Choice Haiku ~ Karina Klesko

 

 

Haiku Construction   full moon / the cricket’s song / and a lonely old man  - Maria Tirenescu, RO The Moon belongs to the category of "Heaven", naturally. But some activities around the time of the full moon in Autumn in Japan belong to the categories of Humanity or Observance. The word MOON without further connotation, refers to the AUTUMN MOON in Japanese haiku. Each month has a full moon, but the Harvest Moon, is the most significant and is widely celebrated. In this haiku, since moon is pre-empted by the word ‘full’ it could be a reference to any month. If the full moon is referred to as the Autumn Moon or Harvest moon then there would be a double kigo in this haiku or does the word cricket being an autumn kigo automatically make it a harvest moon? Perhaps because the haiku refers to the song and not to the actual cricket that can change the perception of kigo. Can we then say that the kigo in this haiku would be the Full Moon or Harvest Moon because of the reference to cricket. The full moon is not just a full moon in any month but is now defined by the word cricket. . . A reader will know what season the poem is referring to by the kigo or season words. A kigo is an unspoken reference. In a haiku series the poems should flow with change and throughout the seasons. The fullness of the moon, a full and rich season, both the cricket and the old man know winter is nearing. CHANGE is approaching a reminder nothing is static. The moon-cycles, life-cycles, seasonal-cycles, everything is constantly moving, changing . . . Japanese season words are not just descriptions of nature, they represent change. Each kigo shows the awareness of tradition, ways of daily life, the heavens, human nature, animals and insects. ______________________________________________________________ All haiku poems can conveniently be divided into three categories according to how traditional or radical they are. The most traditional end is grouped together under the Neo-classical with stringent kigo or 5-7-5 rules. The most radical (freest) end is classified as the Vanguard. Anything between these two falls into the Shintai (or new-style). The borderline cases can go into either category depending on the perception of a haiku poet who creates or reads the verses. And whichever category they may go into, it does not matter. from WKD: http://haikutopics.blogspot.com/2006/03/shinko-haiku.html The “Themed Haiku“  in the Thread at Sketchbook has never defined any restrictions. In contrast, the Kukai has to have a kigo and leans more towards the ‘traditional’ but not in the strict Neo-classical sense that it must have 5-7-5, 17 syllables. In the next haiku, summer evening and cicada song. The summer evening is the dominant kigo. Are these double kigo?  Again the reference is to the song. Since all of natures life cycles overlap several seasons—the cicada / spring, summer and autumn the word summer defines the season in this haiku. I am bringing up this discussion about kigo to make everyone AWARE of this when composing haiku. Neo-classical haiku have strict rules to follow: a single kigo, syllable count etc; in contrast the extreme Vanguard are not confined by rules. I recommend the link below to World Kigo Database or google it. Here is a nice discussion and references about season, it voices my own views: http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/2006/12/seasons-and-categories.html Dr. Gabi Greve has developed the WKD over many years. She has done a wonderful job and her contribution to the Haiku World is unchallenged. She is admired by all of us for her dedication to this project. There is a list of of sections for many countries and the specific seasonal heritage that is unique to their country. If anyone would like to contribute to the project there is a link in the Newsletter and on many of the pages there are instructions telling how go about submitting to the Data Base. I have put together below in groups of six, as would be in many collaborative style genre in the horizontal form, haiku for a little different presentation of everyone’s work. All of the haiku submitted were very nice. I was so pleased to read them all. I have only chosen a few here. I will be beginning our new section in the Sketchbook, SHH, Showcase Haiku in the next issue, so don’t forget to submit!! The rules are on the contents page of