A Sense of Place

A Sense of Place: HIKING TRAIL – smell

 

 

A Sense of Place

In his essay ‘So:ba’, given at the International Haiku Conference (SUNY Plattsburgh, NY, 2008) and published serially in Frogpond, Jim Kacian discusses the concept of ba:

“If you look up ba in any Japanese-English Dictionary you’ll find it means “place” or “site” or “occasion”. And these are all true in the most general sense—ba is a pointer to a kind of awareness that something of importance is happening in time and space.”

So here we are…

In the following weeks we will get back to haiku basics and explore specific locations with an emphasis on the senses, and with the intention of improving our own haiku practice. Ideally, participants will select an actual location that they can visit, or a location from memory that they have visited in the past. Failing that, we always have our imaginations – and you’re invited to join in the fun! Submit an original unpublished poem (or poems) via our Contact Form by Sunday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence. I will select from these for the column, and add commentary.

 

next week’s theme:  HIKING TRAIL – taste

We are still hiking on a trail – if possible, the same one as last week – but now we explore the sense of taste… the deadline for this theme is midnight Pacific Time, Sunday 11 November 2018.

I look forward to reading your submissions.

 

A Sense of Place:  HIKING TRAIL – smell

Calling all readers/writers – Here is your chance to influence the direction of this feature!
Please submit your suggestions for feature ideas for 2019 – we are looking for overall themes that could generate 26 or 52 weekly sub-themes… include with your regular poem submission, or on a separate form… thank you!

hiking encounter
the scent of woodsmoke
on his shirt

Claire Vogel Camargo

Word choice is important in any short poem, and there is something about the word ‘encounter’, in the context of being close enough to notice the smell of this shirt, which may imply this was not just any hike…

 

Autumn hike
an umbrella of maple leaves
and the scent of rain

Margo Williams
Stayton, Oregon

The canopy can be an effective shelter – this description of it as an umbrella combined with the scent of rain is compelling – and in this poem the sense of smell is effortlessly linked with the location of a hike…

 

coastal hike
the scent of heather
on the hill

Martha Magenta
England, UK

Here we are situated on a coast, where the humidity can help to carry scent – when I read this poem I am sure I can smell it…

 

hiking with friends
the fog of memories
and bug spray

Mary Hanrahan

 

Salisbury Pass
three hours shy of
all day protection

Michael Henry Lee

These two poems use humour to bring the sense of smell and the hiking trail together… the (unpleasant) odour of bug spray is particularly familiar to me…

 

Here are the rest of my selections for this week:

snapping
a new branch underfoot –
the smell of green

Aalix Roake

 

walking
until I float
on the scent of pine

Adrian Bouter

 

a wind battered fire
another stick is added
that was once a tree

Alan Summers
Wiltshire, England

 

frost in the morning –
the acrid smell of moss
on the boots

Angela Giordano

 

pathway
of pine needles –
resin scented wind

Angiola Inglese

 

trail’s end –
wild roses scenting
into the wind

Anna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo

 

savoring
the smell of tinola
a long trail home

(famous Filipino dish made of chicken in a ginger-based soup with papaya or chayote)

Anthony Rabang

 

olives and oregano –
this sense of home
in the mountain mists

arvinder kaur
Chandigarh, India

 

banana slug misses
its slimy trail
the scent of home

Astrid Egger

 

taking the long way lavender breeze

Barbara Kaufmann
NY

 

changing wind  the faint scent of coming rain

Barbara Tate
Winchester, TN

 

rhododendron’s
sweet smell –
Craggy Gardens*

(*acres of rhododendrons straddling the Blue Ridge Parkway above Asheville)

Bob Whitmire
Round Pond, Maine

 

hilltop trail
musty remnant
of a medieval fort

Bona M. Santos
Los Angeles, Ca

 

down wind the fox before me

Carol Jones
Wales

 

lingering
through the midday hike
the scent of palm wine

Celestine Nudanu

 

she tells him to take a hike –
skulking into night
her perfume lingers…

Charles Harmon
Los Angeles, California, USA

 

forest fragrance ebbs
a wily bear
sniffing my fear

Christina Pecoraro
NY, USA

 

the scent
of baby’s breath
family hike

Christina Sng

 

narcotic scent of forest
easier steps
to finish

Danijela Grbelja
Sibenik, Croatia

 

guided blindly
by her fragrance
night hike

David Gale
Gloucester, UK

 

dusty trail
I bathe in the smell
of forest

Deborah P Kolodji

 

on our descent
delight infusing the air
grape hyacinth

Devin Harrison
Vancouver Island, Canada

 

hiking by the bay
tangles of seaweed rot
in low tide

dianne moritz

 

the smell of hiking
in the apartment – goat’s
droppings on the shoes

Dubravka Šcukanec
Zagreb, Croatia

 

stopping by the trail
smelling sweet wildflowers
a bee stops, too – ouch!

