Image from Wiki. "These characters are the ones used on chōchin (hanging paper lanterns), such as the ones you might see outside a yakitori stand in Japan."
If you choose to participate, write a haiku using the simple 5-7-5 rule for syllables in a three-line haiku. It's not necessary that the lines rhyme. There are all sorts of other complicated rules for writing proper Japanese Haiku, but that's not what we're doing here. The haiku should make some sort of sense, and extra points if you continue from the subject of the previous haiku. However, that's not a rule. If you'd like to move on to another subject, go ahead. The haiku can be happy, sad, funny, or whatever mood you choose.
I'll start:
Sad sound that I hear,
The wounded bird crying out.
Who will heed her call?
UPDATE: Feel free to nominate your favorites.
That bird--I hear it
ReplyDeletebeyond the tangled coppice
on my sunset walk
my brain is way too tired to play - go get PJ, she is great at this sort of thing.
ReplyDeleteYou do know that she is known as the Basho of Chappaqua, right?
the good news to share is that as of today I am finally done with this past term. Done. Over. Finished. No more papers to write. No more psych reports on clients to finish. Done. Hooray. Over.
Papers finished. Good.
ReplyDeletePsych reports now forgotten--
winter normalcy.
bravo.
ReplyDeleteI wrote this haiku
ReplyDelete(having little else to do);
I loan it to you.
Time is not good now
ReplyDeleteThere are so many blogs to read
But I am at yours
(and happily so)
The child is coming
ReplyDeleteBirth of the blessed baby
We will find our peace
Merry Christmas Grandmere!
How will I ever
ReplyDeleteGet to the other blog sites
Happy am I here
(ok it is painful, I will stop.)
Well done all of you
ReplyDeleteChristmas is upon us now
Must return to work
O Rex gentium
ReplyDeletelapis que angularis
veni et salva
Snow is falling here
ReplyDeletebut in Louisiana
flowers are in bloom
Bare maple branches
ReplyDeleteAre dark lace in my window
Not in Chappaqua
Furthermore Dennis
I don't have a Mercedes
Now leave me alone
(Sorry Grandmère Mimi.)
For Advent IV
ReplyDeleteJoseph dreams angels
Awakens determined to
See this project through
Oh, these are great. I thought for a minute there, that I'd have to look for the off switch for Paul (not Paul Bagshaw) and Fran, but keep them coming. I love it.
ReplyDeleteDennis congratulations, love. It's over. I'm not afraid of PJ, Basho or not.
I love the Advent haikus, and Nina gave us one in Latin! I'm thinking that MadPriest is not the only blogger with urbane and erudite commenters.
Haikus are somewhat addictive. Once you start, it's hard to stop.
regarding the bird
ReplyDeletepsalm 55:7 through 9
fly far to find peace
from today's Morning Prayer.
My dear Wounded Bird,
ReplyDeleteGet ready for the heathens.
You're linked on my blog.
Ann, I see that we're getting Bible verses included right in the haikus!
ReplyDeleteMike, I welcome the heathens.
Prayers: for San Joaquin,
ReplyDeletefor Fred, Saint Nicholas, and
God's peace Sunday morn.
I cannot help it
ReplyDeleteSomething draws me to Grandmère
whenever she posts.
Latin haiku now!
Nina, full proskynesis
Dark December treat
Snowflakes everywhere
Statues frozen in the night
mantled now in white
[This last from walking last night to the cathedral in Santa Fe n the snow for a concert. Visual magic.]
Dawn touches the hills
The Sandias take new life--
the bird's cry haunts me
OK, Mimi, hit the "off" switch.
Love what y'all are doin' with this. Thanks Mimi and all.
Two haiku riddles:
ReplyDeleteYou push me away;
accept me, for when I leave
you won’t remember.
Caring counsellor
you see through my eyes: with you
I can face the day.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteoops, I was one syllable short. Here goes, Mimi, in thanks for your prayers.
ReplyDeleteI pick up the leash,
eye the slightly tilted head --
Sandy wags her tail.
LJ, sweet. Love to you and Sandy.
ReplyDeleteWe await the birth
ReplyDeleteNew life to God's creation
Hope for the journey
Now for something completely different, here are three poems authored by the cat my partner owned when we first met.
ReplyDeleteInternal turmoil
Uncontrollable heaving
Hair ball on the floor
Stupid, the dog is
Nose where it does not belong
Accidents happen
Wieners shivering
Nature will not be deceived
Grotesque mutation
KJ, things of beauty all. I gather your partner's cat did not like canines, but the haikus made me smile.
