As we leave January and enter February with Orion shining at its brightest in the night sky be inspired to write haiku from our smorgasbord of themes, prompts and activities featured this week in THE DAILY HAIKU. This is also a chance for those who have already written haiku on these themes to showcase their favourites. Something I enjoy doing is writing out themes on a pieces of paper, folding them up and then picking them out from a hat and going with the choice.
Enjoy engaging with the featured writing workshops in the links below. I would particularly urge you to share them with anyone who has not written creatively before and they work with any age group. They are a fun way to explore creativity and connect, as Sébastien Revon discovered when he experienced the shell workshop with his six year old son and shared the wonderful results.
Weekly Theme: EYES
Bonus Theme: KINDNESS
Daily Themes:
EPIPHANY
BREATHING
SHADOWS
PAPER
TIME
GARDENS
GREEN
Pick n’ Mix pick your own theme and write haiku in 10 minutes using your own theme or being inspired by past themes
Weekly Musical Theme:
Leonard Cohen, ‘Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye’ Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-bJPmasXKs
1st line renga write haiku using these first lines either ‘the feeling of frost’ or ‘awake at midnight’
Writing Workshops featured on The Conversations this week: A Fantasy Garden. https://thegreatmargin.org/conversations/conversation-31-writing-workshop-a-fantasy-garden/
and Writing Warm-Ups https://thegreatmargin.org/conversations/conversation-28-writing-warm-ups-getting-in-the-mood/
www.facebook.com/groups/THEDAILYHAIKU and @TheGreatMargin and @amandawhite10
5 Comments on “Conversation 33: WRITE HAIKU: Themes from THE DAILY HAIKU 30th January – 5th February 2021”
A selection of the haiku I wrote this week
thou shalt not covet
yet I do – that lemon tree
in Anna’s garden
careful planters hands
seeds placed like the way he played
piano piano
Beach-combing
Arm in arm we find the words
We need in the sand
the old cherry tree
grows in the garden next door
lends me its blossom
the feeling of frost
wakes from warmth – angry silence
do what you are told
sea mist at Trevean
dreams of Japanese gardens
my own quiet space
take time to take
the time to make the most
of the time you have
on an old tin tray
tiny hands make a garden
pebble bridge too
twig trees cast shadows
on jam jar lid pond
proud gardener toils
young eyes see acres
stretch out before her now
pretty dress dirty
lollipop stick tools
plastic animals roam free
blythe goddess with smile
sherbert dip sunset
marshmallow clouds sugar spun
sweet end to her day
My favourite haiku from 30th Jan – 05th Feb 2021
32nd Weekly Theme: Eyes
with eyes to see and
ears to listen, I see and
hear the wind’s wild song
©🦊VixenOfVerse, 2021.❤🧡💛
317th Daily Theme – Shadows
in the recesses
of my mind, stealthy shadows
creep – imperfection.
©🦊VixenOfVerse, 2021.
💚💙💜
32nd Weekly Theme, Eyes 2
blue, green, brown, hazel,
eyes have so many colours
windows to the soul.
©🦊VixenOfVerse, 2021.
❤🧡💛
Random Haiku Theme No 15 – Imbolc
Imbolc celebrates
the tiny shoots of life and
Brighid’s constant flame
©🦊VixenOfVerse, 2021.
Imbolc blessings to all.
💚💙💜
318th Daily Theme, EPIPHANY
my eldest son had
an epiphany, shocked
by his perception,
I have not seen him
since, nothing makes sense, logic
of Aspergers.
©🦊VixenOfVerse, 2021.
❤🧡💛
319th Daily Theme, Time
did time come with the
big bang, with the sun and moon
or with the first men,
time counts our seconds,
minutes, hours, days, weeks and years
from birth to death.
©🦊VixenOfVerse, 2021
💚💙💜
320th Daily Theme, Pick & Mix, 10-minute haiku
Theme – Missing
so much missing in
our Covid life, no hugs no
personal touching.
it separates us,
can make us depressed, lonely,
out on the edge.
where the world is grey,
rainbow colours fade and die,
leaving us – no tears.
©🦊VixenOfVerse, 2021.
❤🧡💛
32nd Slow Renga (2)
awake at midnight,
mind releases darkling words-
frozen shards of ice.
©🦊VixenOfVerse, 2021.
💚💙💜
321st Daily Theme – Garden.
my garden would have
wildflowers, sage, rosemary,
basil and parsley.
I would grow mugwort
for tea, bougainvillaea for
memories of Spain;
Jasmine, lavender,
Hydrangea,a silver birch
or two and willow;
hawthorn bushes and
I would grow blackberries and
blueberries to eat.
©🦊VixenOfVerse, 2021.
❤🧡💛
32nd Weekly Theme – Eyes 4.
our eyes are precious,
they show us the world’s beauty,
and man’s destruction.
©🦊VixenOfVerse, 2021.
💚💙💜
My favourites 1 January to today 7 February are all by others:
Amanda White:
a father
counts the skims from a stone
thrown by his son
This efficiently and subtly conveys a father’s engagement, pride and interest in his son’s achievement, in a transient moment both will remember.
Amanda White:
laughter lines
I have your eyes
now she has mine
Another cracker, reflecting in a few short words on ageing, iheritance and humour
Stan Phillips:
The small bird that sings
flying joyous in the clouds
does not know its name
How much there is in this “simple” little haiku. Humankind’s relationship with the rest of nature is contained here. We name it and know it’s the skylark, and we attribute the human emotion of joy to its singing. Yet the skylark doesn’t know its name and just gets on with it. Or does it….?
Ann Smith:
in the looking glass
a blue tit glances – smitten
a geisha dances
Perfect- two complimentary halves of a haiku, in balance, gentle, elegant
Michael Augustin:
dead fly on my desk
killed with an anthology
of love poetry
Irony in the best tradition of Issa (“All the time I pray to Buddha / I keep on / killing mosquitoes”).
Of my own, maybe just this one from the pick and mix themes:
this winter night
the branch where the blossom was
now bears a moon