A Room of My Own: War Haiku

Gaza in smoky twilight
a long scream cut off

One Man's Maple Moon: Winter Tanka by Tzod Earf

English Original

I'm grateful
Old Man Winter
plays a slow hand
laying down his cards
a few flakes at a time

Tzod Earf


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

我感謝
老冬
緩慢地
放出手裡的牌
一次少許雪花

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

我感谢
老冬
缓慢地
放出手里的牌
一次少许雪花


Bio Sketch

Tzod Earf, from Cincinnati, Ohio U.S.A,. has appeared here and in Bright Stars I and II, Poetry Nook, and the online blog, Jar of Stars.  Visit him on Twitter, @Ear2Earf to see more of his poetry.

Cool Announcement: A New Release, Lighting a Path

My Dear Friends:

NeverEnding Story contributor Rebecca Drouilhet and her husband Robert Michael Drouilhet just published their first collection of haiku, titled Lighting a Path: 100 Haiku Poems by award-winning authors of the Deep South.

About the Authors:

Robert Michael Drouilhet is an administrative supervisor at a hospital in Slidell, Louisiana. His wife Rebecca Drouilhet is a retired registered nurse. Their work has appeared in numerous print journals and on-line publications. Rebecca won a Sakura award for her haiku in 2012, in the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational. In 2013, Robert Michael Drouilhet was awarded best in the U.S. for his haiku in that same contest. His work has also appeared in the British Snapshot Press Haiku Calendar.

Cover Art by their son Nicholas Drouilhet

Selected Haiku

the leaves

still falling...

Veteran's Day

Robert Michael Drouilhet

butterfly chasing butterfly

who knows

what dreams may com

Rebecca Drouilhet

winter rain

warped reflections

through the window

Robert Michael Drouilhet

winding river...

the time it takes

to catch my shadow

Rebecca Drouilhet

Below is one of my favorite haiku by  Rebecca Drouilhet:

eyes of the ancestors

the twinkle

in winter stars

NeverEnding Story, February 21, 2013
(authorial note: L1 refers to a North American Indian legend. The Inuit , formerly known as Eskimo, have a star legend that says the night sky is full of holes. After death the ancestors peer through the holes at the happenings on earth to keep an eye on the living.)

Commentary:

 i) Armed with Extra-Textual Knowledge

L1, “eyes of the ancestors,” refers to the centuries-old story told above, setting a thematic context for the poem. On the surface Ls 2&3 refer to this old story above; However, read in the socio-politico-economic context of the fate/destiny of North American aboriginal peoples, the use of a seasonal reference (winter), which successfully makes a thematic shift with a psychological bent, adds emotional weight to the poem. Most importantly, the “twinkle” is now layered with multiple meanings. This haiku is timely, emotionally poignant, and sociopolitically conscious.

ii) Without Extra-Textual Knowledge.

For most readers who live in urbanized environments, L1 doesn’t seem to be realistic or truthful due to the impossibility of physically seeing the eyes of one’s ancestors. Therefore, the reader is encouraged to read L1 symbolically, such as the window into the ancestral world.

And structurally speaking, L2, the twinkle, is well-placed, creating image play (twinkling eyes vs twinkling stars). This shift (from human to natural/scenic) creates a psychological effect on the reader’s mind: the disruption of semantic expectation.

Chen-ou

Butterfly Dream: Waiting Room Haiku by Rachel Sutcliffe

English Original

waiting room
my thoughts
won’t sit still

Blithe Spirit, 23.4

Rachel Sutcliffe 


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

醫院候診室
我的思緒
不會坐以待斃

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

医院候诊室
我的思绪
不会坐以待毙


Bio Sketch

Rachel Sutcliffe has suffered from a serious immune disorder for over 15 years, throughout this time writing has been her therapy, keeping her from going insane. She is an active member of the British Haiku Society and has been published in various journals including Shamrock, Lynx, Frogpond and The Heron’s Nest.

One Man's Maple Moon: Mockingbird Tanka by Hap Rochelle

English Original

a mockingbird
on my porch railing
singing his desire ...
Put a spell on you
lingered in the summer air

Hap Rochelle


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

知更鳥
在我的門廊欄杆
高唱他的想望 ...
對你施法術   
縈繞在夏天的空氣中

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

知更鸟
在我的门廊栏杆
高唱他的想望 ...
对你施法术   
萦绕在夏天的空气中


Bio Sketch

Hap Rochelle is a Vietnam veteran ~ Marines - Goodnight Chesty, wherever you are ~ Retired carpenter, handyman ~ Hook 'Em Horns! ~ Leap Year baby ~ trying to be a poet at this late age

Butterfly Dream: Summer Haiku by Joyce S. Greene

English Original

butterflies
rock to the beat
of summer unfolding

Haiga Online,  April 2014

Joyce S. Greene


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

蝴蝶
跟隨夏天開展的節奏
擺動

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

蝴蝶
跟随夏天开展的节奏
摆动


Bio Sketch

Joyce S. Greene lives with her husband in Poughkeepsie, New York.  A number of her poems have been published in various tanka journals and tanka anthologies.  She works as a Senior Accountant for an insurance company.

Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, XL

first starry night

in the Year of the Dragon

for now

writing moon tanka becomes

my home in the Maple Land

Atlas Poetica, 15, July 2013

Notes: The tanka above is the last one in my 40-tanka sequence about diasporic experiences. The opening tanka is as follows:

a new immigrant
in the land of Snow White
I practice
A,B,C... by talking
to the bathroom mirror

You can read the whole sequence here.

Hot News: New Milestone Reached -- 120,000 Pageviews

My Dear Friends:

NeverEnding Story just crossed the 120,000 view mark today.

