thunderstorm ~
a dragonfly rests on
my night table
Published by
Narayanan Raghunathan
Poet, philosopher, and founder of Wonder Haiku Worlds.
I was active on various websites related to poetry & haiku. I wrote as Rudra & brahman~narayanan in Photo Haiku Gallery & as Rudra in midnightedition!
View all posts by Narayanan Raghunathan
i, too, await narayanan’s answer. i’ve had my reasons in the past; albeit, i’d not seen others use the tilde in haiku.
gk, this has never been openly discussed, to my knowledge, other than in my mind; and i use the (swung dash) not for changing phonetic values…
–
crisp winds breezing
through the swaying pines~
stiffening postnasal drip
Thank you Bill for observing and noting the etymological depth of the word “rests” as used here in this ku.
Yes josh wikoff i am aware the secondary kirej after line two. Thank you for this special reading of the ku.
Thank you gK and Alan summers for the encouragement.
About tilde [~] later. for lack of sufficient space.
midnight breeze ~
on the blue kitchen wall
a row of ants ascend
The use of the swung dash in haiku has been discussed a number of times on the Haikutalk mailing list. Some of the best discussions (in 2001 and 2004), unfortunately, were on the pre-Yahoo! Groups version, which AFAIK is not archived anywhere on the internet.
There are some reasons why I use the tilde [~] also called “swung dash”.
I often make compund words in my haiku out of necessity and use “dash” [-] to link the individual words . So I wanted another appropriate punctuation for the kireji. There were three options colon[:] semi-colon[;] and tilde[~]. It was late 2001 and I had actively started writing Haiku. I chose the exotic tilde~[contd]~
gk, i sense we’re in agreement, my saying “to my knowledge”, and your saying “afaik” or at this juncture, afauk. however, let’s move to the greater issue, it’s purpose in usage.
i’ll go first. the tilde is a grapheme (fundamental unit in written language). these days, i use it as a sarcasm mark.
In dictionaries, both bilingual and monolingual, the tilde is often referred to as a swung dash. It is often used to replace the headword of an entry when it occurs within the entry, in order to save space. For example, ~ enough would represent ironically enough at the entry for ironically.
On the Haikutalk list discussions, ALL the editors were strongly against using a tilde as a kireji. My guess: Submit a haiku with a tilde to one of them and you risk a swift rejection.
My take: Tilde has some very limited, specific uses, with none of them as punctuation in a sentence. I used them once in a ‘concrete’ haiku to emulate waves. Otherwise, they shouldn’t be used in haiku.
gk, short of amazing, and thinking your position would end with more than ” Otherwise, they shouldn’t be used~”. you emphasized “ALL”; surely meaning “THE editors THERE”. why worry about a rejection from such an elite group. for every revolutionary THOUGHT there comes a naysayer.
with some imagination, the tilde usage is unlimited
–
autumn thought~
from a tiny acorn
came this mighty oak
Profound Gratitude for your kind responses ~ Patricia, Ed Schwellenbach, judith ingram: I am honoured by your Haiku posted here~ Ed Schwellenbach, judith ingram and Bob Richardson.
The tilde[~] fascinates me for some inexplicable reason: I use it [~] to indicate an “endless continuum”[cosmoses hidden in seamless imaginations~]
a vague dream ~~
i wake up to watch
a fullmoon night~
[contd~]
beginning of
frost filled nights
autumn
–
crisp night–
this day without sunshine
Thank you Bob ~
autumn dream ~
winged serpents fly on
the astral ciborium
Greetings Narayanan_!
the lightning curtain whisks…
dust from my window sill
_M
Great Thanks Magyar ~ Greetings to you too.
birds’ endless choir ~
outside the window
a clouded sky
“thunderstorm ~
a dragonfly rests on
my night table”
For me it’s just stunning.
So beautiful. A visual delight. ~ Shar
What can I say, it’s a beautiful ku, Narayanan!
Great Thanks Anna, Sharon and Marijo. I am honoured.
A special moment indeed. The simple word “rests” carries a wealth of meaning here.