Erick Harmon (age 10)
Los Angeles, California, USA

 

end of the trail
a scent of apple pie
in my empty rucksack

Eufemia Griffo

 

stone walls crumble
the fragrance of lilac
mingles with fog

Gary Hittmeyer
Shokan, NY

 

chestnut forest –
the shadows spread
a scent of drenched

Giovanna Restuccia
Italy

 

starched white shirt
line-dried jeans
cowboy trail guide

Greer Woodward
Waimea, HI

 

neroli –
the hiker
a bride

Guliz Mutlu

 

bridle path…
fewer horses
fewer roses

Helen Buckingham

 

hidden trails
of a scent afar
mountain valerian

Helga Stania
Switzerland

 

solitary walk
smell of fears
in the rainforest

Hifsa Ashraf
Pakistan

 

trail-side walnut tree
irresistible
the scent of a crushed leaf

Ingrid Baluchi

 

winter hike
wrapped in a knitted scarf
the smell of wet wool

janice munro
Canada

 

waiting
under the tree a deer
sniffs for cherries

(remembering Catalina Island, California, HNA 2013)

Kath Abela Wilson

 

desert trail after rain
sweet smells of
sage and creosote

Kathleen Mazurowski

 

savoring the sweet scent of aster     autumn’s bumblebee

Kelly Sauvage Angel

 

Crescent Trail…
its weathered sign
keeping me on the scent

Laurie Greer
Washington, DC

 

deep forest trail
cushions of pine needles
scent every step

Linda Ludwig

 

snowy trail
I open a flask
of peppermint tea

Lucy Whitehead
Essex, UK

 

cold air infragrant
until cresting the last hill
wood smoke beckons

m. shane pruett
Salem, OR

 

trail end
instant coffee
never smelt so good

Madhuri Pillai

 

all through the meadow
Queen Anne’s Lace and goldenrod
by doz by eyz…

Marcyn Del Clements
Claremont, California USA

 

on the trail
of one hiker
a miasma of cologne

Margaret Walker
Lincoln, NE

 

scree
smelling of sun –
hiking trail

Margherita Petriccione

 

river water –
smells of moss
every stone

Maria Teresa Piras

 

trail pit stop…
the rich aroma
of roo poo

Marietta McGregor

 

on our mucky trail
we hurry past saltmarsh –
stench of rotten eggs!

MaryEllen Gambutti

 

First frost
on the trail –
smell of coming winter

michael ceraolo
South Euclid, Ohio

 

breathing deep
the scent of charred redwoods –
closed-off hiking trail

Michael H. Lester
Los Angeles CA USA

 

november ginko
I meditate at the first scent
of petrichor

Michael Smeer
Haarlemmermeer, The Netherlands

 

trail’s end –
my woodsmoke
eau de cologne

Michele L. Harvey

 

fox sniffing our scent lingers

Mike Gallagher
Ireland

 

nature trail
the underlying scent
of moldy leaves

Nancy Brady
Huron, Ohio

 

the park path…
my foundling dog sniffs out
his master’s trace

Natalia Kuznetsova
Russia

 

long trek back
to the village…
woodsmoke smell

Olivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland

 

deep woods
the scent of mushrooms
on a forgotten trail

Pat Davis
Pembroke, NH

 

newly mown hay
watery eyes
as we say goodbye

Philip Whitley
SC, USA

 

valley path
the mushroom smell
of fog

Polona Oblak

 

even before
I reach the next turn –
wild lilacs

Pris Campbell

 

dawn hike
first tang of woodsmoke
in the wind

Rachel Sutcliffe

 

