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Per Diem for December 2020: Memoir

Per Diem: Daily Haiku for December 2020 features Tia Haynes’ collection on the theme of ‘Memoir’. This is what Tia has to say by way of an introduction to this theme:

I love to meet new people. I love hearing about their lives, their hopes and dreams, about the people they care about, and the people they don’t. It is all endlessly fascinating to me and spurs me on to take a closer look at my own life, for I believe that it is what we hold onto and what we share that defines us.

In this collection, I have gathered senryu from across the world that showcases the art of memoir. Senryu is not only about wit, humor, and satire, it is about sharing the vast tapestry of experiences that make up our collective humanity. It creates an ongoing conversation of all that we see and feel around us. Senryu can be formed from the moments that hold deep importance. Whether grand or playful, joyful, or full of pain, senryu can be used to explore it all. It can help us capture what we hope to never forget, and give us a means to retell our stories. The stories that define us. The stories that connect us. The stories that will outlive us when we are gone. Our memoirs.

– Tia Haynes

This Post Has 20 Comments

  1. Trying again for spacing.
    .
    .
    .

    Mama’s teas…
    polishing the silver
    and me
    .
    Stardust Haiku, Issue 44

    .
    .
    .

    ashes scattered
    the surfboard
    gathers dust in the corner
    .
    Failed Haiku, Issue 34

    .
    .
    .

    “Heart and Soul”
    it was meant to be
    a duet
    .
    Failed Haiku, Issue 33

    .
    .
    .
    her closet…
    “L’Air du Temps”
    lingers

  2. Mama’s teas…
    polishing the silver
    and me
    Stardust Haiku, Issue 44

    ashes scattered
    the surfboard
    gathers dust in the corner

    Failed Haiku, Issue 34

    “Heart and Soul”
    it was meant to be
    a duet

    Failed Haiku, Issue 33

    her closet…
    “L’Air du Temps”
    lingers

    1. Again the spacing totally changed when I actually submitted. I can’t seem to “fix” this so that it doesn’t happen. Sorry.

      1. Hi Margaret,
        .
        I asked about this and even our wonderful web guy doesn’t know how to add html code to separate things.
        .
        So it’s a bit clunky, but I just use the smallest symbol as a separator which is the period/full-stop aka .
        .
        .

  3. cherry blossoms
    a girl wears lipstick
    for the first time

    (Blithe Spirit, British Haiku Society Awards Honourable Mention, 2019)

    clouds cover
    and uncover the moon
    he lifts her blouse

    baggage check
    the backward glance
    she didn’t give

    she says
    maybe in a perfect world
    departing flight

    replaying
    things she didn’t say
    departure gate

    crescent moon
    she asks to see the ring
    in better light

    her eyes
    say yes
    Quaker wedding

    cherry blossoms
    a girl wears lipstick
    for the first time

    clouds cover
    and uncover the moon
    he lifts her blouse

    crescent moon
    she asks to see the ring
    in better light

    she says
    maybe in a perfect world
    departing flight

    replaying
    things she didn’t say
    departure gate

    baggage check
    the backward glance
    she didn’t give

    her eyes
    say yes
    Quaker wedding

    cherry blossoms
    a girl wears lipstick
    for the first time

    clouds cover
    and uncover the moon
    he lifts her blouse

    crescent moon
    she asks to see the ring
    in better light

    she says
    maybe in a perfect world
    departing flight

    replaying
    things she didn’t say
    departure gate

    baggage check
    the backward glance
    she didn’t give

    her eyes
    say yes
    Quaker wedding

    1. Sorry — I don’t know why the spaces between the poems disappeared. Each poem is three lines.

      1. cherry blossoms
        a girl wears lipstick
        for the first time
        .
        .
        Blithe Spirit Volume 30 Number 2, British Haiku Society Awards Honourable Mention 2019
        .
        .
        clouds cover
        and uncover the moon
        he lifts her blouse
        .
        .
        crescent moon
        she asks to see the ring
        in better light
        .
        .
        she says
        maybe in a perfect world
        departing flight
        .
        .
        replaying
        things she didn’t say
        departure gate
        .
        .
        baggage check
        the backward glance
        she didn’t give
        .
        .
        her eyes
        say yes
        Quaker wedding

  4. More memoir, and also, rêverie observation©Alan Summers 🙂
    .
    .
    café longueur
    a Parisian train station
    invents snow
    .
    Alan Summers
    Presence #68 (November 2020)
    .
    .

  5. her ginger sponge
    cooks in the wood stove
    warming the kitchen

    the whip cracks
    the cracking
    of egg shells

    she sighs
    still no wood
    on the wood heap

    In the first, I speak extensively of mum’s cooking prowess cooking for my cake loving father on the dairy farm in country Queensland, Australia.

    In the second I have fond memories of my father sitting tall in the saddle mustering cattle.

    In number three—My father was not particularly good at keeping up the wood supply for the kitchen. That would entail my mother walking into the paddocks and dragging home small dead limbs of trees, sometimes managing a baby at the same time.

    1. Dear Giddy Nielsen-Sweep,
      .
      I just thought I’d break up the text so your three haiku can be seen separately alongside your comments, if that’s okay?
      .
      .
      her ginger sponge
      cooks in the wood stove
      warming the kitchen
      .
      .
      In the first, I speak extensively of mum’s cooking prowess cooking for my cake loving father on the dairy farm in country Queensland, Australia.
      .
      .

      the whip cracks
      the cracking
      of egg shells
      .
      .
      In the second I have fond memories of my father sitting tall in the saddle mustering cattle.
      .
      .
      she sighs
      still no wood
      on the wood heap
      .
      .
      In number three—My father was not particularly good at keeping up the wood supply for the kitchen. That would entail my mother walking into the paddocks and dragging home small dead limbs of trees, sometimes managing a baby at the same time.

  6. A great theme!
    .
    I’m reminded indirectly of my method coined as “rêverie observation” which is a new aspect of Slip-Realism but one where versions of memory from our earlier life or lives are captured. 
    Created by Alan Summers (Sunday 8th April 2018).
    .
    .

    1. .
      .

      Julie Warther’s kettle memoir reminded me of the big move from using a saucepan to boil water for tea, to a kettle (non-electric) to place on an oven ring. That was massive for us. The oven was the ONLY electrical thing other than lights that we had in the kitchen!
      .
      .

      bright breeze
      the kettle warms up
      a cloudless day
      .
      Alan Summers
      Publication credits: Presence #44 (2011)
      .
      .
      And then years later we went electric! 🙂
      .
      .
      deep into winter
      the sun measured
      in kettle clicks
      .
      Alan Summers
      Publication Credit: Presence issue #55
      .
      .

      Here’s a different kind of memoir poem, or a “rêverie observation” (coined by Alan Summers Sunday 8th April 2018) for a poem just published a few days ago:
      .
      .

      postman’s whistle the starling’s bill changes to black
      .

      Alan Summers
      Publication credit: Presence #68 (November 2020)
      .
      .
      Note:
      The starling’s bill changes to yellow in Spring and black in Autumn. And yes we had a postie that whistled!

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