thinkALONG! 1 September

A TUESDAY FEATURE

hosts: Muskaan Ahuja, K.Ramesh

guest editor: C.X. Turner

Only the unpublished poems (that are never published on any social media platform/journals/anthologies) posted here for each prompt will be considered for Triveni Haikai India's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

all I leave behind is water

that has washed my brush.

--- Shutei

This poem by Shuti, who died in 1858, at the age of 48 or 49, is part of a centuries-old tradition in Japan of writing jisei, or ‘death poem’. Such a poem is often written in the very last moments of a poet’s life. It could be said that the consciousness of death is in most cultures very much a part of life.

If humans live in the hope of being remembered, perhaps haiku poets can accomplish this through their poetry and their valuing of the ephemeral. Our poems could well be remembered longer than we are.

Haiku dwell on the seemingly ephemeral minutia of daily life that may actually turn out to be the most important details of our existence.

“If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches; for to the creator there is no poverty and no poor indifferent place.”

― Rainer Maria Rilke

Compose a poem that captures the ephemeral, something that lasts for a very short time, like ‘frost on a summer day’, and as such, captures a moment in time you wish to share.

Select a poem (haiku/senryu) that is the perfect example of poetic brilliance. Let the verse spark a discussion on its intricacies, beauty, the elements that make the poem truly exceptional.