haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering! 26th April 2025

haikaiTALKS: four-line haiku | a saturday gathering under the banyan tree

host: Srinivasa Sambangi

26th April 2025

haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering under the banyan tree

Your host for haikaiTALKS: Srinivas Sambangi

haikaiTALKS 26th April 2025

Four-line haiku:

Rarely I could find a four-line haiku in my search. Unlike a three-line haiku in which a fragment and a phrase are juxtaposed to each other, in the four-line haiku, two phrases written in four lines (each phrase in two lines) are juxtaposed. Rest of the rules like the number of syllables etc., remain same as of a three-line haiku. A two-line haiku divided into four lines cannot make a four-line haiku. While there is a cut at the end of second line, make sure there

are minor pauses at the end of first and third line as well.

A few poets like Nobuyuki Yuasa from Japan and Stephen Gill (aka Tito) from UK are the notable four-line haiku writers. Noboyuki chose four-line format to translate Basho. See below a couple of Basho’s haiku translated by him

In the utter silence

Of a temple

A cicada’s voice alone

Penetrates the rocks

Settled in trap-pots,

Octopuses may be exulting

In their ecstasy of a single night

Under the moon of summer

Some other examples:

Weeping with the long rain

As before, old cherry,

Even now come galaxy

Of pink stars

-- Tito

in a chill sky

twinkling winter stars;

at the florist

tulips lined up

-- Hiroko Nakakubo

Once seated

it begins to move,

the ball of knitting wool

in the mother’s hand

-- Michiko Suzuki

I too have one poem published in Failed Haiku:

I left her

to the universe

from the river

from the urn -- Srinivas Sambangi

Please write and post your four-line haiku this week. You are also requested

post if you find any good four-line haiku in any of the journals you read

Ref:

https://www.modernhaiku.org/bookreviews/GillMiyazaki2004.html

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KIGO WORDS

Shall we please try to include a kigo word in all the poems we share here?

Give the season and the word—under your poem. 

I'm quoting Lev Hart's request here: "This week’s goal is to compose two verses with toriawase, blending wabi, sabi, karumi, mono no aware, and/or yugen. Tell us which aesthetic concepts you mean to express in a line below the verse. Strive for originality. Avoid stock phrases and shopworn images."

For seasonal references, please check these lists:

“A Dictionary of Haiku Classified by Season Words with Traditional and Modern Methods,” by Jane Reichhold:

https://thehaikufoundation.org/omeka/files/original/7fb6654a1dfd1afef97369da920530f8.pdf

indian subcontinent SAIJIKI:

https://www.trivenihaikai.in/indian-saijiki

The Five Hundred Essential Japanese Season Words:

http://www.2hweb.net/haikai/renku/500ESWd.html

The World Kigo Database:

https://wkdkigodatabase03.blogspot.com/

The Yuki Teikei Haiku Season Word List:

https://yths.org/season-word-list/

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Thank you for this post, Srinivas.

I hope our poets take the challenge and create a haiku on these lines!

Dear Members,

Please give your feedback on others' commentary and poems too. _()_

We are continuing haikaiTALKS in a grand way!

Keep writing and commenting! _kala