Stats:

Pageviews yesterday: 250

Pageviews last month: 7,733

I am grateful to everyone who has been a part of this poetry journey. And look forward to reading your new haiku/tanka (see 2014 anthology submission guidelines for haiku and tanka )

on the windowsill

two canaries singing

to each other

I tweet and retweet

NeverEnding Story*

Chen-ou

Note:  In addition to being translated into Chinese and published on NeverEnding Story, the accepted haiku and tanka will be tweeted and re-tweeted by  @storyhaikutanka (NeverEnding Story's Tweeter account: following: 8, followers: 304) and @ericcoliu (Chen-ou Liu's Tweeter account: following: 7, followers: 1428) respectively to reach a larger readership.

Dark Wings of the Night: Simin Behbahani's "My Country, I Will Build You Again"

I was notified that Simin Behbahani, an icon of the modern Persian poetry and a human rights activist, died at 87 on 19 August. Below is a "found tanka" in memory of her:  

My Country,

I will build you again,

If need be,

with bricks

made from my life

Simin Behbahani, Iran's national poet known as “the lioness of Iran"

               

Note: In a 2011 video message to the Iranian people in celebration of the Persian New Year, President Obama said Ms. Behbahani’s “words have moved the world” and quoted a poem she wrote in 1982.

On this day – a celebration that serves as a bridge from the past to the future – I would like to close with a quote from the poet Simin Behbahani – a woman who has been banned from traveling beyond Iran, even though her words have moved the world: "Old I may be, but, given the chance, I will learn. I will begin a second youth alongside my progeny. I will recite the Hadith of love of country with such fervor as to make each word bear life.   ~ President Obama, Nowruz Message

Below is the full text of  Simin Behbahani's 1982 poem:

My Country, I Will Build You Again

My country, I will build you again,

If need be, with bricks made from my life.

I will build columns to support your roof,

If need be, with my bones.

I will inhale again the perfume of flowers

Favored by your youth.

I will wash again the blood off your body

With torrents of my tears.

Once more, the darkness will leave this house.

I will paint my poems blue with the color of our sky.

The resurrector of “old bones” will grant me in his bounty

a mountains splendor in his testing grounds.

Old I may be, but given the chance, I will learn.

I will begin a second youth alongside my progeny.

I will recite the Hadith of love and country

With such fervor as to make each word bear life.

There still burns a fire in my breast

to keep undiminished the warmth of kinship

I feel for my people.

Once more you will grant me strength,

though my poems have settled in blood.

Once more I will build you with my life,

though it be beyond my means.

One Man's Maple Moon: Red Dot Tanka by Kala Ramesh

English Original

the red dot
on my forehead
binds me
to a man
who's in his own orbit

Simply Haiku, 5:3,  Autumn 2007


Kala Ramesh


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

我額頭上
的朱砂
將我綑綁
給一位男人
有自己的生活常軌

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

我额头上
的朱砂
将我綑绑
给一位男人
有自己的生活常轨


Bio Sketch

Kala Ramesh has published more than one thousand poems comprising haiku, tanka, haibun, & renku in reputed journals and anthologies in Japan, Europe, UK, Australia, USA and India. Her work can be read in two prestigious publications: Haiku 21: an anthology of contemporary English-language Haiku (Modern Haiku Press, 2012) and Haiku in English - the First Hundred Years (W.W. Norton 2013). She enjoys teaching haiku and allied genres at the Symbiosis International University, Pune.

To the Lighthouse: "Found Haiku:" Walden by Haiku

                                                                   Walden published

                                                                    Elderberries

                                                                    Waxwork yellowing

                                                                    Thoreau's journal entry for August 9, 1854

Found Poetry

The idea of “found” poetry is not new. This concept originated with the early 20th century  Dadaists, “who extended their art of collage, for example, to include items such as transportation tickets, maps, plastic wrappers, and so on” (Shirley McPhillips, Poem Central: Word Journeys with Readers and Writers, p. 131). Found poetry is the literary version of a collage in visual art, giving lines new meaning(s) in a new context. The poet selects words, phrases, and sometimes whole passages (such as Dog Talk, A "Found Tanka Prose" by Mary Oliver) from a source text or texts, and reframes them as poetry by making changes in spacing and lines (such as "Found Tanka" by Margaret Atwood), or by adding or removing text. The resulting poem can be defined as either "treated," which means a thematic/emotive/visual/tonal change in a profound manner, or "untreated" or virtually unchanged from the order, syntax and meaning of the original.

Found Poetry achieved prominence in the mid twentieth-century, sharing many aesthetic characteristics with Pop Art, an art movement that emerged in the mid-1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. In her 1995 Mornings Like This: Found Poems, the award-winning author Annie Dillard states that:

Happy poets who write found poetry go pawing through popular culture like sculptors on trash heaps. They hold and wave aloft usable artifacts and fragments: jingles and ad copy, menus and broadcasts — all objet trouvés, the literary equivalents of Warhol’s Campbell’s soup cans and Duchamp’s bicycle. By entering a found text as a poem, the poet doubles its context. The original meaning remains intact, but now it swings between two poles. The poet adds, or at any rate increases, the element of delight. This is an urban, youthful, ironic, cruising kind of poetry. It serves up whole texts, or interrupted fragments of texts.

Found Haiku: Walden by Haiku by Ian Marshall

Ian Marshall's Walden by Haiku (University of Washington Press, 2009) is the first collection of found haiku that won a award (2010 Mildred Kanterman Memorial Merit Book Awards for Best Criticism) for its opening up new insights into haiku and its source text, Walden. Ian Marshall distills Henry David Thoreau's musings on nature and the world around him, chapter by chapter, down to 293 "haiku moments." Each chapter ends with an explanation of the specific haiku aesthetics or principles that fit the theme, such as juxtaposition, wabi, sabi, yugen, resonance, and impermanence. In the introduction, Ian Marshall speaks of his threefold purpose in writing the book: "to offer a primer on haiku, to provide fresh insights into Walden, and to demonstrate the pertinence of haiku aesthetics as a theoretical basis for understanding the nature-writing tradition in English” (p. xvi),  and he also emphasizes that