A beautiful moment and lovely contrast of images. Interestingly, the enjambment allows a masculine caesura after L2.
thunderstorm ~
a dragonfly rests on
my night table /nr
the red flash
of digital numbers /jw
I like your stuff.
The combination of sight and sound is delightful.
I have one question, however: Why use the swung dash as your kireji?
Enjoyed the haiku, and envy you a dragonfly in your room at night! ;-)
Just having come back from Sri Lanka, I was able to enjoy some fine lizards in my resort room, but alas not enough to stave off a few mozzie bites.
Great to see you back on Tinywords again! ;-)
i, too, await narayanan’s answer. i’ve had my reasons in the past; albeit, i’d not seen others use the tilde in haiku.
gk, this has never been openly discussed, to my knowledge, other than in my mind; and i use the (swung dash) not for changing phonetic values…
–
crisp winds breezing
through the swaying pines~
stiffening postnasal drip
What a breath-taking/holding contrast in this. Thanks!
Very nicely done, Narayanan. Your observation is quiet sensitive. I’ve always loved watching nature’s reaction to nature. Thanks for your moment.
first autumn frost
a field mouse explores
my kitchen floor
I love autumn but do so regret the loss of summer. You expressed it well. The other night, this really happened.
autumn visitor
a mouse in the
bread drawer
Thank you Bill for observing and noting the etymological depth of the word “rests” as used here in this ku.
Yes josh wikoff i am aware the secondary kirej after line two. Thank you for this special reading of the ku.
Thank you gK and Alan summers for the encouragement.
About tilde [~] later. for lack of sufficient space.
midnight breeze ~
on the blue kitchen wall
a row of ants ascend
to b. m. richardson:
The use of the swung dash in haiku has been discussed a number of times on the Haikutalk mailing list. Some of the best discussions (in 2001 and 2004), unfortunately, were on the pre-Yahoo! Groups version, which AFAIK is not archived anywhere on the internet.
There are some reasons why I use the tilde [~] also called “swung dash”.
I often make compund words in my haiku out of necessity and use “dash” [-] to link the individual words . So I wanted another appropriate punctuation for the kireji. There were three options colon[:] semi-colon[;] and tilde[~]. It was late 2001 and I had actively started writing Haiku. I chose the exotic tilde~[contd]~
gk, i sense we’re in agreement, my saying “to my knowledge”, and your saying “afaik” or at this juncture, afauk. however, let’s move to the greater issue, it’s purpose in usage.
i’ll go first. the tilde is a grapheme (fundamental unit in written language). these days, i use it as a sarcasm mark.
–
dreary morn~
yet, some light
from the www
From wikipedia:
In dictionaries, both bilingual and monolingual, the tilde is often referred to as a swung dash. It is often used to replace the headword of an entry when it occurs within the entry, in order to save space. For example, ~ enough would represent ironically enough at the entry for ironically.
On the Haikutalk list discussions, ALL the editors were strongly against using a tilde as a kireji. My guess: Submit a haiku with a tilde to one of them and you risk a swift rejection.
My take: Tilde has some very limited, specific uses, with none of them as punctuation in a sentence. I used them once in a ‘concrete’ haiku to emulate waves. Otherwise, they shouldn’t be used in haiku.
gk, short of amazing, and thinking your position would end with more than ” Otherwise, they shouldn’t be used~”. you emphasized “ALL”; surely meaning “THE editors THERE”. why worry about a rejection from such an elite group. for every revolutionary THOUGHT there comes a naysayer.
with some imagination, the tilde usage is unlimited
–
autumn thought~
from a tiny acorn
came this mighty oak
Profound Gratitude for your kind responses ~ Patricia, Ed Schwellenbach, judith ingram: I am honoured by your Haiku posted here~ Ed Schwellenbach, judith ingram and Bob Richardson.
The tilde[~] fascinates me for some inexplicable reason: I use it [~] to indicate an “endless continuum”[cosmoses hidden in seamless imaginations~]
a vague dream ~~
i wake up to watch
a fullmoon night~
[contd~]