ReplyDeleteHow will I ever pick a winner? I'm already a nervous wreck over making a choice.
Was this a contest?
ReplyDeleteDon't count the syllable, please.
Weren't we just playing?
Ah, you did say feel free to nominate favorites. I was just playing the whole time, one more chance to be silly without competing. Still feeling chastened.
I like Nina's, but they're all such fun.
Nina, did you mean lapisque (as in "Ruler of the nations and cornerstone, come and save")? I get a bit confused if you intended the space, because then I don't know what to do with "que" and it's too many years since I took Latin. Love it in any case.
Blessed 4 Advent to y'all!
Was this a contest?
ReplyDeletePaul, too bad for you. And the prize is grand, beyond your dreams - beyond mine, too for that matter.
The contest continues
Why search for prizes?
ReplyDeleteYou lose the point, competing--
Playfulness, we serve.
Paul, I just snatched a few phrases from the "O Rex gentium" antiphon. My husband knows Latin well: it wasn't taught when I was in school. I can sometimes read a little but the cases are bewildering to me.
ReplyDeleteI did not intend to claim an erudition I do not, alas, possess.
Not enough time for
all the things I want to learn;
bittersweet pleasure.
Clouds part a moment:
ReplyDeleterainbow around the full moon
joy overflowing
If there's a contest
ReplyDeleteplease leave me out;I will not
win if others lose.
Nina, I like yours, especially the one about so much to learn and not enough time.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I won't pick a winner. It's been such fun reading all of the contributions.
Not enough time for
ReplyDeleteall the things I want to learn;
bittersweet pleasure.
Oh, baby, preach it!
Yes, this has been great fun.
More like this, Grandmère, pretty please.
Paul, I was thinking once a month - or is that too often? Should we take up other categories besides haiku? Limericks come to mind. What others?
ReplyDeleteI do think it's best not to have winners. Just for play and fun seems best.
Haiku fun brings joy
ReplyDeletewith desire to try anew
Let's do this again
Paul Bagshaw, I'll try with answers to your riddles:
ReplyDeleteYou push me away;
accept me, for when I leave
you won’t remember.
Our dark side? Our sinfulness?
Caring counsellor
you see through my eyes: with you
I can face the day.
The Holy Spirit?
Anyone else want to try with answers?
I was thinking death on the first riddle. The HS did occur to me on the second but didn't seem quite right.
ReplyDeleteOh, Mimi, limericks? And you a grandmother.
Well, Paul, we could have clean limericks, you know.
ReplyDeleteWho knew?
ReplyDeleteThere are clean limericks?
Mimi, you never cease to amaze me.
Needless to say, none of the ones I've heard from my ex-father-in-law (retired urologist) have been.
Sorry, Grandmère, no.
ReplyDeleteAlthough a priest my poems
are seldom holy.
Grandmere off switch?
ReplyDeleteI do not know what to think now
More haiku will come
(tee hee!)
Food shopping awaits
ReplyDeleteSo many things to do now
But I write haiku
Oh Grandmere!!! I want you to find the off switch!
RE: kirstin said...
ReplyDeleteWhy search for prizes?
You lose the point, competing--
Playfulness, we serve.
----
Competition - no
but if it were more than play
Kirstin has the best
Paul--I like yours, too. "Tangled coppice" is especially lovely.
ReplyDeletePaul B, no holy poems, eh? I'm not that great at solving riddles. I think I give up, unless an answer pops into my mind unexpectedly.
ReplyDeleteAll of you, thank you for your contributions. This has been a delightful and thoroughly enjoyable exercise.
I can't do Haiku!
ReplyDeleteThe scheme is just beyond me.
So, Merry Christmas
Ha, Susan! I guess that one was an accident.
ReplyDeleteNo, Mimi, but it was about all I could manage!
ReplyDeleteHere's one for the "youngsters" (well, for those who were young in 1984 anyway):
ReplyDeleteMight as well face it
you're addicted to haiku
—could be a hit song
and one more…
Rain strikes like hoofbeats
the pitched roofs of my city—
muddy Christmas, all!
The thread that never dies. We will have to do this again. Nice "Rain strikes like hoofbeats", PJ. Poor Santa will have a dirty suit.
ReplyDeleteRain falls like Gravy
ReplyDeleteGravy that falls in My Plate
God is really Good.