Thoreau’s aesthetic principles and his relationship with the natural world do turn out to have a great deal in common with haiku. Let us count the ways: an emphasis on simplicity, a respect for worn and humble and familiar things (wabi), a sense of aloneness (sabi), a reliance on paradox, and the use of humor, especially in the form of puns …. in trying to see the world as it is, to come to know it through direct experience, to inquire into the meaning and value of a natural fact, to wonder what it means ‘to live deliberately,’ Thoreau indeed had to have in mind (some of) these intentions and to have pursued them deliberately, in a way that suggests some convergent evolution between Thoreau at Walden and the writer of haiku… Thoreau's senses and intuition become his primary means of engaging with the world around Walden Pond, much like renowned Japanese haiku poet Matsuo Basho's experience at "The Old Pond.” … I contend that the haiku moments are latent in the text [Walden], waiting to be "found" or unearthed or brought to our attention, and I contend that haiku aesthetics can help us better understand what is going on in Walden . . . I suggest that a whole vein of American-nature writing tradition may be similarly compatible with the aesthetics of haiku, and so literary ecocritics might find a long-standing body of aesthetic theory useful in reading and understanding their subject (pp. xv, xvi, xvii, xx, xxviii).

Selected “Found Haiku” by Henry David Thoreau

a borrowed axe

returned

sharper

where a forest was cut down

last winter

another is springing up

much published, little printed

     the rays which stream

         through the shutters

huckleberries

the bloom rubbed off

in the market cart

Listen to the Public Radio International Interview with Ian Marshall (9:58)


Updated, August 24:


Source Text, Walden by Henry David Thoreau

So many autumn, ay, and winter days, spent outside the town, trying to hear what was in the wind, to hear and carry it express! I well-nigh sunk all my capital in it, and lost my own breath into the bargain, running in the face of it. If it had concerned either of the political parties, depend upon it, it would have appeared in the Gazette with the earliest intelligence... "Economy", p. 19.

Found Haiku by Ian Marshall

trying to hear
what is in the wind
I lose my own breath

Walden by Haiku, p. 4

Opening Statements from the Conclusion of "Economy," p.5

What better point to initiate a discussion of haiku aesthetics than "economy?" If haiku is the essence of poetry, economy is the essence of haiku. Make do with less, make less count for more, make every word count. In haiku the concept of hosomi, usually translated as "spareness" or "slenderness" or "underemphasis," is roughly eauivalent to Thoreau's economy.

Commentary

The wind, then, is the gossip in the air around town.  Note the language of business and commerce ("capital," bargain") in some of the phrasing left out of the haiku.  Thoreau uses a lot of the language of business in "Economy," of course, but his use of that diction is so clearly metaphoric, I've not included much of that diction in any of the found haiku in this chapter... p. 104

Butterfly Dream: Lights Out Haiku by Peggy Willis Lyles

English Original

lights out
... the firefly
inside

To Hear the Rain, 2002

Peggy Willis Lyles


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

熄燈
... 螢火蟲
在裡面
  
Chinese Translation (Simplified)

熄灯
... 萤火蟲
在里面


Bio Sketch

Peggy Willis Lyles was born in Summerville, South Carolina, on September 17, 1939. She died in Tucker, Georgia on September 3, 2010. A former English professor, she was a leading haiku writer for over 30 years -- helping bring many readers and writers into the haiku community.

A Room of My Own: A NeverEnding Story

in dreams

her hand touches

my body...

warm one day

stone cold the next

Every time I sketch a sex scene in a poem, my ex sits on my conscience as if she is tugging at my elbow and yelling, "Stop."

One Man's Maple Moon: Reunion Tanka by Marilyn Humbert

English Original

high school reunion
the same antagonists
vie to be first...
lorikeets squabble
on the bird bath edge

Ribbons, 10:1, Winter 2014

Marilyn Humbert


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

高中同學聚會
同樣的對手
競相爭第一 ...
戲水槽邊
吸蜜鸚鵡在鬥嘴

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

高中同学聚会
同样的对手
竞相争第一 ...
戏水槽边
吸蜜鹦鹉在鬥嘴


Bio Sketch

Marilyn Humbert lives in the Northern Suburbs of Sydney NSW surrounded by bush. Her pastimes include writing free verse poetry, tanka, tanka prose and related genre. She is the leader of Bottlebrush Tanka Group and member of the Huddle and Bowerbird Tanka Groups. Her tanka appears in Australian and international journals.

Butterfly Dream: Lotus Root Digging Haiku by Ken Sawitri

English Original

lotus root digging --
my son's advice
for anger management

European Quarterly Kukai, 4, Winter 2013

Ken Sawitri


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

挖蓮藕 --
兒子給我一個
憤怒管理的忠告

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

挖莲藕 --
儿子给我一个
愤怒管理的忠告


Bio Sketch

Ken Sawitri was born in Blora, Central Java, Indonesia, and completed her degree in psychology at the University of Indonesia. She was the Psychology & Education editor of  Ayahbunda (1995-1998). She had the first publication in Indonesian national mass media when she was in junior high school.

One Man's Maple Moon: Old Guitar Tanka by Christine L. Villa

English Original

winter moonlight
on his old guitar ...
once again
I hear him sing
our favorite song

Tanka Second Place, 2012 Diogen Winter Haiku Contest

Christine L. Villa


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

冬天月光
映照在他的老吉他 ...
再一次
我聽到他唱著
我們最愛的歌

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

冬天月光
映照在他的老吉他 ...
再一次
我听到他唱著
我们最爱的歌


Bio Sketch

Christine L. Villa, fondly called Chrissi by family and friends, is currently living with her parakeet named Georgie in California. She loves writing for children, taking photographs, and making jewelry. Her haiku and haiga have been published in various international journals and e-books. You can read more of her works on her blog Blossom Rain

Butterfly Dream: Moonbow Haiku by Sandip Chauhan

English Original

moonbow ...
in a grain of wheat
a farmer’s song

2nd Place, 2014 International Matsuo Basho Award for Haiku Poetry

Sandip Chauhan


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

月虹 ...
在一粒麥子中
農夫的歌

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

月虹 ...
在一粒麦子中
农夫的歌


Bio Sketch

Sandip Chauhan holds a PhD in Punjabi Literature from Punjabi University in Patiala, India. She writes mainly in Punjabi and English. Publications include two haiku anthologies: In One Breath - a Haiku moment , 2013 and Kokil Anb Suhavi Bole /ਕੋਕਿਲ ਅੰਬਿ ਸੁਹਾਵੀ ਬੋਲੇ , 2014, where haiku and its aesthetics are introduced in Punjabi for the first time. She currently resides in northern Virginia, USA.

Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, XXXIX

Taiwan moon
low in the Ajax sky
the weight
of my nostalgia
measured in snowdrifts

Atlas Poetica, 15, July 2013

Notes: You can read its preceding tanka or the whole sequence here.

Cool Announcement: A Freebie, a wattle seedpod: haiku by Lorin Ford

My Dear Readers:

a wattle seedpod, written by NeverEnding Story contributor Lorin Ford,  is The Book of the Week on the THF website. Below is an excerpt from the Forward:

Lorin Ford explains her engagement with haiku in these revealing words:

My response to haiku, when subjected to it, was privately much closer to ‘so what?’ than ‘aha!’. Then one day, I heard this haiku read aloud:

picking up a jellyfish...

my lifeline

clear and deep

– Dhugal Lindsay

[sukuu te-no kurage-ya seimeisen fukaku, written and translated by  Dhugal]

The effect was immediate – a physical quiver of recognition. The memory of my original experience was vivid and unmediated by overt authorial presence… This was a happy accident. It made me realise that haiku are meant to be ‘seen through’ by us as readers, to our own experiences in the world.

Selected Haiku

headstone

a leaf crosses out

the I in his name

fish story

a cormorant spreads its wings

                                              w i d e r

rusted hinge

the butterfly's wings

close, open ...

low tide --

bits and pieces of her

wedding china

winter beach --

i throw a stick

for no dog

You can read the entire book here

Enjoy the read.

Chen-ou

Butterfly Dream: Racing Clouds Haiku by John Kinory

English Original

racing clouds . . .
the cat’s shadow broken
between grass and tree

Presence, 29, 2006

John Kinory


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

急奔的雲彩 ...
在草和樹之間
破碎的貓影

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

急奔的云彩 ...
在草和树之间
破碎的猫影


Bio Sketch

John Kinory is a translator and photographer, and former physics teacher. His work has been published extensively in haiku, tanka and general poetry journals worldwide. He is the founder and editor of Ardea, the multilingual short-form poetry journal. He lives in England.

One Man's Maple Moon: Seagulls Tanka by Shuji Terayama

English Original

failing even
to become an actress
I listen to
the sound of seagulls
shot in the winter marsh

Kaleidoscope, 2007

Shuji Terayama


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

即使失敗
成為一名女演員
我傾聽
被槍殺在冬天沼澤
海鷗的聲音

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

即使失败
成为一名女演员
我倾听
被枪杀在冬天沼泽
海鸥的声音

Bio Sketch

Born in 1935 in Aomori, Japan, Shuji Terayama started writing tanka when he was in his late teens, and received the Tanka Kenkyu Award for Emerging Poets. He published several tanka collections before he stopped writing tanka around 1970. Many of his tanka read more like a movie scene or a short story. He died in 1983. The first English language collection of his tanka,  Kaleidoscope: Selected Tanka of Shuji Terayama, was published in 2008 and translated by Kozue Uzawa and Amelia Fielden.

Butterfly Dream: Body Haiku by Dubravko Korbus

English Original

silence ...
my body too
a blossoming cherry

Honorable Mention, 2009 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival

Dubravko Korbus


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

寂静 ...
我的身体也是
一朵盛開的櫻花

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

寂静 ...
我的身体也是
一朵盛开的樱花

Bio Sketch

Dubravko Korbus was born in 1964 in Ivanic Grad, Croatia where he now lives.  He published two books of poetry, organized haiku meeting and judged the Klostar Ivanic Haiku Contests.  So far he has received a number of awards for haiku in Croatia, USA, and Japan.

A Room of My Own: Two Mind Tanka for Robin Williams, "My Captain"

We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, "O me! O life!... of the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless... of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?" Answer. That you are here - that life exists, and identity; that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?

--  Robin Williams' character John Keating, Dead Poets Society (1989)

awake alone

with Good Morning, Vietnam

echoing in my mind

the ghost I keep

under the pillow

shoe prints
on a classroom desk
echoing
in my mind
oh captain, my captain

Note: Below is my haiku written for Robin Williams and published early this morning on PoemHunter:

misty morning
Reality, what a concept!
scrawled on the window

Reality: What a concept!
Reality is just a crutch for people who can't handle drugs.
-- Robin Williams

Butterfly Dream: Front Door Haiku by Kanchan Chatterjee

English Original

coming home
the familiar creak
of the front door

Kanchan Chatterjee


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

回到家
前門發出熟悉
的吱吱聲

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

回到家
前门发出熟悉
的吱吱声


Bio Sketch

Kanchan Chatterjee is a 46 year old executive, working in the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. He loves to write as and when he feels the urge, though he does not have a literary background. Some of his poems and haiku have been published in Mad Swirl, A Hundred Gourds, Under the Basho, Decanto, and Bare Hands Poetry. He was nominated for the Pushcart Award in 2012.

