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 Submit an original unpublished poem (or poems) via our Contact Form by Sunday midnight on the theme of the week, including your name as you would like it to appear, and place of residence.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 shirtClaire 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 rainMargo 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 hillMartha 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 sprayMary Hanrahan
Salisbury Pass
three hours shy of
all day protectionMichael 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 greenAalix Roake
walking
until I float
on the scent of pineAdrian Bouter
a wind battered fire
another stick is added
that was once a treeAlan Summers
Wiltshire, England
frost in the morning –
the acrid smell of moss
on the bootsAngela Giordano
pathway
of pine needles –
resin scented windAngiola Inglese
trail’s end –
wild roses scenting
into the windAnna 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 mistsarvinder kaur
Chandigarh, India
banana slug misses
its slimy trail
the scent of homeAstrid 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 fortBona M. Santos
Los Angeles, Ca
down wind the fox before me
Carol Jones
Wales
lingering
through the midday hike
the scent of palm wineCelestine 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 fearChristina Pecoraro
NY, USA
the scent
of baby’s breath
family hikeChristina Sng
narcotic scent of forest
easier steps
to finishDanijela Grbelja
Sibenik, Croatia
guided blindly
by her fragrance
night hikeDavid Gale
Gloucester, UK
dusty trail
I bathe in the smell
of forestDeborah P Kolodji
on our descent
delight infusing the air
grape hyacinthDevin Harrison
Vancouver Island, Canada
hiking by the bay
tangles of seaweed rot
in low tidedianne moritz
the smell of hiking
in the apartment – goat’s
droppings on the shoesDubravka 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 rucksackEufemia Griffo
stone walls crumble
the fragrance of lilac
mingles with fogGary Hittmeyer
Shokan, NY
chestnut forest –
the shadows spread
a scent of drenchedGiovanna Restuccia
Italy
starched white shirt
line-dried jeans
cowboy trail guideGreer Woodward
Waimea, HI
neroli –
the hiker
a brideGuliz Mutlu
bridle path…
fewer horses
fewer rosesHelen Buckingham
hidden trails
of a scent afar
mountain valerianHelga Stania
Switzerland
solitary walk
smell of fears
in the rainforestHifsa Ashraf
Pakistan
trail-side walnut tree
irresistible
the scent of a crushed leafIngrid Baluchi
winter hike
wrapped in a knitted scarf
the smell of wet wooljanice 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 creosoteKathleen Mazurowski
savoring the sweet scent of aster autumn’s bumblebee
Kelly Sauvage Angel
Crescent Trail…
its weathered sign
keeping me on the scentLaurie Greer
Washington, DC
deep forest trail
cushions of pine needles
scent every stepLinda Ludwig
snowy trail
I open a flask
of peppermint teaLucy Whitehead
Essex, UK
cold air infragrant
until cresting the last hill
wood smoke beckonsm. shane pruett
Salem, OR
trail end
instant coffee
never smelt so goodMadhuri 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 cologneMargaret Walker
Lincoln, NE
scree
smelling of sun –
hiking trailMargherita Petriccione
river water –
smells of moss
every stoneMaria Teresa Piras
trail pit stop…
the rich aroma
of roo pooMarietta McGregor
on our mucky trail
we hurry past saltmarsh –
stench of rotten eggs!MaryEllen Gambutti
First frost
on the trail –
smell of coming wintermichael ceraolo
South Euclid, Ohio
breathing deep
the scent of charred redwoods –
closed-off hiking trailMichael H. Lester
Los Angeles CA USA
november ginko
I meditate at the first scent
of petrichorMichael Smeer
Haarlemmermeer, The Netherlands
trail’s end –
my woodsmoke
eau de cologneMichele L. Harvey
fox sniffing our scent lingers
Mike Gallagher
Ireland
nature trail
the underlying scent
of moldy leavesNancy Brady
Huron, Ohio
the park path…
my foundling dog sniffs out
his master’s traceNatalia Kuznetsova
Russia
long trek back
to the village…
woodsmoke smellOlivier Schopfer
Geneva, Switzerland
deep woods
the scent of mushrooms
on a forgotten trailPat Davis
Pembroke, NH
newly mown hay
watery eyes
as we say goodbyePhilip Whitley
SC, USA
valley path
the mushroom smell
of fogPolona Oblak
even before
I reach the next turn –
wild lilacsPris Campbell
dawn hike
first tang of woodsmoke
in the windRachel Sutcliffe
Himalayan trails
back home – sissoo in my
nostrils stillRadhamani sarma
forest trail following his backpack homemade bread flavor
Radostina Dragostinova
Bulgaria
flashlight beam
seeks the cabin path
fresh cow pieRandy Brooks
morning breeze
follows me along the trail
scent of the desertRehn Kovacic
the scent
of November rain –
hiking trailRéka Nyitrai
hiking in my
dead dad’s jacket
snowscentRoberta Beary
County Mayo Ireland
venice footpath –
rich coffee beans roasting
at first lightrobyn brooks
usa
wariness at O’Bannon Creek
I cross paths
with a skunkRonald 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 daysSandi Pray
narrowing trail
rubbing shoulders
with the pine scentSanjuktaa Asopa
the timber rattler’s tongue
sniffs the loamy air
Overlook trailSari Grandstaff
Saugerties, NY, USA
the smell of fresh bread
morning fog
sticks to the pathSerhiy Shpychenko
Kyiv, UA
remote trail
snake roasts on a spit
the smell of survivalshandon land
morning walk –
my dog meets
a new friendSlobodan Pupovac
Zagreb, Croatia
in the clearing
a timeless scent
moonlessstefano riondato
Skyline Divide trail
the smell of bear scat
among our footstepsStephen A. Peters
a trail on a hill
withered grass wet with dew
the smell of soilTomoko Nakata
Japan
campfire –
aroma of pine in
the July duskTsanka Shishkova
fall hike –
the air crafts a fragrance
of earthy notesValentina Ranaldi-Adams
Fairlawn, Ohio USA
hunger pangs
the aroma of maggi
makes me hike fasterVandana Parashar
with hints
of honey and pineapple
forest rainVictor Ortiz
Bellingham, WA
long trail in summer
dripping sweat mingles with
smell of wild flowersVishnu 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
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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
No worries, Peggy – we have no plans to change from the weekly schedule at this point – thanks so much for sharing your thoughts here!