Himalayan trails
back home – sissoo  in my
nostrils  still

Radhamani sarma

 

forest trail following  his backpack homemade bread flavor

Radostina Dragostinova
Bulgaria

 

flashlight beam
seeks the cabin path
fresh cow pie

Randy Brooks

 

morning breeze
follows me along the trail
scent of the desert

Rehn Kovacic

 

the scent
of November rain –
hiking trail

Réka Nyitrai

 

hiking in my
dead dad’s jacket
snowscent

Roberta Beary
County Mayo Ireland

 

venice footpath –
rich coffee beans roasting
at first light

robyn brooks
usa

 

wariness at O’Bannon Creek
I cross paths
with a skunk

Ronald K. Craig
Batavia, OH  USA

 

Elba island –
a soft fragrance
of mint and chervil

(The Island of Elba is the largest one of the Tuscan archipelago)

Rosa Maria Di Salvatore

 

forest trail
the scent of my life
in mushroom days

Sandi Pray

 

narrowing trail
rubbing shoulders
with the pine scent

Sanjuktaa Asopa

 

the timber rattler’s tongue
sniffs the loamy air
Overlook trail

Sari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, USA

 

the smell of fresh bread
morning fog
sticks to the path

Serhiy Shpychenko
Kyiv, UA

 

remote trail
snake roasts on a spit
the smell of survival

shandon land

 

morning walk –
my dog meets
a new friend

Slobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia

 

in the clearing
a timeless scent
moonless

stefano riondato

 

Skyline Divide trail
the smell of bear scat
among our footsteps

Stephen A. Peters

 

a trail on a hill
withered grass wet with dew
the smell of soil

Tomoko Nakata
Japan

 

campfire –
aroma of pine in
the July dusk

Tsanka Shishkova

 

fall hike –
the air crafts a fragrance
of earthy notes

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio   USA

 

hunger pangs
the aroma of maggi
makes me hike faster

Vandana Parashar

 

with hints
of honey and pineapple
forest rain

Victor Ortiz
Bellingham, WA

 

long trail in summer
dripping sweat mingles with
smell of wild flowers

Vishnu Kapoor

 

Katherine Munro lives in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, and publishes under the name kjmunro. She is Membership Secretary for Haiku Canada and an Associate Member of the League of Canadian Poets. She recently co-edited an anthology of crime-themed haiku called Body of Evidence: a collection of killer ’ku.

 

This Post Has 73 Comments

  1. Please do keep this a weekly process. Though I’ve not been able to participate each time, I so look forward to reading the wonderful offerings. They are a bright spot in my week. I do like the more participatory comments and hope to see more participation there, in whatever format Kathy settles on.
    Peggy Bilbro

    1. No worries, Peggy – we have no plans to change from the weekly schedule at this point – thanks so much for sharing your thoughts here!

    2. Yes, this blog has become the high point of my week. I liked having the large selection of haiku on a single theme because it gives me such a 3-dimensional feeling with so many takes on the theme.

      In particular, I think there are at least six months of more locations you could explore with a sense of place, some examples:
      .
      the desert
      the city
      a small village
      underwater
      on a boat
      at at train station/bus station/airport
      indoors
      above the earth (whether on a plane, the top of a peak, a balloon, the top of a ferris wheel, or a spacecraft)
      .
      etc.

    1. Hi Tsanka – can you elaborate? ‘cosmic adventure’ as in astronomy & the planets? or science fiction/fantasy?
      Or do you mean that whatever we do in 2019 will be a cosmic adventure? (as in, a huge & wonderful adventure – which I’m sure it will be!)
      thanks for this!

      1. Hi Katherine!
        I think the sensations of observing the vast sky are virtual cosmic adventures. The moon, the stars, the sunrises, the sunsets, the daisy circle, and etc. are present and will be present in many beautiful haiku.

  3. What a powerful distillation of words Carol gave us. “down wind the fox before me” I can feel real tension here. Is the fox down wind of “me?” Or the other way around? Either way I can picture “me” freezing on the trail, fully focused on the fox ahead. I had the privilege of seeing a fox trotting along a trail when the wind didn’t give me away. She was never aware of me. So beautiful.

    1. Many thanks, Craig, for your input. Seeing our native animals in the wild is such a pleasure, and yes indeed I did stop in my tracks, and was just for a moment able to silently watch this creature, then I was seen an off the fox ran. A beautiful moment indeed.
      How happy I was when it was announced that carrying guns on footpaths, and also on private land, without permission, is seen as aggravate trespass. They won’t be having permission from me.
      A man of nature, no doubt 🙂

  4. Thank you Katherine for your patient and important work, it is a pleasure to participate and read these beautiful selections.

