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Per Diem for November 2020: Horses

Per Diem: Daily Haiku for November 2020 features Jennifer Sutherland’s collection on the theme of ‘Horses’. This is what Jennifer has to say by way of an introduction to this theme:

“When I bestride him, I soar. I am a hawk: he trots the air; the earth sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes” — Shakespeare Henry V- Act III

Throughout history, they have lived in servitude to humankind.
They have carried soldiers into fierce battles, nomads on endless journeys, galloped in races for our entertainment, been revered by royalty and admired by many. They have inspired great works of art and literature and featured in mythology, magic and religion.
They are arguably the noblest of all animals.

It is with much pleasure that I welcome you to November’s Per Diem on the theme of Equss – the horse.

My gratitude and thanks to all the poets and those who kindly consented to the publication of haiku for this feature. Now everyone, saddle up and enjoy the ride!

Jennifer Sutherland.

 

This Post Has 38 Comments

  6. across the blue dome of the great basin mustang’s eye

    recommend the film “the Misfits” streaming on Amazon video…

  11. horses in the dusk . . .
    half-remembered dreams
    of a rail journey
     
    .
    Alan Summers
    Publication Credits: hedgerow: a journal of small poems issue #53 (October 30, 2015)
    European Haiku Society journal Makoto, A New Haiku Perpective issue 1:1 January 2, 2016

  14. Icelandic horses have a great history as I discovered first hand on an exciting big family holiday with both brothers-in-law, Karen, Susan, and 12 year old nephew Ben! 🙂
    .
    .
    harvest season
    an Icelandic horse
    in its rainbow
    .
    Alan Summers
    The English-Speaking Union of Japan (December 1st 2019)
    イベント ESUJ-H: English Haiku (Japan) ed. Emiko Miyashita and Tetsuya Kotaki
    .
    .
    Oh, and these are nine, but there more, things you might not know about those horses! 🙂
    https://www.whatson.is/9-things-didnt-know-icelandic-horse/

    1. Indeed
      .
      the rag man’s horse
      leaving a message
      for poor picking
      .
      the rag man’s horse
      choosing the child’s carrot
      over the oat bag

      1. And the brilliant George Norris, a third generation rag and bone man working in Hessle Road area of Hull in 1983. We became good friends in about a minute, which is typical of the warmth of people from Hull! 🙂
        .
        rag & bone man
        a horse re-emerges
        from its road
        .
        Alan Summers
        unpublished
        .
        This short film documents the work of HULL photographer GEORGE NORRIS. The film explores why George became interested in photography and why he captures the sights within his home city. Catch him with his horse when he was a ragpicker aged 19!
        https://vimeo.com/209618698

  15. Enjoying these wonderful horse haiku.
    .
    his war badge
    all we have of his time
    in the vets corp

    1. I was horrified how horses were treated in WWI, and other wars. We owe so much to horses.
      .
      Is this about a grandparent or a grandparent’s horse that saw active service?
      .
      Hope to see you later this month too! 🙂

  18. freedom to explore
    the paddocks green expanse
    the taste of grass

    Thanks Alan, you brought back some memories for me. Memories of my time on the farm, my childhood home in Queensland, and my visits back there. I enjoyed riding, but had a history of falling off!

    1. Which part of Queensland? I moved into farmland around Warrill View so not far from Harrisville! I remember the postmaster woman eyeing me up with curiosity and suspicion as I’d pick up post from USA and Japan mostly!
      .
      I made the mistake of showing off to a girl, and I was wearing a suit. I never fell off but it was a frantic galloping that I barely got under control. Despite feeding the mother and daughter (a Christmas Day foal just gone midnight) at 430am every morning, they could be moody! 🙂
      .
      Ah, those sneaky blue skies that could deliver a deluge even with no rain clouds! 🙂
      .
      .
      hard-blue sky
      the ghost touch of rain
      on sloe-eyed horses
      .
      Alan Summers
      Publication credit: Blithe Spirit (Vol 22 No. 3 2012)

      1. Dear esteemed poet,
        Greetings.

        hard-blue sky
        the ghost touch of rain
        on sloe-eyed horses

        Each image, each depiction, taking us beyond its scope, a world of its unique dimension, still make us ask — where does it end.
        with regards
        S.Radhamani

  19. .
    .
    breaking up–
    the winter landscape
    of sunlit horses
    .
    Alan Summers
    .
    Best of Mainichi 2013 (Japan, 2014)
    “There are no useless words or phrases. A perfect haiku.”
    –Isamu Hashimoto
    .

