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Hello my name is Patricia and I’d like to welcome you to the second episode of the fourth series of the haiku pea podcast. It’s a podcast dedicated to haiku and senryu, which started in 2017 as I started to share my learning of haiku and invited you to come on the journey with me. I was so happy that so many of you joined me and together we have spread the word that haiku is fun, but perhaps a little harder than you would imagine to write.

Here we are now in 2021 in the fourth series and the goal of the podcast is subtly changing, for the good, I hope. We’re still shouting from the rafters about how much fun it is to write, read and listen to haiku, we’re still welcoming new poets but this year I thought we’d work on our technique together.

With this in mind, this year our topics will, I hope, be a litte more challenging to write for. I’d like to offer workshops from experienced haijin who can guide and mentor us to improve our writing skills. I think we have made a good start so far with workshops from Roger Watson about humour and Deborah P Kolodji about exaggeration in haiku and I have more to come.

As you know I’m always open to suggestions and if you, or someone you know have ideas for workshops and speakers, do please get in touch. It’s already happening and as a result, Randy Brooks is coming along to talk to us in a future episode, as too are Ben Gaa and Brad Bennett.

Let’s talk about this episode. Well, our challenge was to write verses about spring and autumn. Traditionally Japanese haiku have used Kigo, words which you all know symbolise a season. Now as I said before, it’s relatively easy to do that when you are writing haiku which involves one culture or country, not so easy when you write English language haiku and the poets who write these verses originate from so very many cultures and nations across the hemispheres, which is one reason I am covering two seasons in one podcast. Anyway, in this instance I asked that you give us a clue which season you were writing about, either spring or autumn.

In the last podcast I told you that I’ll be changing the format for the monthly reading podcast. How? Well, I’d like to introduce a panel of judges to choose their favourite poems and tell me why. They’ll tell you which one’s they’ve chosen during the podcast and why. I will put their analysis in the journal along with the results of our deliberations, which we have off air, so to speak.

I’m starting in this podcast. I invite you to meet my family, a very supportive bunch who I press ganged into being this month’s judges. You’ll meet them as we go along.

The original plan was that we would spend Christmas together and perhaps over a cup of coffee and some Christmas cake we have a family discussion and decide on the winning haiku. However. like many of you I guess, our Christmas was not as we had intended. One of my sons and my daughter were locked down London and so the five of us had an evening zoom chat instead. Not the same but we all have to make the best of things at the moment, don’t we? I wonder if you will agree with the choices.

As usual I’ll start the podcast with some haiku that have been published elsewhere and then of course it’s your turn for some original haiku written for the Haiku Pea Podcast. As usual I read the verse first and then tell you who wrote it.

Previously Published

blue nemophila
I still miss the little things
about my sister

Debbie Strange – Winner, 2020 Akita International Haiku Contest

Sap rising he imagines me completely

Melissa Allen, Modern Haiku 42.3

leaves blowing into a sentence

Robert Boldman, Haiku in English the First Hundred Years

Daffendils a memory of childhood

Robert Horrobin, The Poetry Pea Journal of haiku and Senryu, Summer 2020

writer’s block
a young fox runs into
my haiku

Marion Clarke, The Poetry Pea Journal of haiku and Senryu, Spring 2020

Unpublished

prom night—
a snowy egret steps
ripple by ripple

m shane pruett

weaving
in the mackerel sky
skeins of geese

Cherry A

falling leaves
a black mask
tight on my face

Anna Maria Domburg Sancristoforo

the ruts we slip into falling leaves

Debbie Strange

fragrant lilac
winters –
farewell

Laura Driscoll

early frost
the roses
even pinker

Lori Becherer

flowers sleep
in forgotten warmth
leaves start to fall

Sarah Mahina Calvello

chicks in the nest
dappled with the sunrise
wind chimes

Carrie Ann Thunell

Indian Summer
do those white puffs over the hills
spell the storm?