  5. Thank you Kathy for including my haiku this week. Looking forward to see how this feature evolves. Many good suggestions posted here. I particularly loved Christina Sng’s haiku.

  7. Am new to haiku and happened upon this wonderful blog searching on the web. Love and learn from the entries and insightful commentaries.

    Thanks, Kathy, for including mine… Alan for selecting one of its lines… and Carol Jones for highlighting the aspect of one animal “isolating another animal’s emotion.”

    Am grateful too for being in the company of all of you whose conciseness and metaphor charmed me.

    Found myself deeply moved by Roberta Beary

    hiking in (her)
    dead dad’s jacket
    snowscent

    Christina Pecoraro

    1. Dear Christina,
      .
      Great we have someone new to haiku. It’s a great little type of poetry because there are so many extra benefits. Haiku has proven to aid conciseness in our other writing, be it poetry, short stories, novels, report writing (schools, hospitals, office, other businesses and occupations). It’s also increased observational skills even if a person is already astute in spotting and noticing things, it ramps that up another notch too! 🙂
      .
      The only two people I haven’t met are you and Kathy, but I can tell you, you’d love to meet Roberta and Carol! 🙂

      2. See, that’s what I mean. Your warm welcome and substantive response, Alan, hold wonderful insights.

        Am glad to meet you too, through your generous words and teaching/sharing heart.

      3. I so agree with you Alan! I do hope to convince more local (non-haiku) writers of this in the future… working on an idea for a workshop/lecture for this… it is so true!

    2. thanks so much for submitting, & for sharing this, Christina – welcome! & know that we are all learning from each other here…

  8. Thank you, Kathy, for including one of mine among such a great collection of haiku. I love reading the selections and the comments each week!

  9. Thank you Kathy for once again including my one liner. You amaze me at the work you do for haiku here at The Haiku Foundation, writing you own poems, taking care of the membership at Haiku Canada, etc. You give a new meaning to “multi-tasking”.

    1. thanks for this, Barbara – the volunteer work I do for the haiku community is extremely rewarding!

  10. Once again I am thrilled to have one of my haiku chosen for this week as well as added comments! BIG thank you to KJ! The work you have done and comments as well as Alan’s comments has brought to life the senses in our Haiku! I have found these weekly exercises valuable but I also know the amount of time it must take to make the selections. I have read the above suggestions and feel like any and all would be fun and valuable for poets. THank you and congrats to all! I love reading everyone’s poems. I find that inspiring and helps me to go deeper with the work!

    1. Dear Margo,
      .
      Your haiku indirectly reminded me of Richard Wright’s umbrella haiku! 🙂
      .
      Haiku and their predecessor of hokku often worked on allusions to other poems:
      .
      .
      Just enough of rain
      To bring the smell of silk
      From umbrellas.
      .
      .
      and
      .
      .
      Beads of quicksilver
      On a black umbrella:
      Moonlit April Rain.
      .
      .
      haiku by Richard Wright
      “Richard Wright Writing America at Home and from Abroad”
      edited by Virginia Whatley Smith
      .
      .
      Autumn hike
      an umbrella of maple leaves
      and the scent of rain
      .
      Margo Williams
      Stayton, Oregon

        1. Hi Margo,
          .
          The great thing about haiku is there is always something to learn, and it’s the constant learning process, if we choose to jump aboard, that keeps us fresh and wonderfully challenged. It can be a great work out! 🙂

  11. Once again a delightful read from everyone.
    .
    taking the long way home lavender breeze
    .
    Barbara Kaufman
    Who of us, I wonder, wouldn’t take that extra time : ) I know I would.
    .
    forest fragrance ebbs
    a wily bear
    sniffing my fear
    .
    Christina Pecoraro
    I really like this. So often we neglect the inspace of animals, and don’t realise how adept they are when it comes to isolating another animals emotion.
    .
    trails end
    instant coffee
    never smelt so good
    .
    Madhuri Pillai
    Yes, I couldn’t agree more 🙂 Well put, Sir 🙂
    .
    Thank you for including mine, Kathy. many thanks.
    Looking forward to the next session.

    1. You really honed in on my wily bear’s wiliness, Carol. Thanks so much for zeroing in on an animal’s canny ability to “isolate another animal’s emotion.”