  20. The today’s Per Diem:
    .
    I close my eyes and in the void a black horse prances
    — Tomizawa Kakio
    .
    It’s also Naviar Record’s next choice to compose music to! 🙂
    .
    I close my eyes
    and in the void
    a black horse prances
    .
    Kakio Tomizawa (1902 – 1962)
    .
    He was one of the most influential members of the Shinko Haiku, an innovative movement that aimed at modernizing haiku in the early 20th century. By drawing inspiration from the Western literature and adding abstractions and analogies to their works, members of the Shinko Haiku group wanted to differentiate themselves from the trend of that period, which required poets to write haiku based on exact observations.
    .
    Seven days to make music in response to the assigned haiku: to participate visit https://www.naviarrecords.com/2020/11/11/naviarhaiku358-i-close-my-eyes/
    .
    Deadline: 18th November 2020
    .
    More haiku by Kakio Tomizawa http://www.big.or.jp/~loupe/links/ehisto/ekakio.shtml
    .

    1. Hi Alan,
      Thank you for your comments.
      This haiku introduced me to the poet Kakio Tomizawa. I then immediately started searching for more of his haiku. After reading about him, it seems he was a “trail blazer” . I would love to read more of his work (translated in English) .

      1. I couldn’t find too much that is in Japanese, with an English version:
        .
        .
        草二本だけ生えてゐる　時間11 富澤赤黄男 (1902-1962)
        .
        .
        only two blades
        of grass growing
        ―time
        .
        Kakio Tomizawa
        .
        Kakio Tomizawa, Tomizawa Kakio, Takaya Sōshū and Watanabe Hakusen (Tokyo: Asahi Simbun-sha, 1985), 93.

        .
        .
        Also twenty haiku here:
        https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Japanese-Haiku-Makoto-Ueda/dp/0802062458
        .
        .
        and
        .
        .
        Kakio Tomizawa, influenced by poems of the symbolists, tried to express the spleen of moderns. He introduced, in the Western way, the abstraction, the metaphor, and the analogy.　
        .　
        　。。。
        露人ワシコフ叫びて石榴打ち落す
        .　　
        rojin Washikofu sakebite zakuro uchiotosu
        .
        the Russian Washikoff
        shouted out and hit
        a pomegranate
        .
        The Russian was a neighbour of Sanki and he could observe him from his window on the second floor, hitting the fruit so that it would fall down. Washikoff was about 56 years and lived alone in the house, after his Japanese wife had died from a lung disease.
        .
        And
        .

        cho ochite dai-onkyo no keppyo-ki
        .
        Butterfly falling
        with a tremendous clatter
        in a time of ice
        .
        .

        Butterfly born from a scrap of paper — Kakio’s anniversary
        .
        “Chu-I” or “Message from Butterfly”
        Michio Nakahara (b. 1951)
        .

        The anniversary marked is that of Kakio Tomizawa (1902-1962), who died March 7, 2009, and whose most famous haiku describes a frozen butterfly “falling with a clatter in an age of ice.” With this allusion, Nakahara begins a series of verses about butterflies…

  21. I love the way this sounds:
    woodfire (stop)
    flickering in the silence (rest)
    corralled horses (the sounds penetrate the mind with a longing to be free)

    1. Thank you!
      .
      That was an amazing two or three day horse journey in Queensland, Australia, where we made our own damper bread too!
      .
      Thank you for your wonderful feedback, deeply appreciated.
      .
      warmest regards,
      Alan

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