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What a blessed haiku time I’ve had since the last podcast. I’ve had a long chat with Stanford M Forrester editor of bottle rockets, who is coming on the next podcast to join me for the workshop on Yügen and then of course today I get to talk with Brad Bennett again, as well as Joshua Gage and Kim Russell who are making their debuts on the podcast as community judges. A big thank you to everyone who takes the time to chat to me about or on the podcast it’s a real joy for me.
So welcome to S4E10. Today’s podcast is all about euphony the sound, the rhythm and the musicality of your poetry. Of course it was Brad Bennett who came along and gave us a workshop to introduce the topic forms. It’s had great feedback and even if you’ve missed submitting for this podcast I really think it’s worthwhile to go back and have a look at Brad’s YouTube presentation. I will of course put the link in the show notes.
A quick reminder that time is fast running out if you want to submit for the topic we are writing about at the moment, it’s kigo. You can write haiku with any season you want the goal is to show myself and the other editors Jim, Robert and Kristen very clearly what season your poem takes place in. Your deadline is the 20th of May 2021 midnight central European time.
Now as I was reading for the last podcast, episode nine I came across something in Donald Keene’s “The Winter Sun Shines in”
Yamamoto Kenkiki, spoke of the sounds, the musicality in this haiku by Shiki which has been trans. By Donald Keene:
cockscomb
there must surely be
fourteen or fifteen stalks
I can’t hear it myself, but let’s not forget that he was talking about the original Japanese about which I cannot comment but more importantly he went on to say: “Anyone who argues exclusively on the meaning does not understand poetry.” (1) The sounds of your poem are important. With that in mind let’s crack on with some previously published work. My thanks to the poets who sent me these pieces for inclusion in the podcast. If you feel that one of your previously published works fits the bill for an upcoming up-coming podcast do please send it to me for consideration.
As usual poem first poem first poet second. I hope you enjoy them
perfumed notes
the unfurling
of soul music
Marilyn Ward. Failed Haiku #58
wedding bells …
a cloud of plum petals
waltzing in the air
Natalia Kuznetsova (World Haiku Review, April 2014, Haiku of Merit)
smoothness
of the sheet on my body …
mulberry blossom
Daniela Misso The Haiku Foundation Haiku Dialogue – the way of the bedridden July 15, 2020
bioluminescence
I skip a pebble across
the universe
Debbie Strange, Seashores 2, 2019
1st Place, OtherWordly Intergalactic Haiku Competition, 2019
Shortlisted, Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems, 2019
And now let’s listen to some of your original haiku and senryu written especially for the podcast. As usual we’ll open with our first nomination for the judges’ choice. I’m quite old-fashioned in many ways so ladies first, welcome to the podcast Kim Russell, our first judge from the UK for a little while. Kim it’s a pleasure to have you on the panel this month. Tell us which poem have you chosen for your nomination and why.
Judges’ choice nomination by Kim Russell
night train the owl’s hoot softened
Marilyn Ward
train horn
sounds from afar…
the blues
Lee Hudspeth
train vendor
the click-click of the
orange soda bottles
Minal Sarosh
midnight cycle
the gurgle and swish
of insomnia
Marion Clarke
fine entwined vines
lovers’ fused fingers
linger with the dawn
Robert Quezada
playing violin
in front of the flutes –
chinrest chills
Geoff M Pope
breathing exercises
not enough
to bring him back
BA France
hurdy-gurdy man
brings a conductor’s passion
to his life and music
Ian Speed
one line
two lines
triangle
Richard Downes
waiting
for the music of the pennies…
blind beggar
Arvinder Kaur
dancing
to the clicking
of her bracelets
Christine Wenk-Harrison
spooning
by moonlight
boombox for two
Doris Lynch
shouldering the weight
of the boombox
good vibrations
Mark Farrar
head unfolding
from the swell in the pillow
a collapse of dreams
Alex Fyffe
hips sway
keeping time
in my ears
Giddy Nielsen-Sweep
avoiding work
itty-bitty bubbles burst
on the coffee surface
Ted Sherman
spring sonata
life rhythm of time
great symphony
Edita Striezencova
bare feet
squelching through mud
our first kiss
Robert Witmer
hard water cubes
tinkling crystal shake
margarita
Wayne Kingston
clatter, chatter
climbing up
the metal ladder
Dorothy Mahoney
facon bacon
spits and pops to make a
cracking show
C X Turner
new tune
our blues
marry
Richa Sharma
porch swing
the sway of a wayward
daydream
Pat Davis
wind in the reeds –
the rustle
of her wedding gown
Bill Fay
forest campsite
in moonlight the silk tents
of caterpillars
Michael Dudley
winter retreat…
the bubbling kettle
breaks the silence
Srinivas S
Thank You
A big thank you to Deborah P Kolodji for helping me with suggestions for guests for the workshops. It was a big help thank you very much Debbie.