      Christina

      1. Thank you Christina.
        The interaction between animals, ourselves included, can on times be quite amazing.
        .
        I see this morning I have jumbled my letters inspace should have read inscape.
        My apologies.
        Happy haik uing, Christina.

      2. There are so many things that let down a wily bear.
        There is tell not show (wily), tell not show (fear), and telepathy – knowing what the bear is sniffing.
        .
        However, your vignette does have great potential.
        .
        Do keep writing and contributing Christina.
        .
        simon (not Cowell)

        1. I think that in any short poem there is perhaps more telling than showing – just because of the brevity – but I also wonder if the showing doesn’t (ideally) become evident in the gap, or the part of the haiku that is left unwritten for the reader to complete… an interesting point for discussion…

  12. Dear Kathy,
    Greetings! Delighted to be included in this week’s blog. Thanks for this . i always used to wonder at your meticulous choice and care and time in this column . As you have mentioned word choice in a short poem is very important. It is not just as we read, going through again and and again, wonderful contributors enabling us our learning process.Alan’s insightful comments – a pleasure to go through always.
    ,

  13. Thank you, Katherine… it is a pleasure for me to have my haiku included in this beautiful selection!

  14. The axis of words:
    Not just in one line or part of a line, but the words that resonate ‘across’ the lines.

    When Kathy said:

    “Word choice is important in any short poem”
    .
    there is something about the word ‘encounter’
    .
    “being close enough to notice the smell of this shirt…may imply this was not just any hike…”
    .

    hiking encounter
    the scent of woodsmoke
    on his shirt
    .
    Claire Vogel Camargo
    .
    .
    Whether we do an outdoors hike in rural settings, or take a hike to town for work or shopping or night adventures!
    .
    .

     
    umbrella scent
    Margo Williams
    .
    snapping green
    Aalix Roake
     .

    resin scented
    Angiola Inglese
     .
    scenting into wind
    Anna Maria Domburg-Sancristoforo
     .
    long trail home
    Anthony Rabang
     .
    olives and oregano
    arvinder kaur
    .
    scent of home
    Astrid Egger
     .
    lavender breeze
    Barbara Kaufmann
    .
    scent of coming rain
    Barbara Tate
    .
    down wind
    Carol Jones
    .
    palm wine
    Celestine Nudanu
     .
    sniffing my fear
    Christina Pecoraro
    .
    baby’s breath
    Christina Sng
     .
    narcotic forest
    Danijela Grbelja
    .
    night hike
    David Gale
    .
    trail of forest
    Deborah P Kolodji
    .
    seaweed rot
    dianne moritz
    .
     
    goat’s droppings
    Dubravka Šcukanec
    .
    a bee stops, too
    Erick Harmon (age 10)
    .
    apple pie in my empty rucksack
    Eufemia Griffo
     .
    lilac with fog
    Gary Hittmeyer
    .
    chestnut forest
    .
    and
    .
    “a scent of drenched”
    Giovanna Restuccia
    .
    starched
    Greer Woodward
    .
    neroli
    Guliz Mutlu
     .
    bridle path
    Helen Buckingham
    .
    Instantly reminded of those brilliant custume dramas that the BBC were famed for, and continue to this day from Jane Austen to Thomas Hardy and so many other writers.
    .
    .
     
    hidden trails
    .
    and
    .
    mountain valerian
    Helga Stania
    .
     fears in the rainforest
    Hifsa Ashraf
    .
    walnut
    Ingrid Baluchi
     .
    wet wool
    janice munro
    .
     
    cherries
    Kath Abela Wilson
     .

    sage and creosote
    Kathleen Mazurowski
     .
    bumblebee
    Kelly Sauvage Angel
     .
    weathered sign
    Laurie Greer
    .

    scent every step
    Linda Ludwig
     .
    snowy trail
    .
    and
    .
    flask
    .
    and
    peppermint tea
    Lucy Whitehead
    .
     the last hill
    m. shane pruett
    .
    instant coffee
    Madhuri Pillai
     .
    .
    I have no idea what this means, but intrigued! 🙂
    .
    “doz by eyz”
    Marcyn Del Clements
    .
    .
    And gosh, blokes and their often excruciating overdose of cologne or aftershave! 🙂
    .
    miasma
    Margaret Walker
    .
    .

    scree
    Margherita Petriccione
    .
    .
    roo poo
    Marietta McGregor
    Alan’s clue: kangeroos and a lot of them, all busting to go the restroom. 😉
    .
    .
     coming winter
    michael ceraolo
    .
     
