"Birds"

Ahavanti made a wonderful suggestion in regards to all things wabi-sabi having it's very own thread. Here we can post anything concerning wabi-sabi, including photographs that you have permission to use as we must not infringe anyone's property. Many thanks A.
Cheers...Harry

A few members wanted a place to post their work in order that we all continue to learn. Let's all offer assistance whenever we can.
Many thanks Johnny.
Cheers...Harry

cold turkey
cuts that shake basic needs
pine needles drop in heat

Many haiku have a pause at either the end of the first or second line. The Japanese have word sounds that achieve this; ka, kana, etc. We westen haijuns use a variety of methods to achieve this. Many use commas, some a simple dash, I personally use ellipsis (...). William J. Higginson used it often and when he translated Basho's famous haiku in The Haiku Handbook he used the ellipsis.

old pond...
a frog leaps in
water's sound

The use of the kireji is a personal choice and many modern haijuns choose to use no "cutting word" at all relying solely on the wording of the haiku or senryu to achieve the pause. Of course many haiku have no pause at all.
I know of several poets that simply miss a line to emphasize the pause between line one or two. The general rule is open to interpretation so I suggest you use what you feel comfortable with. I must admit that I am experimenting with the line space method at the moment but I'm still not sure whether I will use it in the future.
Cheers...Harry

Cheers...Harry

Tanka writing is another pre-haiku form of Japanese poetry that is written in a stanzaic form of, five-seven-five / seven-seven pattern. Again, we must remember that this is not our traditional syllable count but onji, word sounds, so a tanka follows the same rules as haiku and senryu writing.
Tanka were often used as love notes sent from lover to lover that expressed desire and gratitude. Initially they were used to express an appreciation of nature. These days they are written on just about every subject, from love to war, politics and religion.
So please, do not hold back...let your tanka speak honestly...let them shout or let them whisper.

Cheers...Harry

sitting silently
beneath the moon
and stars

memories of you
come and go

"Love"

"Winter"

Well I am very happy with what we have achieved with our first renga. I hope that Jade will compose the opening haiku for our second. Let's make it a small challenge of 50 verses and when it is completed I will put the pieces together and post it as a group. So please, everyone join in and have some fun.

Cheers...Harry

“Wabi-sabi is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.”

Wabi-sabi is very vague, elusive but very ordinary. It has mostly been associated with Zen Buddhism as a distinct aesthetic way. Wabi-sabi in its highest expression is a way of life…a particular type of beauty. It is seeing the “rustic” beauty in the natural things of everyday life. Originally wabi and sabi held different meanings but today they form almost a single word. Wabi-sabi embraces loneliness, the aging of things, the natural course of all of nature, the deepest essence of life.
Simplicity is at the centre of things wabi-sabi. The empty nature of all things is wabi-sabi. Everything is connected and interdependent. Nothing, including us, exists outside of this oneness. If you look very closely at anything you can see this connectedness…if you look deeply into a simple sheet of paper the word paper is seen only to be a vague label for something huge and wonderful. In a single sheet of paper we see the tree, the sun and rain and soil that allowed that tree to grow. We see the woodcutter, the paper maker…we see the entire universe in a single sheet of paper.
Wabi-sabi has always played a large part of haiku writing, that temporary moment of enlightenment when we see for brief moment, the true nature of things. We see the true essence of a single sheet of paper…an apple suddenly becomes more than just a label; more than just a piece of fruit, for the apple contains everything…as do we…as does each single haiku.

Cheers…Harry

Sunlight sifts
through the leaves of my trees
pretty patterns on forest floor ...Ely

Next week I will post a little something on the way of wabi sabi and its importance in regards to haiku.
Cheers...Harry