this Issue of Sketchbook: SHH. Thank you. Best Wishes. If you would, please read the haiku carefully noting the kigo/season references. Look also for a nice pivot, which means the first two verses complete a thought and then the second and third verses complete another one --the combination of both creating the AHA. Some have a pivot, some do not. They do not have to have one. I have tweaked a few haiku to conform to the styles of haiku mentioned above; an & was added to one haiku to bring it to the extreme study of the Vanguard haiku. Karina's insect haiku _________________________________________   summer evening / daylight dissolves / into cicada song - Bouwe Brouwer, NL _________________________________________ 1 two fat drunks / on the front porch swing / the mosquito and I - Terri French, US unknown to me / a flower and a bug / swaying in sunshine - Marija Pogorilic, CR the pale moon / trapped between high-rises / a line of ants - Chen-ou Liu, CA summer rain / under the maple leaf / a small spider - Andrzej Dembonczyk, PL evening breeze / a butterfly sleeping / on a rose mallow - Oprica Padeanu, RO high priest / pausing the vesper service / to listen to the crickets! - Vasile Moldovan, RO _________________________________________ 　2 a ladybug in his shorts / no lady! - Terri French, US hometown memories / a spider mending a hole / in the attic wall - Chen-ou Liu, CA dawn / zigzagging across the lawn / a moth - Marg Beverland, NZ autumn sunset / looped through cryptomeria / spider thread - Marg Beverland, NZ a spider spins / strands of sunlight / whirling willow leaves - Marg Beverland, NZ song of a cricket / between two gray clouds / only a star - Maria Tirenescu, RO _________________________________________ 　3 mild winter / flutter glide flutter glide / the monarch butterfly - Marg Beverland, NZ wet leaf / the bug loses / its foothold - Tad Wojnicki, US/TW thistledown floats / above a field of cabbage / white butterflies - Juliet Wilson, UK rhino beetles / fried to perfection / anyone? - Willie R. Bongcaron, PH butterfly garden / on the balloonplant pods / caterpillars - John Daleiden, US vampire moth / in the depth of the night / the moon is full - Willie R. Bongcaron, PH _________________________________________ 4 midnight’s double spell / bioluminescent / glow worms - Karin Anderson, AU Soft & dainty / a butterfly caress / lingers on my cheek - Stella Armour, UK Tai Chi morning / a spider climbs slowly / up the wall - Cara Holman, US sultry afternoon / the iridescent sheen / of dragonfly wings - Cara Holman, US a cortege of ants / busy transporting food / long garden paths - Keith A. Simmonds, TT the shorn garden / a bachac carries away / a piece of leaf - Gillena Cox, TT _________________________________________ 　5 Easter planting / she unearths the empty shell / of a cicada - André Surridge, NZ dragonflies / hover over a pond / waltzing shadows - Keith A. Simmonds, TT a pink butterfly / in the morning wind / a rose opening - Keith A. Simmonds, TT a soft rustling / around the dead fly / summer breeze - Bouwe Brouwer, NL cloudless night / cicada song deepens / the garden - Bouwe Brouwer, NL a corn field / with crickets' chirping  / he ties the sheaves of corn - Malvina Mileta, CR _________________________________________ 6 dragonfly / from stalk to stalk / moonrise - Alegria Imperial, CA fireflies / under trellises / vows we've made - Alegria Imperial, CA summer wind / our thoughts imitating moths / circling the light - Alegria Imperial, CA a row of ants / climbing up a rose / a petal falls - Maria Tirenescu, RO flowers near the grave / in grandma’s wool flock / the first moth - Maria Tirenescu, RO lazy afternoon / a ladybug rocks / on a blade of grass - Chitra Rajappa, IN a breath of wind / the bee is flying / to another flower - Maria Tirenescu, RO summer evening / daylight dissolves / into cicada song - Bouwe Brouwer, NL _________________________________________ 7 Karina Klesko, US Seasons Come and Go Jersey Shore re-run / through the lampshade / a mutant bug’s shadow curves in the road / relocating with Hertz / Jerusalem cricket moving in / with my grandparents / choice of red ants resting by a pond / covered with flowers / narcissus fly taking our shoes off / the tide covers our dance floor / sea spider children’s choir / seasons come and go and . . .  / churchyard beetle   Thank you everyone for the privilege! Karina