**Eugeniusz Zacharski

scribbling
the prologue
pink blossom

Zahra Mughis

burying his head
in a warm scarf
the scarecrow

Marilyn Ward

blood moon
the burning eyes and grin
of a pumpkin

Barun Saha

wild garlic –
that pungent scent
of my youth

Dorothy Burrows

eine kleine nachtmusik
the acorns’ staccato
on the barn roof

Kristen Lindquist

spade down
wiping my brow with a sleeve
a tulip blossoms

Kim Russell

the robin
reclaims his garden –
russet and olive

Peter Draper

Crow Moon
the shades of a feather
tangled in the holly

Alan Summers

siamese cat
sniffs at a mole hole
the day shortens

Kathleen Tice

equinox morning
grandad trades his long johns
for boxers

Nika

And now we come to our first nomination for the judges choice. It’s Alex’s choice:

dark clouds
racing past empty branches
tea kettle sings

B A France

ripe suns
shining in moon light
pumpkins

S Narayanan

warm water
the koi
kiss my toes

Ronald K Craig

not quite winter
still hanging by a thread
red maple leaf

Richard Tice

cherry blossoms how quietly morning comes

Srinivas S

a red leaf
reconsidering the meaning of
the word woman

Nadejda Kostadinova

first frost
I find her letter
in his pocket

Vandana Parashar

amber golden brown
how many hues
ageing takes

Anjali Warhadpande

the clearing
at an old stone slab
Easter lilies

Christina Chin

rain
falls on the tarps
olive harvest

Roberta Beach Jacobson

digging the garden
the robin and my coat
sitting on the spade

James Young

abscission –
the brittle sound
of my adidas

Jitendra Menghani

nature’s torpor brings
hedgehog back to life, seen as
an Easter miracle

Ian Speed

tall dandelions
going to seed in perfect globes
untouched by breezes

Richard Bailly

flaming maples—
a girl cartwheels
in the leaves

Elaine Wlburt

around each new leaf
crippled calf curls his grey tongue
sweet grass within reach

Ronald Tobey

sunlight calls
I strum
the prairie grass

Kelli Lage

edge of dawn…
hitting all the right notes
the nightingale and I

Sonal Srinivasan

pre dawn. . .
waiting by the mailboxes,
our old school bus

Brett Brady

billowing clouds…
the quiet whispers
of tea-pickers

Neena Singh

Next we find out which of the poems was Leo’s nomination for the judges’ choice.

boarded-up carousel
— a flagless cord
whips the pole

eddy lee

Feast of St. Andrew
the eye of the sea bass
beneath a lemon slice

**Joshua Gage

grey light –
dawn walk through trees of
saffron crimson tangerine

Neera Kashyap

crescent moon
filling the blanks in
with fireworks

Tracy Davidson

clear water
a slight stir
in the turn of a trout

Pat Davis

pansies
brimming with dewdrops
Mother’s Day

Natalia Kuznetsova

even as it falls
the silence –
pink camellia

Angela Terry

cold morning –
stretching to the rhythm
of falling rain

Paul Callus

double-whammy
on the line
shallow side of river

E L Blizzard

bear poop
full of berries
the forest hush

Craig Kittner

blooming dogwood
my son brings home
his first girlfriend

John McManus

first prongs
of dogwood leaves
tiny crab claws

David Oates

I’m going to interrupt our poetry for a minute to say a few thank yous.

Firstly, thank you very much for all the positive feedback from episode one. I’m so pleased you enjoyed Debbie’s presentation and I look forward to receiving your submissions of exaggerated perspective from the 1st to the 20th of February.

The feedback about Jim’s postcard project was also very pleasing. Many of you have said that you will definitely give it a go, perhaps you could also email Jim, you’ll find his email address in the show notes for episode one of the fourth series and the poets’ directory. Let him know that you are taking part in the project. I think he’s had three emails so far, plus a post card from me which might even be with him by now. I received one from him yesterday and it’s absolutely beautiful. Thanks Jim. I don’t think he’ll mind whether you are sending him a postcard or sending postcards out to all your friends and family he will just be thrilled that he has given you the motivation to send these little gems out into the world. S if you can, please spare him a moment and let him know.

Now as you know the haiku pea podcast is free and I intend to keep it that way, but I do have costs. That’s why I put the buy me a coffee button on the website. It’s an opportunity for you to donate a little bit to the work I do and help me offset some of the costs. I wasn’t sure whether it would work, but you have been using it and it really helps, thank you.

Now back to the poetry:

each day follows the next duckling

Brad Bennett

on the laburnum branches
a cuckoo sings
of the dawn.

Rose

lights off,
blinds closed –
tricking the neighbours
not to ask for treats

Chris Peys

cuckoo calls out
of fog wrapped trees
to East or West

Robin Rich

fallen leaves…
a layering carpet
on failing lawn

Rob McKinnon

the sun returns
frenzy of nest building
after the rain

Eve Castle

first light
gold leaves shimmer
on a still pond

Bona M Santos

It always makes me happy to hear that one of our poets has tried something new for the first time. Today our next poet, Lekha has written a monoku for the first time. She has resolved to try more new forms in the future, big round of applause for Lekha.