A massive thank you to James Young, Robert Horrobin and Ted Sherman who were the editors for the submission of this month. I cannot tell you what a help it is to have the editing team working with me this year. And this month James and Robert are back with Kristen Lindquist helping out too. If you would like to help edit the submissions one month please do let me know. You would be busy from the 1st to the 20th of every month with three or four poems to read each day. If you’re interested send me an email; that goes for community judging as well. I could always have more people on the team.
A big thank you to everyone who helps me to keep the podcast available free of charge by buying me a coffee. It goes a long way to offsetting the cost of the podcast and it’s always a boost to know that people appreciate what you’re doing. You can donate to the podcast by clicking on the buy me a coffee button on the website. Last month my thanks to:
Tony Williams
Dean Leivers
Jason Furtak
Linda L Ludwig
Neera Kashyap
Marcie Wessels
Wendy Gent
Kristen Lindquist
Mimi Ahern
for their generosity.
white noise
winter waterfalls
in a freeze-frame
Eugeniusz Zacharski
a skeleton tree
scratches at
the shutters
Allison Douglas-Tourner
old grapefruit
one seed sprouts
in the compost
David Oates
winding path
I walk with the wind
in the willows
Neena Singh
after a famine of flowers—finally the hellebore
Richard Tice
the wind outside
humming its doleful tune
uncaring full moon
Natalia Kuznetsova
sheen of oil
on a spring puddle –
liquid opal
Stephen Joseph
spring rain
the gentle falls
of your footsteps
Jackie Chou
sudden shower—
we whisper our dreams
in the back seat of my car
Uma Anandalwar
whether rain
or rainbow
weathervane
Mark Gilbert
spring snow
redbud blossoms swirl
swiftly down the road
Steve Ullom
fat snowflakes
slowly falling
into spring
Pam Joy
ripe pumpkins
deer tracks riddle
the frost
Debbie Strange
late frost
all the new
and lost lilacs
E L Blizzard
just sitting between
the silhouette and shadow
this old oak tree
Richard L Matta
spring blossoms
among them flutters
a little boy’s song
Samo Kreutz
terror in the trees
grackles buzzing small squirrel
rabbit unfazed
Richard Bailly
lilies & smiles in a house of alleluias
Meik Blöttenberger
dark harbor
waves lap port side rail
of a rescue tug
Erin Castaldi
starry night
– a lighthouse
– a lighthouse
James Young
the Om sound
ringing in each shell …
call of the dawn
Lakshmi Iyer
temple chants –
lit lamps dance on waves
as the river turns
Neera Kashyap
lullaby –
slow waves slither
across the sand
Paul Callus
a rambling brook
rushes through the gap –
babbling on and on
Pat Geyer
Judges’ choice nomination by Joshua Gage
moonless night
an owl flies low
over the highway
Deborah P. Kolodji
grilling sun
screeching seagulls squabble
over my lunch
Sherry Grant
twilight deepens—
starlings on a wire
swirl suddenly
Kathleen Tice
tinted spring
and the spinach-green
of goose shit
Craig Kittner
psithurism
blue finches fluffing
in spring rain
Christina Chin
hawk screech
the tight wheeze
of these lungs
David Käwika Eyre
morning dove coos
soothe the restlessness
stirred by dawn
Douglas J Lanzo
this birdsong
a multitude of species
thronging
Kim Russell
lamppost lit –
rustling of dry leaves
in the alley
Daniela Misso
dinner outdoors
cicadas cheep
in unison
Christa Pandy
perception –
a rare hare leaps into
a dashing dog
Dorothy Burrows
desert waterhole…
in furious frequency
frenzied flies buzz
Rob McKinnon
firefly
stay lit a little longer
on the tip of my finger
Ronald K Craig
flower to flower
the soft hum of honeybees
on a summer’s day
Tracy Davidson
gossamer wings
fanning the flowers
… blue dragonfly
Linda L Ludwig
summer heat
the shimmer of sweat
on his brow
Bona M Santos
summer school students
on a quest to catch up
yellow school bus
Eve Castle
my cat laps
the lawn
spring thaw
Kristen Lindquist
winter rain
a cat’s soft purr
by the window-pane
Nisha Raviprasad
wind turbines
blocking the view of the sky
and the coyote’s song
Angela Terry
grey feathers of ash
float and dance
towards the picnic
Dale Bennett
Judges’ choice nomination by Brad Bennett
first light
the ferry gunwales gleam
with fresh white paint
P H Fischer
Thank you Brad, and thank you to Kim and Joshua for such interesting and informative nominations. You’ll have to get the summer journal to find out which of the three nominations was the judges’ choice and which were the honourable mentions. It did go down to the wire.
Well that’s it I hope you’ve enjoyed the poetry and the commentaries.
Remember that we are currently writing about kigo. You can send haiku with any seasonal reference that takes your fancy and your deadline is the 20th of May 2021.
See you back here in a couple of weeks for our next podcast when we’ll be having a chat if all goes well with Stanford M Forrester. Until then keep writing…
If I’ve made any mistakes or left something out, if you’d like more information do please email. Ciao
- Donald Keene, The Winter Sun Shines in
