Conversation 61: THE DAILY HAIKU RUNDOWN

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As we grow and thrive here is a rundown of THE DAILY HAIKU regular threads and timings, also one off initiatives.    

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The main activity of each day is our DAILY THEME. This is decided by a running poll in Annoucements that you can add to and vote on.   The Daily Theme is posted every day around midnight on the facebook group but also currently on @TheGreatMargin Twitter too. Keep adding and voting on themes.

Every day the WEEKLY theme is posted and also decided on in  a poll available in Announcements which we encourage you to add to and vote on.

We also have a SEASON WORD, thanks to the suggestion from Eric McLachlan and this changes each week too. This is taken from suggestions posted in the blog https://thegreatmargin.org/conversations/nature-and-haiku-season-words-and-kigo-at-the-daily-haiku-and-reflections-on-listening-to-nature/

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Once a week we have a MUSICAL THEME a thread originallysuggested by Lucy Newlyn. This is voted on and can be added to in our running poll in Announcements.  The music acts as a prompt to create haiku with or without image/other links. Thanks to Wendy Blomseth Houser for the wonderful THE DAILY HAIKU playlist available here on SPOTIFY  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6Hc8StOBcwbxVM4P38UgeR…

A wonderful part of THE DAILY HAIKU community is that we grow in response to suggestions and discussions. Early on John Lanyon and Lucy Newlyn suggested including a RENGA to create collaborative writing spaces.  Here is a supporting blog on renga https://thegreatmargin.org/conversations/conversation-25-renga-writing-and-connecting-at-the-daily-haiku/
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Once a Week on a Tuesday we have a PHOTO PROMPT a new thread suggested by Arthur Chappell and you can add images to our image bank in the post in Announcements.  Then there will be a new post each week also in announcements with the chosen photo of the week and in the comments you can respond with a haiku.   
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On Wednesdays there is a SLOW RENGA from 6pm GMT where first lines are voted on in a poll in Announcements.  We usually have two suggestions to offer choice but EVERY haiku beings with those first lines. We also suggest that people contribute at hourly intervals until 10pm when there is an open posting slot. This encourages a more thoughtful approach, to allow those first lines to percolate and deepen with each response.
In contrast to Wednesday our FRIDAY NIGHT RENGA now to be our WEEKEND renga from 6pm on Friday to Monday is a fast paced experience. We begin with a haiku from the week where the last line is taken to start the renga then the last line of that haiku starts the next and on we go. Our new record is 800+ from our 1st Birthday Weekend Celebrations. We have also run special renga events to make National Poetry Day last year.
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Every other weekend we alternate two special features: The FAMOUS HAIKU THREAD curated by Sèbastien Revon and our HAIGA thread.
The FAMOUS HAIKU thread is a chance for us to discuss and engage with what it says on the tin ‘a famous haiku’. It is also a chance to learn through discussing haiku more about this fascinating genre.
The HAIGA thread focuses on the marriage between image and word.  To learn more about Haiga with stunning examples and explanations from Marion Clarke, read our blog https://thegreatmargin.org/conversations/conversation-11-writing-haiku-haiga-where-image-and-haiku-meet/
You can respond to the suggested images and write a haiku or combine image and haiku or take new images.
For our birthday weekend Phil Barnett created a stunning workshop on photo haiku highlighting a central element of haiku JUXTAPOSITION. Try it here: https://thegreatmargin.org/conversations/conversation-57-juxtaposition-the-daily-haiku-celebratory-workshop-from-phil-barnett/
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Fridays are a day for first time haiku writers to have a go. There are plenty of helpful workshops and tips to help you explore haiku on the group and on The Great Margin. https://thegreatmargin.org/conversations/writing-haiku-first-timers/
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MONTHLY FEATURES include a Pick n’ Mix 10 minute Haiku Challenge: A chance to revisit old themes or choose your own and write quick haiku in no more than ten minutes.  We also now have a MONTHLY CHALLENGE feature with our first one asking for humorous haiku.  

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ONGOING FEATURES include Announcement polls on favourite poets, art to inspire haiku, books, themes and requests for feedback. Our Reading List is available here. Do add your suggestions: https://thegreatmargin.org/conversations/conversation-53-the-daily-haiku-reading-list/

We have a MENTORING option which you can sign up to. You can offer to mentor on untying not just writing.  But also you can ask for mentoring too.  This option is found within the Facebook group headings.  This is an area I would like to grow.