One Man's Maple Moon: Beggar Tanka by Angelo B. Ancheta

English Original

trickling rain
at high noon
in the busy district
a barefoot beggar
counting spare coins

Bright Stars, 1, 2014

Angelo B. Ancheta


Chinese Translation (Traditional)
  
正午
繁忙的商業區
在下毛毛雨
一個赤腳乞丐
在計數零錢

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

正午
繁忙的商业区
在下毛毛雨
一个赤脚乞丐
在计数零钱


Bio Sketch

Angelo B. Ancheta lives in Rizal, Philippines. His haiku and other poems have appeared in various journals and anthologies both in print and online. He also writes fiction, some of which have won prizes in contests. He believes that writing complements object-oriented programming, which he does in daytime.

To the Lighthouse: Haiku with Two Kigo (or Two Season-Themed Words/Phrases)

Example I:

a candy wrapper

joins the leaf pile

autumn dusk

John Stevenson,  d(ark), 2014

Michael McClintock's Review (Frogpond, 37:2, Spring/Summer 2014, pp.139-40)

Pure, modern haiku! The rule-bound haikuist might argue that "leaf pile" and "autumn dusk" constitute a double-kigo, Redundancy, however, is the point. The discarded candy is a kind of kigo in itself, and is about us and the life we both live and lose here. Our debris is one and the same with the leaves of autumn. The candy wrapper becomes a vivid symbol of human existence and all that we use up and discard while we are here.

The rule-bound haikuist might argue that "leaf pile" and "autumn dusk" constitute a double-kigo

There is nothing wrong with using two season-themed words/phrases in an English language haiku. It all depends on how one effectively uses them to add emotional weight, psychological/aesthetic depth, or one more layer of meaning to the poem. And evaluated in the Japanese haiku tradition, the use of one kigo is a guideline (yakusokugoto, promise), not a rule. Japanese haiku masters, such as Basho, Buson, and Issa, used two kigo in their haiku. See the examples and reviews in the excerpt below, which is taken from Bill Higginson's Haiku World.

Redundancy, however,  is the point. 

I respectfully disagree with McClintock's remark. He doesn't make his point loud and clear. It's simply because we as attentive readers don't need to be reminded of the season being autumn to know that "Our debris is one and the same with the leaves of autumn." The season is clearly indicated by the image of a leaf pile, and thematically and emotionally speaking, the autumn in L3 adds nothing to the poem. I think "alone at dusk" or "deepening night" can enhance the emotive aspect of the poem (, and based on McClintock's reading of the candy wrapper as a symbol of human existence, the aloneness depicted in the new L1 conveys a sense of existential angst).

Example II:

one by one

fireflies escape my glass jar...

starry night

Editor's First Choice, "Insect / Bug" Haiku Thread, Sketchbook, 6:4, July/August, 2011

Chen-ou Liu

Sketchbook Editor's (John Daleiden's) Comment:

For the themed "insect / bug Haiku Thread Sketchbook poets submitted an unprecedented 273 poems; picking a single haiku as choice has been difficult... However, after narrowing the field down to ten I have reached a decision. My number one choice was submitted by Chen-ou Liu,

The narrator in this ku, possibly a child, has been collecting fireflies in a glass jar. What child has not participated in this activity on an early, twilight summer eve? Such an activity permits a close up inspection of these mysterious, luminescent creatures—an up close experience of the microcosm. Later, the narrator releases the fireflies, and one by one they escape their "glass" confinement returning to the larger world. They become indistinguishable in the clear night sky as their tiny, glowing lights become intermixed with the canvas of the night sky filled with stars. The transformation of views is dramatic—moving from a microcosmic view to a macrocosmic view. It is this shift of view point that captures my attention. The child like act of capturing fireflies as specimens for display in a glass jar is commonplace, but allowing them to escape and mingle as points of light against the large canvas of a sky on a starry night leads one to speculate on the larger questions about life. What is life? Is there life in the vast and mostly unexplored, distant universe? Are the life forms of the "firefly", a "human", and a distant "star" related? What is the origin of life? These are large questions—all of which invade my mind upon reading Chen-ou Liu's interesting haiku?

Some readers may object to the selection of this haiku as a Choice example. Both "firefly" and "starry night" are commonly listed kigos—haijin purists will hastily point out that only one kigo should be used. Yet, the vastness of the questions that arise in my mind from reading Chen-ou Liu's haiku lead me to persist in this choice.

Some readers may object to the selection of this haiku as a Choice example. Both "firefly" and "starry night" are commonly listed kigos—haijin purists will hastily point out that only one kigo should be used.

There is no abiding kigo tradition adopted and followed by the English language haiku community, and in the Japanese haiku tradition, two kigo are allowed to use. See the relevant excerpt below.

These two season-themed word ("firefly") and phrase ("starry night") play different roles in my haiku as clearly pointed out in John Daleiden's insightful review:

the narrator releases the fireflies, and one by one they escape their "glass" confinement returning to the larger world. They become indistinguishable in the clear night sky as their tiny, glowing lights become intermixed with the canvas of the night sky filled with stars. The transformation of views is dramatic—moving from a microcosmic view to a macrocosmic view. It is this shift of view point that captures my attention.

Excerpt:

The use of one kigo in traditional Japanese Haiku is a guideline not a formal requirement. Below is a relevant excerpt from Bill Higginson's Haiku World: An International Poetry Almanac ("Introduction," pp. 33-5):

Poems with Two Season Words

... Should that happen, there are three possibilities, resulting in the following placement in the saijiki. Whichever season word dominates the seasonal understanding of a poem, and thus its placement in the saijiki, is said to be the season word of that poem. (I draw examples from the old masters to show that this is not just a modern phenomenon.)

Same season: When both season words relate to topics in the same season, the poem goes under the topic most central to its meaning if there is no conflict between the topics as to the time period within the season. If a time conflict does exist, it will be resolved in favor of the more limited time period. Sample poem:

uguisu o                                 with a warbler

tama ni nemuru ka                  for a soul is it sleeping?

taoyanagi                               graceful willow

Basho

BUSH WARBLER (uguisu) is an all spring topic, but WILLOW (yanagi) is specific to late spring, so the poem belongs under the latter topic. This poem is mainly about the willow, so the placement seems doubly appropriate. Basho changes Chuang-tzu's famous butterfly-dreaming man into a warbler-dreaming tree.

