April 2012 NaHaiWriMo Writing Prompts
Selected by Linda Papanicolaou, Palo Alto, California (for National Poetry Month)
1 |
April Fool’s
This month’s focus is season words. Three online saijiki that I use regularly are Renku Home’s “500 Essential Japanese Season Words” on the Renku Home site, the Yuki Teikei list, and the World Kigo Database:
http://www.2hweb.net/haikai/renku/500ESWd.html
http://youngleaves.org/season-word-list/
http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/
It’s also very enlightening to read Gabi’s page on season words: http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/2006/12/kigo-use-in-haiku.html. For those who are new to working with a saijiki: For each season, the list of kigo (season words) is broken into categories: general season terms, the heavens and weather, human affairs/occupations/observances, animals and plants (the Yuki Teikei and Renku Home pages are the best place to see this). You’ll see April Fool/April Fool’s Day in the Yuki Teikei human affairs category. If you’re writing from the northern hemisphere, you’ll experience April Fool’s as a spring observance; if you’re in the southern hemisphere in a temperate zone, autumn. Writers in tropical and other zones, just write for the zone you’re in and tell us about it. |
2 |
spring/autumn rain |
3 |
spring blossoms/autumn leaves |
4 |
spring, autumn, or something in the animal category |
5 |
balloons, soap bubbles, kite, pinwheels |
6 |
moon |
7 |
religious observances |
8 |
religious observances (again) |
9 |
springs, fountains, waterfalls, rivers, floods, seas |
10 |
birds in and out of season |
11 |
mountains in any season |
12 |
children’s swing |
13 |
cat |
14 |
summer heat |
15 |
taxes or Jackie Robinson Day |
16 |
summer coolness |
17 |
cool, coolness, and cold in autumn (also National Haiku Poetry Day) |
18 |
cold and warmth in spring |
19 |
observation description |
20 |
observation description (again) |
21 |
observation description (again) |
22 |
Earth Day |
23 |
your local and regional season references (including Anzac Day) |
24 |
your local and regional season references (including Anzac Day) |
25 |
your local and regional season references (including Anzac Day) |
26 |
double/triple kigo |
27 |
Arbor Day or a particular kind of tree |
28 |
one and only one kigo |
29 |
Catsup Day |
30 |
Catsup Day (again) |
|
|