    charred redwoods –
    Michael H. Lester
    .
    petrichor
    Michael Smeer
    .
    Why is it that the first few minutes, even hours, that woodsmoke smells wonderful, and then next morning there is almost nothing as rank as that smell? 😉
    .
    “woodsmoke” as “eau de cologne”
    Michele L. Harvey
     .
    fox sniffing
    Mike Gallagher
    .
    underlying
    Nancy Brady
    .
    goodbye
    Philip Whitley
    .
     mushroom smell of fog
    Polona Oblak
     .
    even before
    Pris Campbell
    .
    tang
    Rachel Sutcliffe
     .
    .
    I love new names, and of course this makes me think of India!
    .
    sissoo
    Radhamani sarma
    .
    .
    Dalbergia sissoo – Wikipedia
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalbergia_sissoo
    Dalbergia sissoo, known commonly as North Indian rosewood
    .
    .
    homemade bread
    Radostina Dragostinova
    .
    .
    cow pie aka cow pat, the gift of cows! 🙂
    But also a famous ingredient of The Dandy comic and Desperate Dan! 🙂
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2188437/The-Dandy–Desperate-news-Dans-eaten-cow-pie.html
    .
    cow pie
    Randy Brooks
     .
    .
    desert
    Rehn Kovacic
     .
    snowscent
    Roberta Beary
    .
    Probably not Italy’s city of Venice, but…
    .
    venice footpath
    robyn brooks
    .
    .
    And of course, even as a single word, this brings forth both a tyrant and a hero to mind, and a brandy! 🙂
     .
    Elba
    Rosa Maria Di Salvatore
     .
    mushroom days
    Sandi Pray
     .

    rubbing shoulders
    Sanjuktaa Asopa
     .
    the timber rattler’s tongue
    Sari Grandstaff
    .
    fresh bread
    Serhiy Shpychenko
    .

    snake roast
    shandon land
     .

    moonless
    stefano riondato
     .
    bear scat
    Stephen A. Peters
     .
    soil
    Tomoko Nakata
    .
     
    campfire
    Tsanka Shishkova
     .
    earthy notes
    Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
    .

    forest rain
    Victor Ortiz
    .
     
    sweat
    Vishnu Kapoor
    .
    The axis of words, or even just one word, or two, or three can really power a haiku along and push it from a good verse to a highly memorable one. As is the case, I can’t comment or quote from every poem, but use that absence to check those poems out and find your own vision of the axis of words!
    .
    The Axis of Words©Alan Summers 2018

    1. Thank you Alan for the time and attention to this endeavor. It is much appreciated.

      Barbara

      1. Thank you!
        .
        .
        changing wind the faint scent of coming rain
        .
        Barbara Tate
        Winchester, TN
        .
        .
        Lots of strong words, including ‘changing wind’ too!
        .
        warm regards

    2. As always an excellent read, Alan. I like the theme of leaving the countryside and entering the big city environment. It was certainly an experience, for me when it came to sounds and smells, colours, especially wandering the markets. Engaging with the diverse ethnic people was something special, a wonderful experience.
      I hope we go down this route 🙂

      1. Thanks Carol!
        .
        Having been brought up in Bristol (England) there were so many foxes in the streets near my parents’ house. I was often seeing a fox ahead of me, and on one occasion passed a stone pillar on my way home at night and realised at the last second that top part was a live fox! 🙂
        .
        Markets are always fascinating, from the London markets I visited while working there during the late 1970s and early 1980s to the Indian and Turkish markets, and recently the souks in Marrakech, and being nudged by a donkey in a narrow alley! 🙂

        1. Such a rich engagement you have had in various parts of the world, when I attend another of your Ginko, I hope there will be more time to talk of such things.
          I can just see that nudge 🙂

          1. Hi Carol! 🙂
            .
            We are planning a couple of very different but exciting types of ginko, and hope you can come to one or even both of them.
            .
            Lots of behind the scenes preparation ongoing. 🙂
            .
            I definitely think time to talk is very important in any kind of workshop or event, and that’s something we are working on, as it’s the company and the banter that can also help unlock nuggets of memories, as well as be fun. Fun is a great learning companion, as well as fun in itself. 🙂

    3. Alan, thank you for taking the time to point out those words that have an impact. And yes, I almost wrote “miasma of after-shave” but thought “cologne” covered either gender ( no pun intended here).

