Mostly Haiku

"What a strange thing!
to be alive
beneath cherry blossoms."

Kobayashi Issa 




"Where flowers bloom so does
hope."

Lady Bird Johnson






"It was one of those March 
days when the sun shines hot
and the wind blows cold,
when it is summer in the light 
and winter in the shade."

Charles Dickens




"It is spring fever.
That is what the name of it is.
And when you've got it, you
want -oh, you don't know quite  
what it is you don't want,
but it 
just fairly makes your heart
ache, you want it so!"

-Mark Twain 

What is haiku?

Michael Dylan Welch wrote -

"There's something poetic about a garden.

A japanese garden seems 

especially poetic."

Haiku 

is a poetry of nature

but it is also a poetry of 

human nature. 

It gives readers feelings 

and shows human 

existance amid nature.

On reading a good haiku, 

we are mentally and 

emotionally moved to experience 

what the poet experienced. 

"Haiku is a means of sense awareness,

of mindfulness, a poetic window to the

suchness of the full range of existance."

"Birds singing

in the dark

rainy dawn."

Jack Kerouac

"The taste

of rain

- Why kneal?"

"Warm winter evening-

the chairs asked."




Poems by Kaga no chiyo 

"In this lively place
the peony
most beautiful."



"The morning glory!
It has taken the well bucket,
I must seek elsewhere for water."

James W Hackett was quoted to say

"A Haiku,

is like a finger pointing at the 

moon, and if the finger is bejewleed, 

one no longer sees the moon."

Haiku is comprised of detail 

observed by the five senses.

The poet witnesses an event 
and uses words to distill that 
experience so others may
understand it in some way.

What did you notice 

about the subject?

What colours, textures, 

and contrasts
did you observe?

How did the subject sound?

What was the tone and 

volume of the event that 

took place?


Did it have a smell, 

or a taste?

How can you accurately 

describe the way it felt?




More haiku poetry 



Red Oak

red oak tassels gone
yellow pollen lingers, coats .....
spring storms stir ...

Sara Kendrick




Spider running ....
cat's pink tongue ....
nature's breakfast, sparkling
spring sun ....


Panagiota Romios





How wild the sea is,
and over Sado Island,
the River of Heaven



Morning and evening
Someone waits at Matsushima!
One-sided love.





On Buddha's birthday
a spotted fawn is born -
just like that


Behind Ise Shrine,
unseen, hidden by the fence,
Buddha enters nirvana