Haiku

Strings of dots and sticks

weaving between ledger lines;

Language of music.

What is a haibun? and Popshot Magazine

When I met David Cobb at the Poetry Book Fair back in September he asked me if I knew what a Haibun was. He was impressed that I had heard of it. I bought his little book, The Spring Journey to the Saxon Shore, because David's journey by bike through the 'land of my ancestors' - Suffolk and Norfolk, to be exact, appealed to me. David kindly signed my book and I looked forward to reading it.

So, what is a haibun? The short answer, given by David in his book, is that it consists of 'prose narrative punctuated at irregular but frequent intervals with haiku poems.' This is a little gem of a book, just 63 pages long and includes a map of the bike journey with notes/references to the prose. The prose refers to people and events in history as he cycles from Wethersfield to Sandringham. Some of it I knew about - Thetford and Thomas Paine seems to crop up a lot in my life, yet I have still to read his The Rights of Man (it's been on my wish on Amazon for over a year!). Then there is Bury St Edmunds, another place I love. Others who get a mention are Henry Moore, Gustav Holst, Dickens, Shakespeare and Boudica.

The prose narrative is indeed interspersed with haiku - one or two per page. It seems to work and I liked the content. I think I will give another read through to take in the notes as I go next time. I'm so glad I saw this and bought it. It took me into the past and kept me reading.

Popshot Magazine is new to me and caught my eye in WHSmith today when I was buying the latest copy of Writing Magazine. It is unusual to see this sort of magazine on the shelf and I was intrigued. I picked it up and had a quick flick through it, saw it contained both fiction and poetry and decided to buy it. Over lunch I read the first poem and the first short story and loved both. The magazine contains some great colour illustrations and I loved the Endnotes which gives a short background to each piece in the magazine. If the rest of the magazine is as good I feel a subscription coming on. I've had a quick look at the website and I shall be back to investigate more. A nice find, this.

A seasonal haiku

A haiku:

Alien shadows,

Air sharpening winter tools;

October’s entrance.

(So what happened to not writing poetry again?!)

Writing 201 - day 1

I have signed up for Writing 201: Poetry from Wordpress which gives daily prompts. There is a badge I should be able to put on my blog but it comes out too big so I've taken it off. Wordpress and Blogger aren't very compatible so I guess that's the reason. If anyone has any thoughts on this do let me know.

Anyway the prompt for yesterday (I'm a day behind because I was out all day) was to write a Haiku on the theme of water. Here is it:

Frenzied waterfall

Like curtain folds draped skew-whiff

White water rafting.

Poetry, games and a sad goodbye

Have submitted my Haiku to The Poetry School.  Actually, I ended up writing a series with four verses...even I couldn't describe what I wanted in one verse of 5-7-5!

I feel so tired today after such a late night at the Olympic Park but well worth it!  I don't intend to do anything today.

I've been meaning to mention Maeve Binchey who died last week.  She wrote lovely books and it was like coming home to read one of her stories.  I loved the way she weaved characters from one book into another, even if it was just a mention of a restaurant.  She will be greatly missed.  I've read all her books and it is sad to think there won't be another.

Taking a breather from the Olympics

Writing has taken a back seat with Olympics in full flow.  The TV is on non-stop and I am in danger of suffering from Olympic overload! However I am working on a poem for The Poetry School as they have asked students to pen something to encourage people to read poetry.  There is a deadline coming up all too fast so I need to get to grips with it very soon.  Have decided on a Haiku and written out lines and words that I think I want to use and now the poem is beginning to take shape.

Three in one publication

Just heard today that I will have three things published in Areopagus' Christmas edition (Christian Writers Magazine).  They are a combination of three types of poem (one free verse about Advent, one with rhyming stanzas and the other a Haiku).  Of course, I am thrilled!

My last Villianelle was well received and now that course is finished.  I will write more in this form but right now I'd quite like to give it a rest!

I had my two poems printed in the OU Poets workbook and now I wait to see if I get any votes.  I have just done my voting on the poems from the last two editions.  Poems with the highest votes will be published in their Anthology next year.

Imagism and poetry

It's half term so no poetry class this week.  Last week we looked at 'imagists' like Ezra Pound who wrote some 'sparing' poetry a little like Haiku but who wrote how things were rather than use simile and metaphor. Check out the links to find out more.

We had a workshop of our Haiku. Everyone produced good verse, very unique ways of looking at the world. Mine was the last to be looked at but we ran out of time to finish so the idea is to look at it again next time, but first comments from the tutor was very positive.

Tonight I have my first 'online chat' with The Poetry School Villanelle Studio.  Wish me luck!

5,7,5 - it must be a Haiku!

We've been looking at Haiku at poetry class - a form of poetry I really like.  Haiku (like Tanka and Renga) comes from Japan and consists of three lines of 5,7,5 syllables.  With such a short piece of writing you have to be sparing on words whilst using one idea/concept.  To see examples of Haiku and to learn more go to http://www.toyomasu.com/haiku/ 

The class has been asked to write 5 to 7 linked Haiku using the notes we wrote in our notebooks the week before based on our 'senses'.  I've finally managed something with some tweaking and this morning wrote a separate one prompted by the weather outside.  Writing different forms of poetry is a nice challenge. There is something very satisfying when you complete it, especially as in the beginning you wonder how you will ever accomplish it (more so if you have lots of rhyming to do!).  I've only tried a few forms over the years - Sonnet, Villanelle, Haiku, Tanka and Sestina.  Here is a Haiku I wrote some years ago:

Grace

Forgiveness is mine,

undeservedly so. Grace

is His gift to me.

©2004

2^nd Prize in “Areopagus” poetry magazine Autumn edition