frozen strawberry
shimmer diamonds on red
melts sweet on my tongue
The real motivation for taking part in the Haiku festival, hosted by Tracy of Pink Pearl, was to share a poem by Fujiwara no Toshinari (Miyamori Asataro) from the book "Hiroshige's Tokaido In Prints and Poetry". I was under the impression that it was a book of haiku until I read it again.
Spring Rain
Longing for you overmuch,
I gaze up to the sky above you,
Lo! through curtains of thin mist,
Silver threads of spring rain falling.
*Sigh* So beautiful.
Another precious discovery is the book about Haiku called "Snow" by Maxenee Fermine. You can read the first few pages on Amazon. The entire book is both a novel and a poem. Books rarely move me to tears and when they do it's often from pain. This book moved me to tears because of its exquisite beauty. It reads quickly. In fact I recommend reading it all at once for the rhythm. It isn't pretentious. It's gripping. The language is simple but says volumes.
Doctor Gurley wrote a post about health benefits of writing haiku, saying that it 'lifts the mood, is good for the brain' and is a good "joy habit." I almost skipped writing my Strawberry Haiku to go straight to the poets I love. I've avoided poetry writing since Jr. High which was as inspiring as pulling teeth, but on the Doc's advice I may give it another go.
P.S. Does anyone know why blogger doesn't always publish the blank line between paragraphs?
15 comments:
loved your haiku Shayla - I did my very first one for the festival thingy - don't know why, but I'm glad I did - I was interested in the Dr.'s advise you shared - hmmmmm - I will give this a try for awhile - it was a very good exercise for me.....
Wonderful haiku, Shayla...very much all about sensual delight, and the photo ties in so well--the red berries almost like a heartbeat--Beautiful! LOVE the poem which sparked your imagination. That one is more of a tanka type of poem in it's sequencing, tanka--another great Japanese form of poetry. So glad you joined in the haiku festival...many are having fun. It's been a great day! :o) ((HUGS))
I can taste the strawberry after your reading beautiful Haiku. Great to hear writing Haiku is a health benefit.
Your haiku is great-I can taste the sweetness! Interesting information about haikus too-I like that phrase 'a joy habit'. I have to say, I did really enjoy writing mine-they are like little creative puzzles to me.
Dear Shayla
a magic haiku.
I was so interested that a real doctor thinks that writing haiku is good for your health.
From all the comments it seems as if lots of people got pleasure from playing along.
Karen from artsortments, whose shoulder is bad, says she will do her blog all in haiku from now on since it requires little typing....!
Hi Shayla,
Don't tell, but I'm not big on poetry. Somehow haiku works for me. I should say that I do like some poetry - even better when recited well.
As for the space thing with blogger... I usually write my post in the edit HTML mode (see the tab at the top of the posting box). It seems like the space I put between paragraphs stays intact when I write in that mode.
BTW - I think I've been on another planet the past couple weeks. I didn't know until yesterday that Leah had 2 articles in Artful Blogging & you got a credit. Congrats to you!!!
LASTLY - I did like your haiku very much. Very sensual. mmmm strawberries
Luscious haiku! And now I've got to go check out that book. Thanks for sharing!
oh i love haikus and urz is so sweet!
i want a frozen strawberry! thx for the link, their clothes are so amazing.
yeh, blogger has been doing that to me too! im going to have to manually start adding in the breaks in html, which i hate...grr
Isn't it wonderful when something that feels good turns out to be good for you?
your strawberry haiku is great! Those recommendations sound interesting too
: )
I'm tasting strawberries here :-) Haiku is another one of my passions. Reading them...not necessarily writing them.
Beautiful Shayla!! Now I am going to re-read the post again..big hugs..........M
Jeane, glad you did too. You're a "Renaissance" artist able to do some of everything.
Tracy, thanks for telling me about the tanka. Now that I know the name, I'll have to look for more. Thanks for putting together the festival. It was a great day, and lots of fun figuring out my poem.
Shell, good. I couldn't ask for better. In a few more weeks the strawberries should be ripe for picking- even better than frozen.
Sarah, puzzle is a great way to put it. Something so satisfying about the numbers side of it.
Elizabeth, it was a great festival. Thanks for putting it together. Her whole blog in haiku? That is a creative idea.
Regina, thanks for the tip. Don't worry, I won't tell. I'm not a big reader of poetry either. My love is the novel, and non-fiction. I still write down my favorite poems in a journal, but lately a lot of my "poems" are good lines from a book.
Janet, you're in for a treat :)
Mira, you're welcome. I found Selene Gibbous in Artful Blogger magazine and the photos were unusual and fabulous.
Sandra, I think that was the doctor's point. If we do something we enjoy that stimulates the brain, then it's good for our health. Good news!
Jane, thanks. If you have time for a quick read, I don't think you'll be dissapointed.
Robyn, if your visual art finds are any indication, I bet you've found some great haiku.
M.Kate, Big hugs back to you! We're halfway now, weekend is almost here...
That's such a nice, cool picture - perfect for the Texas heat. Lovely haiku to go with it!
mm, beautiful haiku!
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