Tag: Haiku

Agnieszka Filipek’s Willow

On By Nicholas KlacsanzkyIn HaikuLeave a comment
willow
writing a message
on the lake

– Agnieszka Filipek (Ireland)
First published in The Cicada’s Cry

The willow tree represents strength, stability, growth, and knowledge or learning. This simple but profound haiku represents the shades of all these characteristics that nature presents through its different elements.

Writing a message on the lake shows the imagination of a person who is in sync with nature and beautifully shares her feelings about it. So, nature gives a lot of inspiration through its elements that we need to understand deeply.

The lake depicts calmness and the writing of a message on it means the person has faced many seasons and now she is ready to face life’s experiences.

The letter ‘w’ in this haiku sounds like waves of the past that strike the mind to recollect memories and to scribble them down when one is in a peaceful state.

– Hifsa Ashraf  (Pakistan)

The willow in Japan is a kigo, or a seasonal reference, for late spring. This reflects the magical and fantastical event that is written about in this haiku. Though the willow is not consciously writing a message, it appears so and or could be mistaken as doing so. These tricks of perception often show up in classical haiku.
What is the message about? If we use our imagination, all sorts of ideas could come to mind: the tree is getting too hot and fears the coming of summer, so it is writing a cry for help; it is writing a diary entry about its day; it’s writing what the wind wants to say through its brances; doggerel poetry; and many more ideas.
It’s important that haiku allow the reader to imagine and this is a good example of that principle.
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istockphoto-1177871054-1024x1024
– Art by Elinalee

Antonietta Losito’s Autumn Walk

On By Nicholas KlacsanzkyIn Haiku7 Comments

autumn walk
trying to exchange my breath
with trees

– Antonietta Losito (Italy)

An autumn walk is one of my favourite activities. It’s not simply a walk but a therapeutic process where I feel relieved by being a tiny part of this universe. Autumn is a shifting point where one season transforms into another, leaving profound memories behind.

In this haiku, I can feel the depth of those feelings where a person exchanges their breath with trees in a symbiotic way. It’s a win-win situation–everyone gains benefits from each other. I can see how one can be beneficial for others in order to bring peace and prosperity, as it’s a universal phenomenon that one cannot exist without interacting with others.

So, this beautiful haiku shows the long-term purpose of life or the ultimate goal of life: to bring peace within and around as well.

As a side note, I personally liked the ‘t’ sound that resonates in every line of this haiku.

– Hifsa Ashraf (Pakistan)

Autumn is a time when nature is deterioating. I believe the poet felt for the plight of the trees at this time. She wanted to exchange breath, or life, with the being that brings her fresh oxygen and materials for her home.

You can also see this act as kinship. At a time when things are falling apart, the poet wanted to bring nature and humanity together.

The elongated syllables in the haiku and its pacing reminds of an autumn walk. I think the two verbs work fine, as “trying” creates a stronger scene.

Overall, this haiku displays compassion, communion, and the link between nature and humanity.

– Nicholas Klacsanzky (USA)

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AUTUMN_WALK_PAINTING_Thumb_copy_530x@2xPainting by Terry Harrison

Robert Kingston’s Afternoon Sun

On By Nicholas KlacsanzkyIn Haiku, Senryu2 Comments

afternoon sun
a fly ends the sentence
in the crime book

– Robert Kingston (UK)
Bones Journal, 13, 2017

We got an interesting comparison (or contrast?). The fly, so intense and looming on the page of the crime book… and the afternoon sun, blazing and overwhelming. It could be a contrast with the black fly and the bright afternoon sun.

I don’t know if a “crime book” refers to a novel, a non-fiction book about crime, or something that the police use. But that’s part of the fun while reading this poem.

Back to the content: a fly usually comes to dead things, so a fly landing on the page is bringing something tangible to the reading experience of this book. It’s like the fictional and the real world collided at that moment. I think that is the “aha” moment the poet felt. The word “sentence” also has a double meaning: the literal one and the one referring to sentencing in courts.

Breaking down the sound, the long “oo” sounds give a leisurely pace and the “s” letters supply a sharp resonance–a good contrast.

The structure of the haiku/senryu is standard and does fine without any punctuation.

An overall playful and enjoyable haiku/senryu that has a deeper layer if you look close enough.

– Nicholas Klacsanzky (USA)

This haiku takes me back to my teenage world where I used to read suspense novels and digests. I liked the way the writer conceived the idea of this haiku about a crime scene but also intrigues me to know more about the whole story.

“afternoon sun” is the time when our thoughts and feelings slow down due to the daytime activities and we want something that can make us relaxed and can rejuvenate our energies. I can feel the sense of getting involved in an activity that engages a person’s mind into something more complex and sophisticated like a crime story.

The fly could be a metaphor for something that bothers us or takes our attention away from what we are trying to focus on. It could be the thoughts of a person or any news or any distraction in the environment that lead us to reveal the mystery on our own or let our experience predict the next part of the story. It may be a point of haste where we don’t indulge in the step-wise process of mystery that is written in the crime book. It is the success of a crime book writer who plotted the story in a way where the curiosity of a person is distracted by the environment or surroundings, and it frequently happens these days.

I miss the reading environment these days where all my senses fully enjoy the book that I am holding in my hands.

– Hifsa Ashraf (Pakistan)

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1980-abstract-painting-afternoon-sun-40x50-r-baranet-6740

– painting by Robert Baranet called “Afternoon Sun”