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:
Made me think of this:
Out of a daisy
a yellow sun
rises
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.
Thanks Mike, wonderful to hear from the author. :-)
emerging
from the hot tub
harvest moon
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
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
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
'for lease'
an empty house full of
moonlight
Jan Dobb
(FreeXpression, XVIII:5, May 2011)
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