Crystal Beads

.
… Glittering crystal beads
… Decorate my body —
… Humid afternoon

… Beads of sweat
… Twinkle on my ears —
… Unlooked-for jewels

from the Icebox inbox – 38

new shoes
snow squeaks like
last year’s
………… (Iliyana Stoyanova)

Shallow lake stretches
Between the rec ground goalmouths –
Cotton wool clouds pass.
………… (Kamome)

evening hush
beyond city lights
wires hum
………… (Joyce Joslin Lorenson)

the marina
cluttered with yachts
suddenly a clink!
………… (Diarmuid Fitzgerald)

At the Kakimori Library

click on any pictures to enlarge

On 11 Feb., 2016, Stephen Henry Gill (aka Tito) gave a talk in Japanese at the Kakimori Library (in Itami, Hyogo) entitled  はいくとはいぶん (Haiku & Haibun, deliberately left in hiragana). There was an audience of 80 people, including many Hailstone poets. In order to set the context, he first briefly related the story of haiku’s transmission to the West – from Hendrik Doeff around 1800, through Noguchi, Couchard, Flint and Pound in the early 1900s, right up to the haiku society-based, website-based scene of today. The audience had a sheet of haiku examples in two languages to savour. Along the way, Gill talked about certain haibun (haiku-style prose) introducers and pioneers, including Yuasa, Ueda, Cain and Spiess. The work of poets like Ross, Kacian, Higginson, Cobb and Jones was also alluded to, and two English haibun excerpts (in both languages) were also read.

lt. Tsubo’uchi, rt. Gill

There was a talk session afterwards lead by Gill’s fellow Genjuan Haibun Contest judge, Nenten Tsubo’uchi, which attempted to ascertain how truly ‘haiku-style’ the examples of Western haibun provided on the handout really were.  The audience seemed to have been genuinely moved by the way the narrative line and haiku poems were used as mutual counterpoint in the late Ken Jones’ piece, The Spirit Level.

The Kakimori Library holds one of Japan’s foremost collections of haiku documents and paintings, including many works by Basho, Onitsura, Buson, Issa, etc.  The current exhibition included the famous sketchbook-diary from Shiki’s last days, Gyouga Manroku.

After viewing the beautiful works in the galleries, some Hailstones called in at the nearest sakagura (sake warehouse) for a drink and meal.

lt. H. Miyazaki, rt. E. Mori

from the Icebox inbox – 36

frosty evening
I chant for us
walking through forest

________________________Payal Aggarwal

lost in thought
I stray into the way
of butterflies

________________________Grace Galton

crescent moon
snagged by a tree
thoughts that detain me

________________________Anna Cates

light mist
among the wisteria
a hummingbird whirs

_______________________Theresa Cancro

medicine buddha mantra

.

medicine buddha mantra

in the breeze

incense smoke swirls

In the dusk

.
Yellow lights flashing

To the sound of a stream––

Fireflies

 

………………………………….. Alighting on my black shirt

……………………………………… A firefly pauses, waits––

…………………………………………. My first gold medal!

 

from the Icebox inbox – 35

zoo visit…
after the downpour
a rainbow of macaws

……. (Grace Galton)

spring morning
how i fiddle with piano keys
missing her caress

……. (Payal Aggarwal)

indulgent mother
cow licking her calf
till he shines

……. (Joyce Joslin Lorenson)

Waiting for summer
The ice and snow are melted
But tempestuous storms
Wreak havoc
And I pine alone.

……. (Jane Wieman, Madison, Wisconsin)