Different seasons, one dominates: When season words relate to topics in different seasons, usually one or the other obviously governs, and the poem will be placed under that topic in its season. Sample:

ogi nite                                 with a fan

sake kumu kage ya               I drink sake in the shade . . .

chiru sakura                          falling cherry blossoms

Here Basho mimics a noh actor; when the play calls for drinking sake (rice wine, pronounced "sah-kay"), the actor mimes the motions using a closed folding fan as a prop. Since FALLING CHERRY BLOSSOMS (chiru sakura) is not only a topic appropriate to spring but actually happens in spring, the poem is definitely placed in spring. A FAN (ogi), normally a summer seasonal topic, can easily be present at other seasons

harahara to                            ploppity-plop

arare furisuguru                      the snow pellets come down

tsubaki kana                          on these camellias

Buson

SNOW PELLETS or graupel (arare--often translated as "hail") may fall any time of year, but has long been recognized as a winter seasonal topic. When it is coupled with a topic strongly associated with springtime, such as CAMELLIAS (tsubaki), the poem in question must also find itself in spring. With the camellias, Buson does not have to say "spring snow pellets" (hara no arare), though that is a seasonal topic in its own right. NOTE: These camellias are most likely red.

Different seasons, neither dominates: When season words relate to topics in different seasons and there is no way to say definitively that the experience belongs in one or the other, the poem will be placed under the most appropriate topic in the all-year section. Sample:

tsuki hana ya                         moon and blossoms . . .

yonjukunen no                       forty-nine years of

muda aruki                            pointless walking

Issa

Though MOON is an autumnal topic and BLOSSOMS belongs to spring, here Issa uses "moon and blossoms" to mean poetry. Rather than preaching to others about art, Issa is mumbling to himself that his life has amounted to nothing but worrying about "moon and blossoms" -- a pointless task. Since the theme of the poem relates to "years" it belongs in the all-year section, under the topic YEAR or YEARS.

Note that most apparent conflicts between a season word and a word or phrase in a poem that might place the poem under a topic in the all-year section of the saijiki resolve in favor of the appropriate seasonal topic.


Note: My haiku above written for Peggy Willis Lyles, who helped me to publish my first English language haiku, and in response to her  haiku below:

lights out

... the firefly

inside

To Hear the Rain, 2002

Peggy Willis Lyles

Butterfly Dream: Circus Haiku by Freddy Ben-Arroyo

English Original

the circus left --
wild flowers
now

Writers & Lovers Cafe, Spring 2014

Freddy Ben-Arroyo


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

馬戲團走了 --
現在只剩下
野花


Chinese Translation (Simplified)

马戏团走了 --
现在只剩下
野花


Bio Sketch

Freddy Ben-Arroyo is a retired professor of Structural Engineering at the Technion--Israel Institute of Technology. Born in Bulgaria, he emigrated to Israel during WWII and since then lives in Haifa. He began writing haiku 25 years ago, after Zen training. He is married, has one daughter, three grandchildren and two great-grandsons.

Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, XXXVIII

writing tanka ...
in the attic window
the winter star
that didn't move
is long gone

Atlas Poetica, 15, July 2013

Notes: You can read its preceding tanka or the whole sequence here.

Butterfly Dream: Mares’ Tails Haiku by Pat Tompkins

English Original

blue and white sky
blue and white sea
wind herding mares’ tails

A Hundred Gourds, 3:1, December 2013

Pat Tompkins


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

藍白色的天空
藍白色的海洋
放風母馬的尾巴

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

蓝白色的天空
蓝白色的海洋
放风母马的尾巴


Bio Sketch

Pat Tompkins is an editor in the San Francisco Bay Area. She likes combining haiku with prose in haibun, which have appeared in bottle rockets, Thema, Haibun Today, and Contemporary Haibun Online.

One Man's Maple Moon: Stone Woman Tanka by Jenny Ward Angyal

English Original

a stone woman
gives birth to a child
in the night
my book falls open
to the words, I need...

Jenny Ward Angyal


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

在夜晚
一位石女生下
一個孩子
我的書跌落在地上
打開到下述的話,我需要...

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

在夜晚
一位石女生下
一个孩子
我的书跌落在地上
打开到下述的话,我需要...


Bio Sketch

Jenny Ward Angyal lives with her husband and one Abyssinian cat on a small organic farm in Gibsonville, NC, USA.  She composed her first poem at the age of five. Her tanka and other poems have appeared in various print and online journals and may also be found on her blog, The Grass Minstrel

(Author's Note: The quotation is from Mountains and Rivers Sutra by Japanese Soto Zen Master Dogen Kigen, 1200–1253)

Butterfly Dream: Butterfly Haiku by Robert Kania

English Original

butterfly --
I remember
nothing

The Heron's Nest, 16:1, March 2014

Robert Kania


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

蝴蝶 --
我什麼
都不記得了

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

蝴蝶 --
我什麽
都不记得了


Bio Sketch

Robert Kania lives in Warsaw, Poland. He began writing poetry in 2011. His haiku and haiga have appeared in The Heron's Nest, The Mainichi, Asahi Haikuist Network, A Hundred Gourds, World Haiku Review, KUZU, Diogen, DailyHaiga and World Haiku Association. He is the prize winner of the 15th HIA Haiku Contest 2013, and currently the co-editor (with Krzysztof Kokot) of the European Quarterly Kukai. His blog is: http://bliskomilczenia.blogspot.com

To the Lighthouse: Cherita, A Haiku / Tanka Inspired Form

(with thanks to ai li and Larry Kimmel for their kind permission to reprint their articles here)


                                                                                                   his bedtime story

                                                                                                   the never ending tales
                                                                                                   of enchantment

                                                                                                   now you see them
                                                                                                   now you don’t
                                                                                                   night fairies
                                                                                                 
                                                                                                   ai li

Cherita, the Wikipedia Entry Written by ai li

Cherita (pronounced CHAIR-rita) is a linked poetry form of one-, two-, and three-line stanzas.