Wind whirls and swirls multi-coloured crunchy confetti

Lekha Desai Morrison

balmy breeze
severely emaciated
a snowman

Samo Kreutz

too long inside a shell the baby bird cracks

Robert Witmer

magenta shades
between earth and sky …
cosmos flowers

Daniela Misso

fiddlehead ferns
the first of
four movements

Lorraine A Padden

alone in the field
not even a crow
harvest moon

Linda L Ludwig

hazy evening
the impending night
of sleep deprivation

Giddy Nielsen Sweep

harvest moon –
the toasty scent
of pumpkin bread

Valentina Ranaldi-Adams

shameless winds ravage
carnival foliage stripped
a forest shudders

Robert Quezada

dawn moon
the rattle of
milkman’s containers

Richa Sharma

simmering chutney
the aroma ripens
every room

Mark Gilbert

final harvest
enough dill
for Friday’s fish

Christine Wenk-Harrison

getting near grandpa’s,
the waft of jasmine

Riham El-Ashry

daylight moon
burying the hyacinth bulb
pointed side up

Doris Lynch

deserted streets
in spite of it all
tulips bloom

**Sharon Rhutasel-Jones

day dreaming
the three-fourth moon
still in the sky

Lakshmi Iyer

six feet apart
in the patch
faceless pumpkins

wendy c bialek

light morning mist
rises over the songs
of swamp sparrows

Doug Lanzo

first day
back to school…
the sound of yellow fog

**Kendall Lott

the slope
blooming with wild sage
distant village

Bruce H. Feingold

almond flowers open
petals amongst bare branches
waiting for the bee

Richard Hargreaves

pale moon
the loneliness of each leaf
that falls

Arvinder Kaur

daffodil trumpets
the dawn chorus muted
by late snow

Robert Horrobin

raindrops trickle through branches
sounds in my silence

Barbara Carlson

the sun rises through
the half dense mist
a diamond corona

Ibrar Hussain

hot suns
in the tender grass –
primroses

**Mariangela Canzi

Let’s close with our final nomination for the judges choice. Two of the team chose the next verse, Imogen and Harry.

vacation’s end
in the child’s pocket
a handful of sand

Maya Daneva

Well we’ve had our off air discussion and chosen the winner and the honourable mentions. You’ll be able to see how it went in the Spring Journal. Thanks to my family for their analysis.

Off air it also led to another discussion and I wonder what you think? Is it time to think outside the box for our seasonal poems? We debated whether we should be traditional in our approach and use seasonal words or whether next time we should avoid seasonal words and see what we could evoke without them. What to do… I need to think about it and would really love to hear your thoughts.

Just another couple of reminders before I go: You still have time to send me your submissions for your haiku and senryu inspired by FS Flint’s Ogre. Deadline 31st January. I’m accepting humourous senryu and haiku until the 20th January, so you are cutting it fine if you haven’t sent them yet. Exaggerate perspective is next month 1-20th February.

Don’t forget if you have haibun I am accepting submissions for the Spring Journal.

So, thank you to everyone who wrote for the podcast today, I enjoyed reading them and thank you for coming along and listening today. It was terrific to have your company.

Next time on the haiku pea podcast, Ben Gaa will be interoducing another topic, No ego. I hope you come along and listen and don’t forget to check the poetry Pea YouTube channel, there is more and more on their for you to enjoy.

Til next time…. Keep writing.

If I have missed anything let me know via email and I’ll put it right. Ciao

** Poets new to the podcast

Vision

The Haiku Pea Podcast started small in 2017. I thought I would more or less be talking to myself, but reckoned without the power of haiku, and the word spread. Now here at Poetry Pea there are a number of ways to celebrate haiku with lots and lots of like minded haiku poets.

In 2021 the Haiku Pea podcast  will be offering two podcast a month on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month, the first to explore haiku topics and the second to hear the haiku and senryu that you have been writing.

Listening options:

You can listen here on the website or you can find us on a number of podcasting platforms: iTunes, stitcher, spotify, amazon, google, player and tunein radio not forgetting YouTube. Please leave us a review.

Please subscribe the podcast where ever you chose to listen and the latest episode will be delivered to your feed, and if you have a moment please leave a review. Alternatively, you can sign up for our mailing and you’ll get information about every new release and all the latest news.

S4E2: Spring and Autumn