuinely. Or would this sort of collaboration have happened? Gratitude, Carlos, is a word that means much more it reads or sounds.

From NaHaiWriMo: my random February haiku selection (the first year anniversary)

We, members of the NaHaiWriMo community at facebook had a blast last month to celebrate one year of writing a haiku a day. Yes, It’s been a year since. Most of us have stayed (I took a break twice for a few weeks). I can say how much I’ve learned about haiku while drawing out my ‘haiku voice’. What worked for me is its kukai-like format where we responded to a prompt everyday. But unlike the other kukai I join (Shiki, Caribbean and Sketchbook) that gives some time for a writer to compose a haiku, at NaHaiWriMo, the window is only 24 hours. And once a post is shared, the reading as well as the ‘like’ or the silence and a comment, if merited, also appears just as fast. The energy has worked for me. I’ve gained the discipline I’ve always worked at. I’ve gained friends and kindred spirits, too! Most of all, I know more of haiku now than the years I tried to learn it on my own. Above all, I think I’m writing better haiku; proof of it is the increasing acceptance of my submissions in haiku journals. Do this random selection of my ‘anniversary posts’ last month on prompts by Michael Dylan Welch read better? Oh yes, I haven’t pared down my posts to one, but to two haiku from the three and more everyday last year. Honestly, I haven’t reviewed my files for fear of an avalanche! I hope you enjoy this selection and if you do, come over at NaHaiWriMo and give it a try. You can blame me if you stay.

#29/02/12 (leap/leap year)

spring gust

and i but a wave leaping

to touch the sky

 

#28/02/12 (haiku generator)

haiku gen:

arrows seduce, strut


deliveryman quacks, meaty


pure dogs extrude, cool

mine:

deliveryman struts

into a flock of ducks

missing zip code

 

#27/02/12 (bad, ‘huh!’ haiku)

email subject ‘none’

squiggles on blank screen

dancing a Swan Lake

…and I had the gall to submit these to Peggy Willis Lyles (The Heron’s Nest) who sweetly sent them back with a note, ‘pass on this one’ and more to succeeding submission calls (without fail) always 15 per suite of these ‘huh’ or ‘yikes’ haiku, none of which worked until she died.

#24/02/12 (x)

spread-eagle 

ticklish below his navel

the Center of Man

 

#23/02/12 (wig)

through a wig

grazing her sparse brow

first smile

 

#21/02/12 (umbrella)

umbrella

this tight

our crossed-eyes 

 

#20/02/12 (talus)

talus

winds blast to dust

its face and mine

 

#19/902/12 (sandals)

his unshod feet

the redolence

of her perfumed tears

 

#18/02/12 (rattle)

still bush

a rattling

as it uncoils

 

#17/02/12 (queue)

downpour

a thickened queue

at the quay

 

#14/02/12 (nachos)

Nacho Supreme

not quite the red roses

she wanted

 

#13/02/12 (mountain)

Sierra Madre mist

our highways to nowhere

 

#12/02/12 (laundry)

white lies

doused with stain remover

i lose count

 

#09/02/12 (ice)

so hollow

his icy voice

on a glass

 

#08/02/12 (hat)

the mime

unfolds his hat

a falcon soars

 

#07/02/12 (grief)

lingering wail

hers or a mourning dove’s?

 

waitingtobouncetoaboil (NaHaiWriMo haiku made concrete)

waitingtobouncetoaboil stone soup 

NaHaiWriMo Fb wall #06/03/12 (prompt: food by Judith Gorgone)

baseball haiku or senryu? (from NaHaiWriMo site)

a.
all eyes up
not on the moon but the ball—
a Yankee scores*

(*I’m a Yankees fan)

b.
ninth inning—
she chews on the last bite
of her Babe Ruth

c.
flock of birds–
the Blue Jays bat the Orioles
out of Camden Yards

posted on 06/23 under the prompt ball games at the FB NaHaiWriMo site

stars (in a series of 3 haiku each also posted at the NaHaiWriMo site)

field of galalxies taken by Hubble ultra deep field courtesy of wikicommons

1.
pine strands
holding up the night sky—
how low can stars fall?

2.
moonless night—
my sky more punctured
than the last

3.
morning after
on campfire embers
remnants of stars

4.
sky patterns
on nibbled leaves
the Milky Way

5.
stars
digging into sand dunes—
our secrets

6.
forecast—
in and out of clouds
the constellations

7.
stars
through budding oaks—
he counts his lies

8.
paper moon
adrift among stars—
lost in the past

9.
Venus—
her icy sparkle
night and day

…from a prompt by Cara Hollman at the NaHaiWriMo facebook site. I love stars. As a child it must have been all I did when I got weary-eyed reading under a gas lamp or struggling through arithmetic assignments.

Both houses of my grandmothers I grew up in in northermost region of the Philippine archipelago had balconies with a rocking chair–one was a huge Viennese wicker in what must have been white, the other some kind of hard wood with carved head rest and arms where my mother spent rocking through the night, cradling my sister who wouldn’t sleep otherwise. I used to scan the night sky on the top of the stairs on those balconies but my first shooting star I caught not on any of those nights but once on vacation at Angeles Estates that I had posted here as a haibun.

Here in Vancouver on my evening walks–I love the fading light and the shadows–I hardly look at my steps but instead, follow trails in the sky; if it’s cloudy, I search for breaks or imagine ‘chattering stars and recalcitrant stars’ behind the clouds.

This series does say of my preoccupation with stars I hope. Perhaps, too, one more reason why my deep connection with the stars is this: my other name is Aurora, another name for Venus waning or the Morning Star.

believing/faces i miss (haiku on NaHaiWriMo facebook wall)

believing
we’re walled in–
my goldfish and i

faces i miss–
some rain-washed stones
on neighbor’s wall

(re-worked haiku I posted on the still-on NaHaiWriMo facebook wall from a prompt by my friend, Melissa Allen: walls)

red nose haiku–isn’t it past the season? No, according to Alan Summers’ prompt at NaHaiWriMo…so my take

It’s Red Nose Day today, according to Alan. There’s a link that came with the prompt at http://www.rednoseday.com. It’s a day to be funny, and earn for charity. A really wonderful idea to turn laughter into real joy for those who are in need of things others have taken for granted and from those who must have forgotten laughter is also a basic need. I thought the prompt was a real challenge. But I think these haiku work in a way. I focused on Santa’s Rudolph first and realized, a red nose is also a clown’s, indeed!

#18
clown
washes freckles off
and tattoed red nose

‎#18b
vampire–
makes the children laugh
with his red nose

‎#18c
class laughter–
he points to his red nose
on his forehead

‎#18d
little boy asks
clown with two red noses on ears,
“who are you?”

#18e
the mourners–
sniffling through and wiping
their red noses

between her/and his goodbye…(posted on the continuing NaHaiWriMO fb site #prompt-partings)

between her
and his goodbye–
sudden hail

#5 for March
prompt–meetings and partings from ASummers