Another month of Shiki Kukai. The kigo was “talk” and the free format was “blue”. Here are my two:
alfresco dinner
our laughter mingles
with the breeze
the ocean
bathed in moonlight
his deep blue eyes
The full results can be read here.
Monthly Archives: July 2012
A Birthday Renku
sultry afternoon [Cara Holman] the plaintive cries of fledgling hawks crazed evening traffic [Yousei Hime] dragonfly bravura pigeons huddle [John Daleiden] in the park bandstand a midnight rain I snag and release [Margaret Dornaus] a frog from the house daytime buzz - [gillena cox] the mosquito i slapped on my arm letter from Rome— [Ernesto P. Santiago] am I liable? monsoon wind [Angelo B. Ancheta] what would complement this traffic jam Fog slips over the hilltops [ina Roy-Faderman] tickling a lone mockingbird. wet with dew [Linda Hofke] wildflowers fold into themselves a whispered lullaby tuning out [Julie Warther] yesterday and tomorrow They flew from their nest [Lisa Hills] over summer’s fresh blooms a lofty call on my moonlit kitchen [Christine L. Villa] drips of watermelon juice almost midnight [Asni Amin] should I stay or should I leave lullaby of a cricket alone again [Christina Nguyen] in the feathered nest early birdsong [Kirsten Cliff] facing the same direction all four horses in the meadow [Ernesto P. Santiago] with one last laugh it’s the new born child [Johnny Baranski] who gets the last laugh severe drought a dragonfly nestles [Kathy Uyen Nguyen] in the clown’s wig light reflected [Angela Terry] off the pond the sounds clouds make the right word grasped [Kathy Uyen Nguyen] in willow fragments pillow talk [Kat Creighton] the early morning chatter between nests on which I scribe each night [Ernesto P. Santiago] the non-visual geometry silence, I speak… [Ernesto P. Santiago] the unspoken language of the unkai late for work again [Sanjuktaa Asopa] the faded-jeans sky may birthday candles [John Daleiden] light the path to happiness… live a full life firelight flickers [Kirsten Cliff] on the mountainside bee-wearing (con)tests [Ernesto P. Santiago] the many diverse views among (our) haijin morning sunshine [Cara Holman] birthday wishes across the web Credits Asni Amin….. A Walk in My Heart Angelo B. Ancheta Sanjuktaa Asopa….. wild berries Johnny Baranski Kirsten Cliff….. Swimming in Lines of Haiku Gillena Cox …..Lunch Break Kat Creighton John Daleiden Margaret Dornaus….. Haiku-doodle Lisa Hills Yousei Hime….. Shiteki Na Usagi Linda Hofke….. Linda’s Life on the Other Side Cara Holman….. Prose Posies Christina Nguyen….. A Wish for the Sky… Kathy Uyen Nguyen….. Origami Lotus Poetry Ina Roy-Faderman….. Fluff and Nonsense Ernesto P. Santiago….. Otsenre P. Ogaitnas Angela Terry Christine L. Villa….. Blossom Rain Julie Warther
graduation day
The prompt this month for Caribbean Kigo Kukai #36 was “high school graduation”. The prompt was so evocative, I hardly knew where to begin. So I started with the last high school graduation I attended, several years ago, for a family friend.
The ceremony was held at a college campus, so that there would be more seating. There was dressing for the event. The long ride over. The disastrous parking situation. The long walk across campus to the auditorium. The uncomfortable seats. And the hot, stuffy room. There were many long speeches. A choral number. Students fidgeted in their heavy gowns, under the hot lights. And finally, they began calling the students up one by one, to receive their diploma covers. There were over 500 graduates that year. We were asked not to clap between students, but of course, who listened? Each student, it seemed, came with their own private cheering section. Cameras flashed, younger siblings fidgeted, and officials propped the outside doors open, in a futile attempt to create a cross draft. Row by row, student by student, the evening dragged on…
This was my haiku, that won 1st place:
graduation day
I fold my program
into a fan
blackberries
Daily Haiku, Cycle 13, Week 3, Haiku 6:
I just picked the last of the early crop of raspberries today. Now we’re in the lull between raspberries and blackberries. We need some serious sunshine though, to make it happen!
day moon
Daily Haiku, Cycle 13, Week 3, Haiku 5:
Alas, the nesting hawk in our neighbor’s tree is keeping most of the small birds away from our yard the past few weeks. I wake to hawk cries now, instead of the melodious voices of sparrows.
spider silk
Daily Haiku, Cycle 13, Week 3, Haiku 4:
There’s something about summer, spiders, and the garden…
lazy afternoon
Daily Haiku, Cycle 13, Week 3, Haiku 3:
I wrote this haiku back before the red-tailed hawks in our area started nesting. Yesterday, I was regaled all afternoon by the cries of the hungry fledgling hawks in our neighbor’s tree. I saw an adult hawk take down a robin in our backyard last week, and while I understand that this is part of nature, I keep my toy poodle grandpuppy close by my side when I am out in the yard. I can’t believe the size of the adult hawks, when I see them up close. Haven’t spotted the babies yet, but I sure do hear them.
Birthday renku
For a while now, I’ve been pondering how to celebrate my birthday, writing-wise. And here’s what I’ve come up with. From now until my birthday (July 23), please join me in creating an online renku. I’ve done this twice in the past, and it was so much fun! You can read the previous posts here and here.
For this renku, the rules are simple. I will start it off, and then in the comments section, add a couplet, if the last verse was haiku, or a haiku if the last verse was a couplet. What to write about? Anything in July, in your part of the world. Flora, fauna, senryu, stars, sunshine, cold (if you’re in the Southern hemisphere), dishes, soapsuds, food, trucks, trains, boats, and planes, clouds, puddles, pruners, cell phones, kids, birthdays, books, music, stones, swimming pools, the beach, tidepools… It’s all good!
Please leave your name, as you’d like it to appear, and also your blog/website link if you have one. On my birthday, I will put together a post with everything I’ve received to date, and that will be my present to myself! So have at it. And have fun. 🙂
Opening verse:
sultry afternoon
the plaintive cries
of fledgling hawks
moonlit orchard
Daily Haiku, Cycle 13, Week 3, Haiku 2:
Of all the critters that found their way into my parents’ orchard, none were as damaging to it as the deer. A 6-ft fence was nothing to them. And besides eating the fruit, they ate the tender young shoots, and sometimes stripped bark from the trees. For every prevention measure Dad implemented, the deer found a way around it. It was a constant battle of wits. Yet as a nature lover, I couldn’t help but be in awe of the roving herd of deer that inhabited the local area, especially when I happened upon one or more of them unexpectedly, and they froze stock still and stared at me with their large eyes, until eventually they gracefully loped back over the fence and into the woods, to return another time.
blue lobelia
My third week begins today, on Daily Haiku, with “blue lobelia”. Please follow along! Writing and submitting 40 haiku over a six month period has been one of the most challenging (and rewarding!) things I’ve done to date, writing-wise.
Prose Posies 