haikaiTALKS: haiku aesthetics - YŪGEN | a saturday gathering_under the banyan tree
host: Lev Hart
14th September 2024
haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering_under the banyan tree
Haiku Aesthetics: YŪGEN 2
Your host for haikaiTALKS Lev Hart
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Aesthetics: YŪGEN 2
According to Jane Reichhold, Autumn is linked not only to loneliness, but potentially to fear, spirits, and the unknown. The autumn kigo in Lorraine Haig’s haiku lends a touch of the uncanny to its mystery, it's yūgen:
full moon
the forest moves
its shadows
(HAIKUsutradhar, Sep 16, 2023)
The moon, unless specified otherwise, is an autumn kigo. Its potential to suggest the uncanny, instead of myriad other possibilities, is actualized in context with “the forest moves / its shadows.” Somewhere in the forest, the poet has remained still long enough to observe the movement of trees’ shadows. From her standpoint, the shadows are not moving with the moonrise. The forest itself is moving them. Her perception of an animistic forest is not unlike the worldview of Shinto, Japan’s native religion. The poet is experiencing the spirit world of the forest. If she were to say so explicitly, our sense of mystery would be slight. The declaration would provoke incredulity. The poetry lies in the suggestion.
Besides mystery, awe and wonder, elegance is a traditional aspect of yūgen. Lorraine’s haiku shows a touch of elegance in the alliteration of "full" with "forest," and “moon” with “moves,” connecting the fragment and the phrase via harmony.
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to write two haiku with yūgen, with or without the uncanny. Feel free to add a poetic touch --- a little is likely to be enough. Remember the kigo. When has nature filled you with mystery, wonder and awe?
Jane Reichhold, "A Dictionary of Haiku Classified by Season Words with Traditional and Modern Methods"
The Yuki Teikei Haiku Season Word List:
indian subcontinent SAIJIKI:
The World Kigo Database
The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words
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Thank you for doing this for us, Lev.
Members,
Please give your feedback on others' commentary and poems too. _()_
This is an exciting phase for haikaiTALKS! Have fun! Keep writing and commenting! _kala
Poem 2- 18/09/24
this similarity
of shedding the past
falling leaves
Rupa Anand, New Delhi, India
Feedback is welcome
Happy Birthday Dearest Kala
#1, 18/9
not alone this season her Akhanda lamp lights up my strides
Lakshmi Iyer, India
Feedback please
(Akhanda lamp is burnt throughout night and day and this resonates with the flow of knowledge that Kala has and shares to the community at large. Akhanda means eternal!)
Thanks so much Lev for these sessions of aesthethics!! Thank you Triveni! Thank you Kala!
#1
spring day
dressed in gold and green
sea turtles
Steph Zepherelli, USA
feedback welcome
(“spring day” is a kigo)
Edited once again:
Thanks, Lev.
multiple shadows
embedded between leaves ---
mango moon
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Thanks, Alan
the many shadows
embedded between leaves
a mango moon
Kala Ramesh
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Original
multiple shadows
embedded between leaves
a mango moon
Kala Ramesh
#1
Feedback welcome.
mango moon is a mid-summer Indian kigo word.
In May, we have hanging mangoes all around us!