      1. Dear Angiola,
        .
        Wonderful haiku!
        .
        .
        pathway
        of pine needles –
        resin scented wind
        .
        Angiola Inglese
        .
        .
        I also thought “pathway of pine needles” was great, and very apt as Christmas has Santa and parents starting to think about the season.
        .
        You are very kind to say:
        .
        “precious directions”
        .
        Thank you! 🙂

      1. Thanks Pris! 🙂
        .
        .
        even before
        I reach the next turn –
        wild lilacs
        .
        Pris Campbell
        .
        .
        That’s a great ginko haiku too! And I love that ‘even before…” 🙂
        .
        .
        And “…the next turn” or the next bend in the track, river, stream, road or street, can deliver small bars of gold!

    6. Dear Kathy and Alan,

      Thank you for the happy surprise, Kathy, of featuring and commenting on my haiku! I am thrilled also to have you, Alan, comment on it… along with those of others.

      hiking encounter
      the scent of woodsmoke
      on his shirt

      This avenue of exploration and practice provided by The Haiku Foundation, great editor kj Munro, and master haikuist, Alan Summers has been and continues to be all kinds of wonderful for me. A dependable source of prompts, encouraging friendships, and learning … especially during the hilly past year. I look forward to you all and it all each week.

      Heartfelt thank you’s,
      Claire

      Claire Vogel Camargo

      1. Thanks Claire! 🙂
        .
        Kathy has certainly created a great feature for us, where we can participate and be challenged, and have fun doing so. 🙂
        .
        Here’s to next Wednesday’s wonderful batch of haiku! 🙂

    7. thank you Alan, as always, for your contribution of the axis of words here – such a brilliant starting point for discussion… (as for ‘by doz by eyz’ – I took this to mean hay fever, & the resulting stuffy nosed pronunciation of ‘my nose my eyes’…)
      & thanks also to Barbara, Carol, Margaret, Angiola, Pris, & Claire for your participation here!

      1. Thanks kj!
        .
        Ah, I remember now lots of comedy sketches years ago that played on how someone spoke during a heavy cold. I try to avoid viruses now, and mostly do. 🙂

  16. Many thanks for selecting one of mine! Always thrilled and grateful.
    .
    I think we all recognize the punishing schedule and amount of work Kathy undergoes in order to get this highly successful project up and running every week. Also Alan’s regular and insightful contribution, which opens up new ways to look at our work. Thank you to you both, and for the many ways I’ve learned from all of us through weeks of poems and comments.
    .
    Whichever way we progress in 2019, and I’ll try to think in due course of new features/subjects, I would like to make Kathy’s life easier. As already suggested, fewer poems will concentrate our minds on what works, and maybe even what does not. Of course, somebody has then to select those poems, and, once Kathy decides on a feature, I’m thinking how we can all help to choose those dozen, or half dozen on which to comment, perhaps by voting, a bit like a kukai? I don’t know . . . I’m just throwing out an idea and hope no one throws up their hands in horror! Somehow we need to avoid the exercise becoming a competition, which is what a kukai is essentially. Just a continuation of a gentle learning exercise. Does the feature, for example, have to be every week? Why not once per month, each month a different subject thrown out to us so that we have time to think of our very best, and only one poem? It can still concentrate on our five (or even six) senses, and still be tuned into a specific place. What do you think, Kathy? Alan? Anyone?

    1. You raise a lot of good points, Ingrid. Perhaps if had a maximum, say, 2, on poems to submit, so Kathy has fewer to sift through each week? And perhaps we could use the comments section after to share other efforts–maybe make it more of a workshop. I know I always get a lot out of the poem/comments on the Tiny Words site.

    2. All good points! Unless someone has been an editor they can’t know the behind-the-scenes really long hours and other aspects.
      .
      A deep bow to Kathy as this feature and whatever she brings next is now a vital part of The Haiku Foundation, and not just on Wednesday! 🙂
      .
      I do like the idea that we don’t think it’s a competition and it’s not about what haiku we personally get posted on the page.
      .
      There’s this really obvious but potent quote by Pam Allyn that we risk not using as a rule-of-thumb:
      .
      .
      Quote by Pam Allyn
      .
      “Reading and writing cannot be separated. Reading is breathing in; writing is breathing out.”
      .
      Alan Summers: “There is no separation: A writer is a reader first.”