Cherita is the Malay word for "story" or "tale". A cherita consists of a one-line stanza, followed by a two-line stanza, and then finishing with a three-line stanza. It can either be written solo or by up to three partners.

The cherita tells a story. It was created by ai li on June 22, 1997 in memory of her grandparents who were raconteurs extraordinaire. It was also inspired by Larry Kimmel's sensitive recognition of a shorter form contained within the opening three-verse stanza of ai li's LUNENGA, which was created May 27, 1997.

The cherita arose out of the English-language haiku and tanka tradition, but is more anecdotal, or nano-narrative, in nature than are the “momentary” haiku and the more lyrical tanka, though it is easily adaptable to lyrical expression. It is imagistic and depends on conciseness and suggestion for its effect.

Example

4 pm

   

a cuckoo clock

bringing forest into afternoon

the crumbs i leave

sitting on

their own shadows

References

Shot Glass Glossary of Poetic Forms

Definition and examples

Definition

Gilli, Ferris, "A Cherita Journey", Frogpond: The Journal of the Haiku Society of America, Fall 2012, Vol. 35 Issue 3, p 55

Sketchbook, 4:2, March/April 2009

Published examples

Cherita at aili.co.uk

Shards and Dust by Larry Kimmel

Sketchbook March/April 2010

Stark Mountain Press

Excerpt from "Flexible Forms: a personal speculation" by Larry Kimmel

"in thinking about what a cherita has been to me, one thing I've noticed in writing them is that they have a 'beginning' a 'middle' and an 'end.' and one way [in which] they work well, is to have that [first] line be brief and [used to] set the scene, [give] the tone, etc. the next two lines are the body of the poem, and then (and I think this is important) the last 3 lines, obviously the end, should be fairly short, the climax and denouement in one. this gives it impact. even if the ending is one phrase, it can be broken to fit the form. i think that when the end spreads too much, say, into Whitmanesque lines, what one has is a free form poem put into 1/2/3/ line verses. the essence of the cherita is brevity. it grew out of the haiku [and renku] experience, and I feel it should retain something of that brevity and elliptical phrase and fragment quality. to me that is the essence of cherita. it often has a story, or anecdotal, quality, though I believe it can be used as a lyrical form, as well. but I stress it needs the same care as in writing a haiku. though no exact syllable count has been imposed, it is about haiku length or less in each of its verses. the first line, perhaps, being the exception. it is as short as a single line of a haiku. of course, this is my own opinion, and as it is a new form there is a lot of room for experimentation. to me the beauty of the form, and the game, if you like, of the form, is to see how concise i can be. there is power in conciseness."

Examples of Cherita from Larry Kimmel's Webpage, Cherita:

after seeing you off

taking the path along

the canal

a rustle of

leaves

underfoot

Larry Kimmel

loveless

under

a stingy moon

the cotton sheets

between my legs

are wet

ai li

unruly sun

this tangle of sheets

about me. . .not my own

from the ceiling

a stranger's reflection

smiling down

sheila windsor

Selected Cherita by Chen-ou Liu

faint mist, gloomy clouds

sorrow surrounds the day

who can take a poem

beyond the Pacific

a calligraphy of geese

flies against the sky

Sketchbook, 5:1, January / February 2011

a night of Haitian ruins

the silence grows teeth

grinding noises

pierce my throat

but my hand

ends a sentence

Sketchbook, 6:2, March/April 2011

Note: The Wikipedia definition of cherita has been tweaked by Larry Kimmel. Below is the original definition by ai li:

CHERITA [1--2--3]
[pronounced CHAIR-rita]

Cherita is the Malay word for story or tale. A Cherita consists of a single stanza of a one-line verse, followed by a two-line verse, and then finishing with a three-line verse. It can either be written solo or with up to three partners.

The Cherita tells a story. It was created by ai li on the 22 June 1997 in memory of her grandparents who were raconteurs extraordinaire. It was also inspired by Larry Kimmel's sensitive recognition of a shorter form contained within the opening three-verse stanza of ai li's LUNENGA, which had been created on the 27.

A Room of My Own: Covering the Middle East

for Edward Said, author of Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World

the flurry of white

between minarets

a scream cut short

If it bleeds, it leads

scrawled on a reporter's note

pinpoint bombings

Note: Covering the Middle East is a sequel to the following poem, which was first published in Chrysanthemum, 15, April 2014

The Promised Land

What will you do if they uproot your trees?
What will I do? Only plant them again.
What will you do if they bulldoze your houses?
What will I do? Only build them again.

Facing the stone-wall silence of riot police, a large gathering of men, women and children sings louder and louder, but none concedes his or her position.

hazy half moon

the separation wall

where olive groves stood

German Translation

Das verheißene Land

Was wirst du tun, wenn sie deine Bäume herausreißen?
Was wirst du tun? Sie halt noch einmal pflanzen.
Was wirst du tun, wenn sie deine Häuser niederreißen?
Was wirst du tun? Sie halt noch einmal bauen.

Auf die steinwandige Stille der aufrührerischen Polizei trifft eine große Ansammlung von Männern, Frauen und Kindern, die lauter und lauter singt, aber keiner gibt in seiner Position nach.

verschleierter Halbmond

die Trennmauer

wo einst Olivenhaine standen

One Man's Maple Moon: Defeat Tanka by Saito Mokichi

English Original

surviving
the days of our country
in defeat,
where does this longing
come from?

The Prism of Mokichi, 2013 (trans. by Aya Yuhki et al)

Saito Mokichi


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

倖存於
國家戰敗
的日子
這個渴望
從何處而來?

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

倖存於
国家战败
的日子
这个渴望
从何处而来?


