thinkALONG! 4th July

A TUESDAY FEATURE

hosts: Muskaan Ahuja, Lakshmi Iyer

guest editor: Marilyn Ashbaugh

Please note:

From 4 July onwards, only the unpublished poems (that are never published on any social media platform/journals/anthologies) posted here for each prompt will be considered for Triveni Haikai India's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 your best attempt to feature in haikuKATHA !!

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"Poetry is what you find in the dust in the corner, overheard on the bus, God in the details,

the only way to get from here to there."

-- Elizabeth Alexander

This quote will serve as our guidepost for this month. We will begin with dirt in the corner.

To me, dirt in the corner is similar to what Kaneko Tohta refers to as Issa's "the sense of living things." To Issa, "all creatures were on the exact same level as himself. He never

discriminated."

on a straw doll

a louse on its back

floating away

-- Issa

(trans. The Kon Nichi Translation Group)

Issa’s perspective is childlike and open-hearted. Please share a comment or haiku or both.

Here's one of my poems that you might enjoy:

cool morning

the yeast and I

slowly rise

-- Marilyn Ashbaugh