laughALONG! 23 July

A TUESDAY FEATURE

hosts: Muskaan Ahuja, K.Ramesh

guest editor: Anju Kishore

Only the unpublished poems (that are never published on any social media platform/journals/anthologies) posted here for each prompt will be considered for Triveni Haikai India's monthly journal -- haikuKATHA, each month.

Poets are requested to post poems (haiku/senryu) that adhere to the prompts/exercises given.

Only 1 poem to be posted in 24 hours. Total 2 poems per poet are allowed each week (numbered 1,2). So, revise your poems till 'words obey your call'.

If a poet wants feedback, then the poet must mention 'feedback welcome' below each poem that is being posted.

Responses are usually a mixture of grain and chaff. The poet has to be discerning about what to take for the final version of the poem or the unedited version will be picked up for the journal.

The final version should be on top of the original version for selection.

Poetry is a serious business. Give you best attempt to feature in haikuKATHA !!

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“We cannot and must not divide our life and the world into one side which is serious and the other light, nor should or could we conveniently and simply compartmentalise all the things … into ‘serious’ and ‘light’.

If we truly appreciate that a sense of humour is part and parcel of haiku, then the way we look at a specific haiku or compose haiku ourselves should now go through subtle or even drastic changes…We would also come to realise that we have been taking haiku far too seriously…”

--- From the essay, Humour in Haiku by Susumu Takiguchi

This week, let us take our loved ones along on a hike of humour haiku and make siblings, parents, friends, and lovers smile. Here are two haiku to get you started.

if it rains

come with your umbrella

midnight moon

--- Yamazaki Sokan

Is the poet coaxing his beloved to meet him at midnight? The full moon is often a metaphor for a fair and beautiful woman in India.

days getting longer –

I part with a friend who caught

a yawn from me

---- Natsume Soseki