Excellent!! I love anything Japanese! I do write, sometimes poetry, sometimes other things but I have not tackled a haiku - YET. Maybe I will try soon....
My hammock is in our downstairs movie room. It is two six-tatami mat rooms with the fusuma removed from the middle. I run the hammock between the vertical beams intersecting the rooms. We have a projector and screen set up in here, so we do movie nights and football viewings in here, which is why it is “the movie room.” However, in the summer it is cheaper to sleep here in the hammock, as it requires less A/C. My mattress upstairs seems to act as a heat-sink during the day, so it becomes unpleasant to sleep on. (Japanese homes do not have central heat or A/C. You climate control the room you are in. So the rest of the house can be hell in mid-summer and mid-minter.)
I just love the saying ‘ life is too short to be confrontational when you can be petty instead’, tried working this comment into a haiku but in a rush and unfortunately don’t have time to think about it- maybe someone else can?
English, as it so often does, takes closed systems and opens them up. But, technically speaking, this is why I always put “haiku inspired” for my Tuesday’s haikus, as who the heck knows what a haiku is now that us Yankees have gotten ahold of it. Great post, per usual!
Thanks! That is a great insight about English opening up systems. I do think pedantic poets do more to discourage people from reading and writing poetry than almost anything else. Which, to my mind is the opposite of what poets should do.
I think as long as the poem contains a fragment and a phrase, and tries to objective, in the sense of the reader being unaware of the author of the poem, it counts as a haiku. If it is more subjective or explores the human condition it is senryu. From what I understand much of what is considered traditional haiku, for example the season word, is not always used in Japan. It depends on the writer. Anyway , here is my haiku based on your prompt:
My childhood in Kentucky was filled these sounds! Sometimes so loud you could not hear anything else. I have not heard many here in AZ - but I recorded the ones in Kentucky a couple of years ago on a visit with my sisters. I love that sound, it was the sound I fell asleep to for many years!
I think maybe out here in the Sonoran desert - I may be in bed too early 🤔
Thank you for reading my comment/haiku, and leaving a comment, Pamela, much appreciated!
I love your childhood recollection; what a nice memory!
We're up in north-central Arizona, near Sedona and Prescott, so there are lots of trees for the cicadas. When they buzz, it's very loud. Very loud, Lol!
Where I grew up in Western Kentucky they were so loud sometimes a conversation could get lost. I did a video one morning of a recent visit to my sister. Sent it to my friend told her it was how i used to fall asleep and she laughed & ask how in hell could I sleep with the noise!!
Nothing like those sounds! Also the southern thunderstorms! Loved those!
I love this. I like they rhyme of lines 2 and 4. I never learned about the crusades in school, and have been riveted by them as I’ve learned about them as an adult. Humans are unhinged sometimes.
Excellent!! I love anything Japanese! I do write, sometimes poetry, sometimes other things but I have not tackled a haiku - YET. Maybe I will try soon....
I hope you do try writing a few! They are so much fun to write. Thank you for reading!
Thanks - if I do I will share!
I shared it earlier today …. It is not much but it was my first try!
I liked it! Thanks for sharing! I find that your poem is staying with me. It had a catchy rhythm and I can’t stop thinking about Hessians at the gate
Thanks.
Back and forth I swing
Hammock over tatami
Good night, swish, swish, zzz…
I love that last line, Steve! Hammock is a word that feels like summer to me because mine is outside.
My hammock is in our downstairs movie room. It is two six-tatami mat rooms with the fusuma removed from the middle. I run the hammock between the vertical beams intersecting the rooms. We have a projector and screen set up in here, so we do movie nights and football viewings in here, which is why it is “the movie room.” However, in the summer it is cheaper to sleep here in the hammock, as it requires less A/C. My mattress upstairs seems to act as a heat-sink during the day, so it becomes unpleasant to sleep on. (Japanese homes do not have central heat or A/C. You climate control the room you are in. So the rest of the house can be hell in mid-summer and mid-minter.)
Oh SO GOOD.... the tatami!! Perfect!!
I just love the saying ‘ life is too short to be confrontational when you can be petty instead’, tried working this comment into a haiku but in a rush and unfortunately don’t have time to think about it- maybe someone else can?
People are asses
But confrontations take time
Be petty instead
Guffaw and cackle
Chuckle snicker snort and wheeze
At life’s comedies
I like this! Laughing is how I get through life’s tragedies and comedies
English, as it so often does, takes closed systems and opens them up. But, technically speaking, this is why I always put “haiku inspired” for my Tuesday’s haikus, as who the heck knows what a haiku is now that us Yankees have gotten ahold of it. Great post, per usual!
Thanks! That is a great insight about English opening up systems. I do think pedantic poets do more to discourage people from reading and writing poetry than almost anything else. Which, to my mind is the opposite of what poets should do.
I think as long as the poem contains a fragment and a phrase, and tries to objective, in the sense of the reader being unaware of the author of the poem, it counts as a haiku. If it is more subjective or explores the human condition it is senryu. From what I understand much of what is considered traditional haiku, for example the season word, is not always used in Japan. It depends on the writer. Anyway , here is my haiku based on your prompt:
church bells
ring eight times -
the Buddha is still sleeping
What a great haiku, Marc!
Zzzz, Zzzz, Zzzz, Zzzz, Zzzz
Cicadas buzz in the trees
announcing more rain
(An important summer sound to Arizonans.)
This is a good one! I haven't heard the Arizona cicadas yet. But I have heard cicadas in China. That's a buzzing I'll never forget.
I love that cicadas buzzing in the trees is a sign of rain.
I'll guess the buzzing is similar... very loud, Lol!
My childhood in Kentucky was filled these sounds! Sometimes so loud you could not hear anything else. I have not heard many here in AZ - but I recorded the ones in Kentucky a couple of years ago on a visit with my sisters. I love that sound, it was the sound I fell asleep to for many years!
I think maybe out here in the Sonoran desert - I may be in bed too early 🤔
Thank you for reading my comment/haiku, and leaving a comment, Pamela, much appreciated!
I love your childhood recollection; what a nice memory!
We're up in north-central Arizona, near Sedona and Prescott, so there are lots of trees for the cicadas. When they buzz, it's very loud. Very loud, Lol!
Where I grew up in Western Kentucky they were so loud sometimes a conversation could get lost. I did a video one morning of a recent visit to my sister. Sent it to my friend told her it was how i used to fall asleep and she laughed & ask how in hell could I sleep with the noise!!
Nothing like those sounds! Also the southern thunderstorms! Loved those!
I'm glad you didn't waste your time correcting the teacher. Anyway, here goes today's prompt reply: (I love this, Jason. thankyou)
kek kek kek kek kek
cooper's hawk cries through forest
searching for its mate
I love this! Cooper hawks are such beautiful raptors! I still remember the first time I saw one. I was with my grandparents in the Snake River gorge.
We have them here and they're welcome as we also have an over-abundance of squirrels.
I have a start here - it was a reply to another’s comment in an email so it is my start
It is technically NOT in the Japanese form but as I said - it is a start - regarding religion:
feels like the Crusades,
People full of hate,
Lead the charge
Like Hessians at the gate
I love this. I like they rhyme of lines 2 and 4. I never learned about the crusades in school, and have been riveted by them as I’ve learned about them as an adult. Humans are unhinged sometimes.
Agree - they were crazy back then and they are becoming the same these days…. Scary!
I may try for another… soon 😂
Life beckons to me
late I arise
Time to move
Another good one! This was me this morning
Me too …