December 2011

Carpet

Garland or wreath

Tongue or mouth

Lighthouse or lighthouse beam

Nest

Gift

Breath or air

Weather

Additional PHOTO PROMPT: “Driving Rain Over Cliffs,” painting by Maria Pierides

Heart . . . or the lack of it . . . anything to do with this precious organ! One of Issa’s haiku I like:

in winter rain

toward the heart of darkness . . .

honking geese

Translation by David Lanoue, from http://haikuguy.com/issa/search.php?keywords=heart&year. You can find more of Issa’s heart haiku there. There is also an interesting essay by Michael about “seeing into the heart,” vulnerability, and haiku.

Let’s visit a city, a village, monument, temple, river, lake, mountain . . . and name it! Write a haiku involving a specific place. Interesting essay on “The Value of Iconic Place Names in Western Haiku” by David Cobb at http://www.poetrysociety.org.nz/node/587. It includes this haiku:

a man with a torch

goes looking for a name—

the Menin Gate

Gabi Greve introduces “Place Names of the World” with interesting links to follow at http://haikutopics.blogspot.com/2010/01/place-names-of-world-intro.html.

Write a recipe-ku (for a love potion, health problems, a celebration, witches brew, or just a tasty dish!)

Books or reading. And what has Issa got to say about it?

even while pooping

reading his almanac . . .

plum blossoms

(written in 1823; translated by David Lanoue)

Write a haiku that tells a story. Here’s Issa:

mopping sweat—

at his tomb I tell my story

then go

Translated by David Lanoue. See more here at http://haikuguy.com/issa/search.php?keywords=story&year. Also, if you have the time, you might like to have a look at Michael’s essay, “Haiku as History: The Ultimate Short Story.”

You are or were on holiday in Greece and this is how your haiku senses sing about or remember it . . .

Shamrock #17 had a Greek focus, with several haiku translated by its editor, Anatoly Kudryavitsky. You can find it at http://shamrockhaiku.webs.com/shamrockno17.htm. From the same issue is a haiku by Giorgos Seferis, translated by Anatoly Kudryavitsky:

empty chairs

the statues returned

to another museum

Haiku involving color. I’d like to share a haiku I read today on the Haiku Foundation site Archive (Haiku Now! winning poem, first prize for 2011), by Tom Painting:

Indian summer

mother dyes her graying hair

the color of straw

Onions. Here’s an onion poem from Frogpond’s Museum of Haiku Literature awards for 2011, by William M. Ramsey of Florence, South Carolina:

how some things end—

onion flakes

in the market sack

Snow, ice, or freezing temperatures

Knee

Refuge, shelter, or sanctuary. One more Issa, from 1824, translated by David Lanoue:

ridge between rice fields—

the horse eats

the sheltering willow

Include a number in your haiku. Here’s a poem by Shiki (from http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/2010/09/cockscomb-keitoo.html):

cockscombs

must be 14

or 15

More Shiki poems at http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/shiki/beichman/BeiShik.utf8.html.

Let’s have some serious fun. Pick a genre from Michael’s essay “Ku-ku: Because You Can’t Have Enough Haiku,” and write a haiku in one of its suggested genres. Please indicate which one you’ve picked, such as chai-ku.

Solstice (what else?), cosmic time, longest/shortest day, cosmic light. A haiku I love by Svetlana Marisova:

incoming tide . . .

the writing fills

both sides

You can read more of her poems at the recently created page at http://www.thehaikufoundation.org/poet-details/?IDclient=897.

All about trees. From frankincense trees, to olive and fig trees, eucalyptus, jacaranda, cinnamon, Christmas trees, take your pick! I saw this piece of news on frankincense trees: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16270759.

Write haiku for the haiku tree. Behind this NaHaiWriMo page a huge haiku tree. It is so big that you need to squint your eyes and polish your computer screen to see it and even then you can just make it out. Please help decorate it with your heart-felt haiku; add color to it with seasonal wishes to friends and family; seasonal pictures, references. On the other hand, if you can’t wait for the festive season to be over, hang a grumble-ku. Now’s your chance! (Meanwhile, here is something nice I found, a rengay titled “Christmas in the City.”)

Let’s make some noise today: bells, gongs, chimes, drums, anything . . . or just write louder than usual!

Oil

Taking stock of the season, of the year, of life . . . or just making soup! Memories, looking back, what was, what might have been. Here’s Issa, translated by David Lanoue:

clamoring geese—

over there is the year

ending too?

And Buson, translated by Robert Hass:

Dawn—

fish the cormorants haven’t caught

swimming in the shallows

Gold, silver, or coins

Influence (other poets or poems)—write a haiku based on or influenced by another poet’s haiku. I know, I know, we are always under someone’s influence, but still! Anything goes, except “old pond”! If you are stuck for choice, have a look at the following link, the Haiku Foundation’s Montage Archive, where the work of haiku poets is juxtaposed in relation to a theme—for instance, “The Little Truths” at http://thehaikufoundation.org/montage/LittleTruths2009_10_04.pdf. Or, pull on “The Frayed Rope: A Favourite Haiku.”

Old year–New Year: Resolutions, reviews, predictions. Do you make or keep New Year resolutions? Are you making any predictions of what might happen in the New Year? Would you like to remember or review a public event one last time? This is your chance.

I hope you have your dancing shoes ready. Today’s prompt is . . . dance. Dance in your haiku (where else?). The only limitation is . . . I can’t think of a limitation. No music? Switch on Facebook, dial NaHaiWriMo and go! Happy New Year!