      .
      .

      Pam Allyn is an American literacy expert and author. Pam is the founding director of LitWorld, a global literacy initiative serving children across the United States and in more than 60 countries.
      .
      .
      It’s one of the reasons I do my post (okay, often it’s a long post 🙂 ) because I worry too much that each poem isn’t read like savouring the most perfect concoction be it food or drink, or painting, or the most loveliest and most right shoes to float down a street with, and just float. 🙂
      .
      I’m guessing ideas are percolating within Kathy, so I have no worries, only wonderful anticipation.
      🙂
      .
      .
      But I hope lots of people send in ideas too, that would be really interesting to know what everyone would like, and need. This has been a brilliant feature, Kathy, and I can’t wait to see how it evolves even further! 🙂

      1. I personally wouldn’t like the kukai idea since that’s even more work tallying votes and reading all of the submissions to do so. I’ve been in kukai’s and stopped because they became too tedious. No matter what, those end up feeling like a comletition, i love the relaxed feel of it now. i hope Katherine can tell us how to make her job easier, too. She’s on the receiving end and perhaps has ideas about which parts create the most work. Does sending four choices make it easier for her to pick one that works well or is that too much?

        1. Hi Prissier! 🙂
          .
          All good points for Kathy to look at. Definitely the admin side, having been an editor for numerous journals, anthologies, competitions, can be tricky if there are too many unrelated matters going on too, such as family; bills; income; other projects.
          .
          Maybe three, or even two haiku per person? I work hard on mine, or zing myself into a zone that a line comes to me and I can pull a phrase to be its partner, and just send one. Of course there isn’t the excitement of which one Kathy will pick. 🙂
          .
          .
          Kathy said:
          .
          “Calling all readers/writers – Here is your chance to influence the direction of this feature!
          Please submit your suggestions for feature ideas for 2019 – we are looking for overall themes that could generate 26 or 52 weekly sub-themes… include with your regular poem submission, or on a separate form… thank you!”
          .
          .
          Laurie Greer said:
          .
          “And perhaps we could use the comments section after to share other efforts–maybe make it more of a workshop. I know I always get a lot out of the poem/comments on the Tiny Words site.”
          .
          If people aren’t concerned about other versions or other poems-in-progress not being kept to submit to a journal etc… it’d be fascinating why they chose one poem or poems to send, and kept the others back.
          .
          We can all learn from everyone why one lot of poems is sent and others kept back, and the thinking process.
          .
          I like dance music as much as silence to write, so I’ll often play iTune samples that are 90 seconds long, and play Ibiza, electronica, sometimes rock, sometimes 70s, 80s, or 90s, or completely new singers and groups. And there’s a new Ministry of Sound album due out soon too! 🙂
          .
          .
          Ingrid Baluchi said:
          .
          “Why not once per month, each month a different subject thrown out to us so that we have time to think of our very best, and only one poem? It can still concentrate on our five (or even six) senses, and still be tuned into a specific place. What do you think, Kathy? Alan? Anyone?”
          .
          .
          I’m pretty burnt out as our house is being renovated, accounts to do, course lessons and manuscripts to work on in close and exciting detail, a book to finish for 2019, new projects etc… but I am sure some of you here will throw out some terrific ideas that will also encourage more ideas from people. 🙂
          .
          Off the back of my Slip Realism feature for The Haiku Foundation’s Per Diem one year, I was asked to create something new to be part of that and created The Slip-Realism Perception Challenge. It’s all about sense of place in one sense or another and could be fun to think about over the Fall and Winter months:
          .
          http://area17.blogspot.com/2018/01/slip-realism-haiku-about-lives-and.html
          .
          And also think up what travellers have to do, from Santa to frequent miles travellers! 🙂

        2. thanks for this, Pris – I hesitate to limit the number of poems per submission for a variety of reasons…

    3. thank you so much Ingrid, Laurie & Alan – we will consider all suggestions, but what I am hearing is keep it relaxed, & not a competition – which I totally agree with! The plan right now is to make the post itself much shorter, so there is more time & space for the comments – this should address Alan’s idea about spending more time with each poem… with the possibility of more ‘tinywords’ responses, as Laurie suggests…

  17. Thanks for including one of mine in this scent-ual collection. Having been busy working for the local board of election, I haven’t looked at email and didn’t know. Now, to read all the others more thoroughly.

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