Absorbed, in its world, one frog
Breaking the silence
Of an ancient pond,
A frog jumped into water —
A deep resonance.
I fear I may be drowning us all in silence, so I will take a break until Monday. Until then
Jasmine and sweet rose
linger long on waning light
summer’s parting bliss
Jasmine and Sweet Rose
linger long on waning light
summer’s parting bliss
When I posted my evening photos on Facebook, many people seemed to prefer this one
Of an evening ~in full colour
to the black and white.
I was intrigued.
Sometimes my days are so saturated with colour, I need the lullaby of black and white.
© silkannthreades
Towards the end of last month I wrote my first, ever, haiku and I posted it here. Lovely followers and supporters that you are, you welcomed my haiku with open hearts. A couple of bloggers, who are themselves haiku experts, gave me kind encouragement and information on haiku writing and its history. One of these bloggers was Sandra Simpson who is an award-winning haiku poet, living in New Zealand. Check out her latest winner here.
The other blogger to offer words of wisdom was AshiAkira. He brought to my attention the impact of the sound of a haiku. AshiAkira is bilingual and he writes that, in Japanese, the 5-7-5 “rule produces a very peculiar rhythm to our ear, which we think is very beautiful.” He continues, ” For about four past years, I’ve been trying to express that haiku rhythm in English, but never succeeded. I suppose I have written well over 1,000 haiku poems in English, but none of them sounds like a haiku when it is read…….The haiku rhythm has such an effect that it would stick to your mind when you hear it and you cannot easily forget it. So a well written haiku stays in the hearts of so many people.”
With AshiAkira’s comments on my mind, I went looking for the sound, the rhythm, of haiku in Japanese. And I found this. At 1.50 in the clip, you can hear Matsuo Basho’s haiku, in Japanese. It is exquisite; it goes straight from the ear to the center of the hEARt. Listen and hEAR.
Now, listen a moment to my second (ever) haiku. What do you hear?
Take a moment and read my words out loud, for yourself. What do you hear?
oregano star
choral bees sing harmony
honey for the ear
In my world of eye to the words on the computer screen, or eye to paper page in hand, I am so accustomed to hearing the silence of words in my head that I forget the great oral, (or is it aural 😉 ?) tradition of poetry ; I forget that the noise of poetry is as important as they way it looks, as the way it engages our minds and our feelings. I forget that poems are a multi-sensory experience.
Do you hear what I hear?
What do you hear? What do you see?
oregano star
Oregano star
choral bees sing harmony
honey to the ear
How does that feel? Sweet? Has my haiku found your heart?
And how would it sound in Japanese? 🙂
Postscript: This post would be incomplete without a hat tip to the wonderful Ellen Grace Olinger , who has been a gentle guide through the art of haiku, from the day I first started to read her blog.
© silkannthreades
Ladysighs teaches herself to write Minute Poems and Lanterne poetry. Mrs P of Destination Unknown challenges herself to create Villanelles. Their willingness to play with form and words inspired me to attempt a haiku; my very first haiku, ever, emerging, as I near the completion of my fifties!
The monarchs return
when the plums ripen and fall
and the winds blow home.
The monarchs return
when the plums ripen
and fall
There it is; short and sweet 😉
Will I write more haiku, or try my hand, and brain, at another form of poetry ? Maybe, but probably not yet. I would like to concentrate my spare creative energy on my chap books. They need a massive transformation before they are ready to fly.
© silkannthreades
silkannthreades 