thinkALONG! 28 November

A TUESDAY FEATURE

hosts: Muskaan Ahuja, Lakshmi Iyer

guest editor: Ashish Narain

Please note:

Only the unpublished poems (that are never published on any social media platform/journals/anthologies) posted here for each prompt will be considered for Triveni Haikai India's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 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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Haiku are often called nature poems. Most speak of the beauty of nature, to evoke wonder or

joy. Yes, we have all read and written poems about sakura, the moon and warm rain. Yet nature can also be harsh, cruel and unrelenting. To comprehend something truly, we have to

understand it in its entirety. As Santoka says, “Those who do not know the meaning of weeds

do not know the mind of nature.” His writing often use nature to express pain, sorrow and

disillusionment with life.

begging I accept

the blazing sun

--- Taneda Santoka in S.M. Forrester's, “A Bowl of Rice: An Introduction to the haiku of Taneda

Santoka

Are we being too romantic when it comes to nature in haiku?

Let’s think more about the topic this week. I also invite you to stretch yourself and write gritty haiku of when nature made us feel weak, vulnerable or hurt.