I submitted the Haiku, never expecting it be published. Reading my mind, I suspect that it was a variation of a Nicholas Virgilio haiku – Lily, out of the water, out of itself – for which he received acclaim from the Emperor of Japan at the time. I met him and attended a session in Pennsylvania , a small group setting, where he recited many of his poems, using a candle in a unlit room for a background effect. He inspired me to write haiku, but I usually only write "ku" , or minimal haiku, i.e. hiddenemyself , downwindown, onewe, and others.
Thanks for your comment.
What a lovely haiku, Martin. And perfectly timed to coincide with the full moon last night.
As I'm sure many haiku enthusiasts know, moon-viewing has long been a major aesthetic pursuit among the Japanese, and many literary and artistic works celebrate the glories of the full moon. Although I made no poetic attempt myself last night, my son and I paused to admire it.
What I particularly love about your poem is the pacing. Each line ends with a pause, almost a breath, which slows down the reading of the poem, and matches the slow progress of the moon rising.
And the final word, "lifting" – an inspired (and literally "inspiring") choice!
Yes, my own number of moon poems is staggering in relation to whatever my second place category may be. Just too many opportunities. I have a smaller, sub-genre of day moon poems, with the subject inevitably portrayed as the eternally out-of-place misfit:
July 22nd, 2013 at 3:25 pm
Made me think of this:
Out of a daisy
a yellow sun
rises
July 22nd, 2013 at 7:06 pm
I submitted the Haiku, never expecting it be published. Reading my mind, I suspect that it was a variation of a Nicholas Virgilio haiku – Lily, out of the water, out of itself – for which he received acclaim from the Emperor of Japan at the time. I met him and attended a session in Pennsylvania , a small group setting, where he recited many of his poems, using a candle in a unlit room for a background effect. He inspired me to write haiku, but I usually only write "ku" , or minimal haiku, i.e. hiddenemyself , downwindown, onewe, and others.
Thanks for your comment.
July 23rd, 2013 at 12:50 pm
Thanks Mike, wonderful to hear from the author. :-)
July 22nd, 2013 at 6:31 pm
emerging
from the hot tub
harvest moon
July 22nd, 2013 at 8:04 pm
What a lovely haiku, Martin. And perfectly timed to coincide with the full moon last night.
As I'm sure many haiku enthusiasts know, moon-viewing has long been a major aesthetic pursuit among the Japanese, and many literary and artistic works celebrate the glories of the full moon. Although I made no poetic attempt myself last night, my son and I paused to admire it.
What I particularly love about your poem is the pacing. Each line ends with a pause, almost a breath, which slows down the reading of the poem, and matches the slow progress of the moon rising.
And the final word, "lifting" – an inspired (and literally "inspiring") choice!
Wonderful poem to add to my favourites.
Strider
July 23rd, 2013 at 12:58 pm
No self-respecting haiku writer would fail to pen at least a hundred haiku with moons during their lifetime.
I'm not dead yet, so here's just a few:
the moon is broken
Battersea Power Station
from a train window
Alan Summers
Award credit: 1st Prize, World Monuments Fund 2012 Haiku Contest
first quarter moon
dancing pinheads burst
into new angel DNA
Alan Summers
Publications credits:
Asahi Shimbun (Japan, August 2012); Does Fish-God Know (YTBN Press 2012)
falling snow moon
the slowness of shadows
caught in branches
Alan Summers
Publications credits: Presence #47 (2012)
chestnut moon shifting in my memory ghost floors
Alan Summers
Publication Credits: Roadrunner 12.3 (December 2012); LAKEVIEW International Journal of Literature and Arts Vol.1, No.1 February 2013
July 25th, 2013 at 9:21 am
Yes, my own number of moon poems is staggering in relation to whatever my second place category may be. Just too many opportunities. I have a smaller, sub-genre of day moon poems, with the subject inevitably portrayed as the eternally out-of-place misfit:
day moon
I wasn't made
for these times
(Presence No. 47)
S.M. Abeles
July 23rd, 2013 at 11:30 pm
'for lease'
an empty house full of
moonlight
Jan Dobb
(FreeXpression, XVIII:5, May 2011)
July 26th, 2013 at 2:23 pm
Wonderful. I like how it could be the moon that lifts the ocean as well as itself.
I wrote a French one about a moon that was reluctant to leave the sky!
point du jour
le mât d’un voilier donne un petit coup
à la lune
Gong Journal of the French Haiku Association, No. 39
Translation
daybreak
the mast of a yacht
pokes the moon