At THE DAILY HAIKU we also create other initiatives including FILM opportunities.  For our first 100 days this celebratory film https://youtu.be/r8jNHxobyig involves contributions from 80 members. In collaboration with our partners the wonderful PAPER NATIONS 7 short films were made I EVEN DREAM IN HAIKU. You can access these here https://thegreatmargin.org/haiku/.   They feature haiku, image, video and voice overs from members in the group.

 

We have an open call-out for haiku from Under 18s and I would like to explore more initiatives to get younger people involved in haiku writing.

 

Collaborations include working with 64Million Artists setting a weekly challenge during Valentines 2021 with a call out for Love Haiku establishing the hashtag #LoveHaiku. https://64millionartists.com

 

Wellbeing is a key aim and outcome from being a member of THE DAILY HAIKU. We are regularly supported by ArtsWell https://arts-well.com, Network of Wellbeing https://networkofwellbeing.org amongst other wellbeing organisations.

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This weekend we had our first MEET-UPS on zoom which were such fun.  We would like to have more and at some point, when we can, face to face meet ups.

 

Aside from all our regular events we also have one-off initiatives. These include occasional PROMPTS, WORKSHOPS (also available here on The Great Margin) and CALL OUTS FOR FEEDBACK.  We also respond to events eg, WORLD POETRY DAY, MOTHER’S DAY, SPRING EQUINOX etc and are very open to suggestions.  This is YOUR community so it grows in the way you WANT it to.

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The Great Margin is a space that offers discussions on writing, workshops, wellbeing, haiku of course and includes interviews with TDH members.  It is another chance to engage but on a platform that is not on social media. It is also an opportunity to post your favourite haiku or write new on the regular round-up blogs.  This can allow those friends of yours who do not like social media to engage, also younger people and schools.  The Round-up posts are now twice a month rather than weekly. You can access them on www.thegreatmargin.org/conversations/
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Don’t forget to like our sister page THE DAILY HAIKU at https://www.facebook.com/thedailyhaikucreative/ This is a additional space to share resources, promote your own work, post reviews and highlight other creative endeavours or events.   
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Now in our 2nd Year with over 9000+ members worldwide what are you enjoying on TDH?What do you want to see more of ? What can we introduce going forwards?

12 Comments on “Conversation 61: THE DAILY HAIKU RUNDOWN”

  1. Reply

    I am new and I really do appreciate all the information above -as I have been trying to get things clear.

    May I ask that we have the date shown when assigning the daily theme.
    Reading that it is the 374th daily theme doesn’t tell me if it is for today or not because Facebook uses algorithms that might have me get an announcement a day later than someone else. It might look like I don’t care about the rules but I do.
    Having a date would guarantee it.

    Thank you for your consideration.
    Jill

    1. Reply

      Hi Ruth Daily prompts will always be in Announcements but some people recently on some devices have had some issues seeing up to date Announcements, so to counteract this I always post the DAILY THEMES and other important prompts news etc in FILES under DAILY THEMES so you can always find them there

  4. Reply

    There is always so much going on in TDH, I can’t keep up! But I know that we can go with the flow of whatever we can accommodate in a day. So far, I have found this group very invigorating. 🙂 Even when I am at a loss for inspiration, I usually find the engagement itself inspiring.

  5. Reply

    As a reasonably new member, I have enjoyed being here so much. Not sure which are.most enjoyable… the haikus or the comments. Personally, I find the strict 5-7-5 structure a great challenge to digging deeply into your head to achieve the best.

  6. Reply

    I am in my first moments of joing this group. Lots going on I see. A bit overwhelming. I shall just start and see where it goes for me..

    What I should have said…

    Just starting this group
    It’s a bit overwhelming
    I shall just jump in.

  7. Reply

    I have enjoyed contributing to the daily topics of the last 18 months but I find some of the recent topics rather esoteric and impossible to write about. Couldn’t we re-visit some of teh original topics from the start as many current members won’t have seen them any way ?

    1. Reply

      Hi Mike I hope we always have a good spread of topics to keep people going and of course if the menu of topics DAILY, WEEKLY or SEASONAL WORD don’t hit the spot do feel free to post your own. Popular topics often renounce into the poll eg, silence, water etc so hopefully that will help.

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