The Haiku Foundation Forums

It looks like you had fun, Alan! Love the costume!

Thank you for sharing the pictures. :):)

Best,
Vida

What Karen says :)

I am also new and perfectly understand  that feeling of being lost. Reading tanka, (not about tanka- which is also necessary :) ) helps me.

http://www.amazon.com/Long-Rainy-Season-Collection-Literature/dp/1880656159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357181523&sr=1-1&keywords=1880656159

http://fayaoyagi.wordpress.com/
(type "tanka" in the search box)

Best,
Vida

So nice to see you, Alan :)

Wonderful talk!


Best,
Vida

Thank you, all, for the comments, the help, the support, the interesting discussions!

Vida

Not to start an argument, just thinking aloud. I have hard time to believe that a poet like Elizabeth Searle Lamb did not consider the possibility to have the poem with or without "blind." Maybe if we knew more about the circumstances that led to creating the poem, or about the world in which the blind people live, we would understand it better.
In any case, this is very interesting thread. :)

Best,
Vida

Hi Chase,

I think everybody goes through periods like this - when nothing you write seems good :). I usually stop writing and start reading: Basho and some "new stuff." Fay's blog is one of my favorite. http://fayaoyagi.wordpress.com/. I also start spending more time outside, raking leaves really helps clear your mind :).
In a few days I try again.

Or you can keep on writing, without trying to  create "the best  haiku you ever wrote." Tell yourself that you write just for the practice and the best haiku will come by itself :))

Best,
Vida

Julie,

Type "haiku readings" in you tube. There are lots of videos, you can choose the way you like best :))

Best,
Vida

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/worldkigolibrary/message/247

This is the place, where I got the quote from Susumu Takiguchi. I am not commenting, just thought that it wasn't right to post before only the last sentence.

Just found this,

"If it takes all sorts to make a world, then, let us have all sorts of haiku ways to build a truly comprehensive and tolerant world of haiku."
-Susumu Takiguchi

:)

the blind child reading my poem with her fingertips

-- Elizabeth Searle Lamb

Hi :)
Sure, this doesn't have a kigo, or three lines, (probably the count would not be s-l-s, if we place it in 3 lines), and it's only one image, but it's a haiku for me. I read somewhere that the most important thing in a haiku is the transformation - to notice and express a moment when a transformation is happening. And, imo, this poem is all about that.
Now, I am a beginner by any standards and I can be wrong, but here's how I see it:

the blind child reading my poem with her fingertips


"The poem" as it was before this blind child read it is no longer existing. All the previous readers, the author included, have been reading with they eyes. This new reader is literally touching the words. I cannot imagine how that feels.  I also cannot imagine the extraordinary experience of the poet, seeing that, seeing her poem transformed through a different sense- the touch.
When someone reads our work, we look at their face, we follow their eyes, eager to guess what they think, even before they say it. One can almost feel the energy in the air. Can you imagine how much stronger would be that energy when the reader is blind and your eyes are jumping from their fingertips to their face (is there a smile, a frown?) and back. Or maybe, you forget all about the face, you just look at the hand literally touching your poem.
That energy, imo, transforms the poem and the author. 

:)
Vida
   

I have to add Alexis Rotella. What she writes is probably senryu and kyoka, but I can't imagine the  English haiku scene without her :))

Best,
Vida

deer tracks
under the window...
I sign the prenup

Vida

prenup –
the hummingbird guards
her nest

Don

nest in a pine tree
abandoned half-way complete--
so many promises

Adelaide

the promises of God...
she adjusts the IV drip
and turns a page

Vida

wine and roses -
this blood-moon awaits
the wolf

Don

wolf whistle
the fox on the corner
turns to look

Andy

looking back at me
the accusing eye
of the shot deer

Adelaide

deer tracks
under the window...
I sign the prenup

Vida

next time –
i'm glad there
is one

lulu

one dozen roses
placed before his photo-
12 years alone

Adelaide

alone
the first man on the moon
steps into immortality

Andy

immortality?
a fruit fly in the glass
with over aged wine

Vida

Congratulations!

Best,
Vida