thinkALONG! 18 February

A TUESDAY FEATURE

hosts: Muskaan Ahuja, K.Ramesh

guest editor: Milan Rajkumar

Only the unpublished poems (that are never published on any social media platform/journals/anthologies) posted here for each prompt will be considered for Triveni Haikai India's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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YUGEN

A question every haiku poet is asking is, what is yugen? In her words, Kala Ramesh, founder and director of Triveni Haikai India and a Pushcart nominee in a talk with Vinita Agarwal, poetry editor with Usawa Literary Review said "... I came to know that ‘yugen’, an aesthetic nuance meaning elegance, beauty and mysterious grace, is used extensively in tanka. These three factors made tanka my poetic form of choice for this book, the forest I know. I think the following tanka has ‘yugen’."

an evening

of tangled thoughts …

through branches

even this rugged moon

looks tattered at the edges     

                — Kala Ramesh

In our quest for yugen, let's try to feel its mystery, its depth, and its elegance in our self-composed haiku. Take on the challenge!