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.
2019
In my opinion, a cosmic adventure will be a real challenge and pleasure
🙂
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!
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.
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.
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 🙂
wonderful – thank you Craig! & thanks Carol!
Thank you Katherine for your patient and important work, it is a pleasure to participate and read these beautiful selections.
thanks for this, Angiola!
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.
thanks for sharing, Sari!
Thank-you for publishing my haiku, Kathy
thanks, as always, for submitting, Valentina!
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
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! 🙂
Thanks, Alan 🙂
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.
Thanks Christina! 🙂
.
Enjoy tackling the next prompt too! 🙂
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!
thanks so much for submitting, & for sharing this, Christina – welcome! & know that we are all learning from each other here…
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!
thanks for this, Mary!
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”.
thanks for this, Barbara – the volunteer work I do for the haiku community is extremely rewarding!
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!
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
thanks so much for sharing – Alan & Margo!
Thank you Alan! I am just getting to read this. I am learning so much. Appreciate it!
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! 🙂
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.
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
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.
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)
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…
Thank you, Carol. I am always happy to have company on the long way home.
Thank you Barbara.
thanks to Carol, Christina & Barbara for sharing comments here!
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.
,
Dear Radhamani sarma,
.
Thank you for your comment, and words can really spin a web of power in a small poem like haiku. 🙂
thanks for submitting & for your comments here once again, Radhamani sarma!
Thank you, Katherine… it is a pleasure for me to have my haiku included in this beautiful selection!
thank you for this!
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
Thank you Alan for the time and attention to this endeavor. It is much appreciated.
Barbara
Thank you!
.
.
changing wind the faint scent of coming rain
.
Barbara Tate
Winchester, TN
.
.
Lots of strong words, including ‘changing wind’ too!
.
warm regards
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 🙂
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! 🙂
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 🙂
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. 🙂
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).
Hi Margaret!
.
Ah, yes, cologne looks and sounds better than aftershave, and often males used aftershave as a cologne at times. 🙂
Thanks Alan for reporting my words and for your precious directions
Angiola
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! 🙂
Such a good summary, Alan, and thanks for the mention,
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!
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
Thanks Claire! 🙂
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Kathy has certainly created a great feature for us, where we can participate and be challenged, and have fun doing so. 🙂
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Here’s to next Wednesday’s wonderful batch of haiku! 🙂
thanks indeed for your kind words, Claire!
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!
Thanks kj!
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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. 🙂
Congratulations everyone and, as ever, a big thanks to Katherine.
thanks Helen!
Many thanks for selecting one of mine! Always thrilled and grateful.
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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.
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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?
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.
All good points! Unless someone has been an editor they can’t know the behind-the-scenes really long hours and other aspects.
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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! 🙂
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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.
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There’s this really obvious but potent quote by Pam Allyn that we risk not using as a rule-of-thumb:
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Quote by Pam Allyn
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“Reading and writing cannot be separated. Reading is breathing in; writing is breathing out.”
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Alan Summers: “There is no separation: A writer is a reader first.”
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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.
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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. 🙂
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I’m guessing ideas are percolating within Kathy, so I have no worries, only wonderful anticipation.
🙂
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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! 🙂
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?
Hi Prissier! 🙂
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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.
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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. 🙂
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Kathy said:
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“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!”
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Laurie Greer said:
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“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.”
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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.
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We can all learn from everyone why one lot of poems is sent and others kept back, and the thinking process.
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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! 🙂
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Ingrid Baluchi said:
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“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?”
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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. 🙂
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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:
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http://area17.blogspot.com/2018/01/slip-realism-haiku-about-lives-and.html
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And also think up what travellers have to do, from Santa to frequent miles travellers! 🙂
thanks for this, Pris – I hesitate to limit the number of poems per submission for a variety of reasons…
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…
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.
thanks, as always, for submitting Nancy!