While I’ll take life in any season, the transition from summer to fall is bumpy for me. This year, the melancholy I often feel during these pre-winter months has been accented by various family crises. Still, as the song goes, How can I keep from singing? Continue reading “Autumn 2014 haiku chain by Patricia K.”
Wow! What a winter solstice we’ve got this year, with the world’s end at hand–an event for which (let’s face it) there has always been the potential.
On WIZ’s bucket list: striking up the haiku band. In case of the world’s end, think of a haiku chain as a virtual holding-of-hands as we all face a banquet table heaped with just desserts.
Haiku basics: A haiku is a classical Japanese poetical form, usually 17 syllables all in a single line in Japanese, but there are longer and shorter forms. Englishers commonly stack haiku lines, often in the order of one short line of 5 syllables on top, a long line of 7 syllables in the middle, then another short line of 5 syllables on the bottom. But given that we might all not be here in five minutes, let’s not stand on formality. If you want to say “Hello Winter!” or “Goodbye Sweet World!” in some other haiku-esque form, please do. Given the circumstances, humor will be permitted–just this once.
Instructions. I’ll forge the first chain link. Somebody follows me, adding a single haiku in the comments, then another person and another, etc. You may link your haiku to an image in the previous haiku or stud the chain with something free-wheeling. Other than the informal, €œone-at-a-time-please € tradition, there’s no limit to turns a participant can take and no deadline for this activity. It runs until an ominous curtain of silence falls. Or maybe ’til spring comes. Whichever happens first.
Here’s my first shot. It’s not especially humorous, but hey, I just finished setting fate in motion for another kind of doomsday–the End-of-Semester. Grim business.
Sunflower sprouts in
winter’s black loam and ripe cold;
its pale stalk lengthens.
What’ve you got?
She’s heeeerrrre …
Autumnal equinox: the tipping point between two seasons of light.
Fall arrived on Saturday a little before 9 a.m. I thought it happened today because my calendar says so, but my calendar got it wrong. I wonder what else my calendar has gotten wrong.
For those of us who (like me) may feel the touch of melancholy this time of year but have the impulse to celebrate anyway, WIZ is opening a haiku chain. Many of you know what a haiku is–probably, you’ve know since elementary school or junior high. For those who feel uncertain, a haiku is a classical Japanese poetical form, usually 17 syllables all in a single line in Japanese, but there are longer and shorter forms. A haiku written in English stacks lines, often in the order of one short line of 5 syllables on top, a long line of 7 syllables in the middle, then another short line of 5 syllables on the bottom. But there are many paths–pick what suits you. Often, haiku mention the season under consideration. If you wish to learn more about haiku, you can go here or here.
How a WIZ haiku chain usually goes is this: Someone starts the chain. This year, that’s me. Somebody follows me, adding a single haiku in the comments, and then another person takes a crack, and ’round we go. You may link your haiku to an image in the previous haiku or stud the chain with something wholly original. I kind of like seeing other people’s individual expressions of how the arrival of this season strikes them. Other than the informal, €œone-at-a-time-please € tradition, there’s no limit to turns a participant can take and no deadline for this activity. It runs as long as it runs.
My opener:
Summer’s final words
rasp leaves, shimmer on the lip
of the horizon.
Go!
Welcome to WIZ’s Spring Poetry Runoff open invitation haiku chain. This is a non-competitive (that is, not part of the poetry contest), come-as-you-are, just-for-fun activity that we run from time to time here on WIZ.
A haiku is a classical Japanese poetical form, usually 17 syllables all in a single line in Japanese, but I understand that there are longer and shorter forms. In English, a haiku often takes the form of one short line of 5 syllables, a long line of 7 syllables, and a short line of 5 syllables, but there are many paths–take your pick. Often, haiku mention the season under scrutiny–in this case spring, obviously. If you wish to learn more about haiku, you can go here or here.
The rules: Really, there aren’t any. How it usually goes is someone starts the chain–today, it’s Sean aka greenfrog. Somebody follows him, adding a single haiku in the comments, and then another person takes a turn, and around we go. Other than the informal, “one-at-a-time-please” tradition, there’s no limit to turns a participant can take and no deadline for this activity. It runs as long as it runs. So if you feel inclined to add a thread to the tapestry, don’t be shy.
Here’s Sean’s opening haiku:
The bud embedded
In the matrix of branch and
Earth and sun and spring.
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Sean/greenfrog makes his home in the Denver area and blogs occasionally about yoga and meditation. You can visit his blog In Limine here.
Wilderness Interface Zone 