Bio Sketch

Saito Mokichi (May 14, 1882 -- February 25, 1953) was a psychiatrist and one of the most successful practitioners of the new tanka. In 1913, he published Shakko (Red Lights), a book that created a great impression not only on tanka poets but also on the literary world in general. In 1951, he received the Order of Culture.

Butterfly Dream: Aces & Eights Haiku by LeRoy Gorman

English Original

aces & eights
another Junebug
hits the glass

Modern Haiku, 28: 2, Summer 1997

LeRoy Gorman


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

兩對么點和八點
另一隻六月蟲
撞到玻璃

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

两对么点和八点
另一只六月蟲
撞到玻璃 


Bio Sketch

LeRoy Gorman writes mostly minimalist and visual poetry.  His most recent book, fast enough to leave this world, is one of tanka published by Inkling Press, Edmonton.  More information on his writing can be found at the American Haiku Archives where he served as the Honorary Curator for 2012-2013.

One Man's Maple Moon: Mountain Peak Tanka by Beverley George

English Original

no need to pretend
nor guard myself from hurt
this mountain peak
pierces self-doubting clouds
I find my core again

Beverley George


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

沒有必要假裝
也不用保護自己免受傷害
這座山峰
刺穿自我懷疑的雲層
我再次找到真實的自我

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

没有必要假装
也不用保护自己免受伤害
这座山峰
刺穿自我怀疑的云层
我再次找到真实的自我


Bio Sketch

Beverley George is the past editor of Yellow Moon and the founder/editor of Eucalypt: a tanka journal 2006 - . In September 2009 she convened the 4th Haiku Pacific Rim Conference, in Terrigal, Australia. Beverley presented papers on haiku in Australia at the 3rd Haiku Pacific Rim conference in Matsuyama, Japan in 2007, and on Australian tanka at the 6th International Tanka Festival, Tokyo 2009. She was the president of the Australian Haiku Society 2006-2010.

To the Lighthouse: Take “I, me, my, mine” out of the picture.?

First-time students of haiku often forget to become  the “absent traveler,” the poet who walks, watches, listens,  becomes still, and dissolves into his subject. It is tempting to be there in the poem, doing something...

Use juxtaposition to achieve surprise. Think: subject/ circumstance / action or non-action / jolt! Have the courage to let whatever thing or circumstance that  caused a moment of surprise stand by itself. Again, stay out of the poem, unless you are indispensable to the picture.

-- John Brandi, "Thoughts on Haiku and Sentimentality,"  South Asian Ensemble, Autumn 2012, pp. 79, 83

Below are two contrasting examples:

The sound of scissors

clipping roses --

a clear spell in May

Masaoka Shiki

In the haiku above, it doesn’t matter if Shiki, the narrator of the poem, or someone else is clipping rose; “what is important is the sound itself -- and its relation to the sharpness of the sky” (Brandi, p.80). The emotional overtone is implied in the juxtaposed image portrayed in L3, especially in Shiki’s well-chosen phrase, “clear spell.”  Through the effective use of the zoom-out technique, Shiki paints a clear picture; therefore, there is “[no] need to step in the way  of the reader’s capacity to interpret the picture by stating something personal and emotive” (Brandi, p.80). Shiki’s “half-finished” haiku is left to the reader to complete it in his/her heart and mind.

this winter night
I face my drunken shadow ...
a raven's call

Chen-ou Liu

In the haiku, it does matter who faces the shadow. In first reading, Ls 1-2 can be read as an objective description of a scene, and juxtaposed with the “winter night,” the auditory image in L3 conveys a deep sense of foreboding. In second reading, “my drunken shadow” carries symbolic significance and adds psychological depth to the poem. Furthermore, an expanded theme – self-reflection understood in an existential sense -- emerges, and it is left to the reader to ponder further.


“Man stands in his own shadow and wonders why it’s dark.” ~Zen Proverb

There was once a man who loved to complain and find fault with everyone and everything. Nothing pleased him, so he moved from one town to another, declaring as he left each place.

“Oh brother, moving from place to place does not serve you well. Wherever you go, there you will also find yourself. Your shadow is always with you.”

-- Julie Hoyle


Updated:

Below is a relevant excerpt from Daniel Gallimore's article, "Dew on the Grass: Translating the Masters," which was first published in World Haiku Review, 1:3, November 2001:

 ... a haiku written by Shiki in 1902, during the last summer of his life:

Bara wo kiru
Hasami no oto ya
Satsukibare

The sound of scissors
Clipping roses -
A clear spell in May

Knowing that Shiki was confined to his sickbed with tuberculosis, we realise the poignancy of this image of this dying man grabbing whatever opportunity he could to bring a little beauty into his life, but what I would like to consider here is how the image is constructed. Shiki’s poem does not, at first reading, seem a particularly musical or onomatopoeic poem. It is true that the succession of seven open a vowels give the poem a certain unity but apart from that there is nothing very meaningful to catch the eye or ear. Actually, there is, as the open, graceful bara (‘rose’) and the clear-cut kiru (‘cut’) are combined within one word in the final phrase, satsukibare. This is what cut roses and fine weather in May mean to each other at this moment in Shiki’s life: the sounds are almost identical to the picture so that when the two work together like this the logic works very fast indeed. ‘Death concentrates the mind wonderfully’, and it is not the clipping of scissors which is figured, as one might expect, but the beauty of those flowers; in other words, the sound values work in relation to the logic of the poem but are not subordinate.

The translator, Burton Watson, similarly evokes this feeling that the poet is more interested in the significance of the clipping than the ominous sound itself. The word ‘clipping’ is separated by enjambment from ‘scissors’ such that this terse sound – with all its freshness and its transience – belongs as much to the roses as to the scissors, especially as it alliterates with ‘clear’ in the final line. The alliteration also accounts for the logical development of Watson’s version; as with the source, we seem to see, hear and experience it all at once. This phenomenon is surely what was meant by Yasuda’s term ‘crystallisation’: ‘a crystallised haiku is held together by the organic, emotional force of the experience’.