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# / Author
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I
Hugh Bygott
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Moonflower —
In the growing dark, this desire
which is so fragile ...
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II
Dana-Maria Onica
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— alone,
my wet sleeve as pillow —
first winter rain
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III
Hugh Bygott
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A mountain hyacinth
has bloomed and wither'd:
Is this the path of love?
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IV
Dana-Maria Onica
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trying
to hide your blush ...
first snow
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V
Hugh Bygott
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Fragrance of her skin —
summer night breezes tempt me,
and yet ... and yet ...
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VI
Dana-Maria Onica
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how does
a violin string vibrate?
spring wind ...
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VII
Hugh Bygott
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After her bath
she unfolds a scented robe ...
shadows of plum blossoms.
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VIII
Dana-Maria Onica
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the sound
of his steps ... worrying
about my lily
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IX
Hugh Bygott
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Summer dusk —
a vase holds the pure lily,
more perfect than before.
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X
Dana-Maria Onica
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his hand ...
a touch on the heart line —
the weight of a snowflake
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XI
Rita Odeh
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Spring moon,
Try to descend your sky —
To illuminate mine
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XII
Hugh Bygott
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Scarlet butterflies —
these full lips of temptation ...
Ah! It is but a dream!
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XIII
Dana-Maria Onica
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summer dawn —
a lipstick goodbye
on the mirror
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XIV
Rita Odeh
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Clyte's lament —
the sun god's love turned me into
a sunflower
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XV
Betty Kaplan
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on her kimono
entangled vines, the sash
slowly unwinds
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XVI
Hugh Bygott
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Her skirts revealing,
I watch her tread the water's edge ...
Ebb tide.
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XVII
Dana-Maria Onica
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— he looks
at my undone button ...
woodfire
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XVIII
Betty Kaplan
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oh butterfly
still lying hidden within
the cocoon
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XIX
Dana-Maria Onica
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skilful gardener ... and yet
he bleeds from the wound
of this rose thorn
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XX
Betty Kaplan
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open blossom
takes within it
soft spring rain
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XXI
Rita Odeh
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Oh, little sparrow —
if you look up you'll see:
a cloud in love
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XXII
Dana-Maria Onica
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this shallow water ...
gone at the end of a hot
summer day
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XXIII
Rita Odeh
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The vast sea
turns into a carpet
as you come closer
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XXIV
Hugh Bygott
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The larks still silent,
I awaken to a caressing ...
her lissome limbs.
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Many of these new haiku might be called metaphors of love. They are all rather lovely and deserve a place in EROS. Please keep posting these haiku and let your imagination find new expressions. Please always try to include a kigo and make a kireji break in the flow of the words.
Please experiment and keep your own style including a single line. While the art of haiku is brevity and inclusive silences, the finest poets of the past often were direct in what they said. This is particularly true of Chiyo-ni. Only when the poems are re-read does it become clear that something more was been said.
I have high hopes for this new series.
Hugh Bygott |
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XXV
Dana-Maria Onica
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moonless night —
kiss by kiss, the long road between
his shoulders
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XXVI
Rita Odeh
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am I in love —
with you or with the hymn:
(honey, I love you)
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XXVII
Dana-Maria Onica
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chilly evening —
biting the same apple, we smile
without reason
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XXVIII
Hugh Bygott
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Thoughts of love, then sadness
as Spring dusk brings the day's end ...
All things must pass.
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XXIX
Vaughn Seward
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your smile
amid spring heat waves ...
yearning heart
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| In Japanese poetic tradition heat waves seen on a warm, balmy spring day have been used as a metaphor for something evanescent, insubstantial, or unreal. (from Modern Japanese Haiku by Makoto Ueda, p. 47). VHS |
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XXX
Betty Kaplan
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his side of the bed
empty. . . I roll over
and hug the pillow
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XXXI
Rita Odeh
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windy evening,
slipping out of her blouse —
the moon blushes
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XXXII
Dana-Maria Onica
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I look upon him
as a passing stranger ...
the coldest morning!
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XXXIII
Zhanna P. Rader
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Sun-bathing ...
a tiny ant crawls
into her bikini top
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XXXIV
Hugh Bygott
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These swelling buds —
Reason is the best of loves,
yielding each, the other.
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Rita has asked if haiku should have titles. My experience of the classical hokku is that many poets wrote a head note or some explanation. Chiyo-ni often did this, and a great deal about Bashô's hokku can be found in his prose writing.
It is a modern habit not to write head notes. I think people should be free to make their own choice.
The view that a poem, any poem, must stand alone without any independent text is a view which I think is mistaken. I admire greatly, Seamus Heaney and Sylvia Plath. I have found their prose writing invaluable in attempting to understand their poetry.
In XXXIV above, it seems that there is a spring kigo. However, I mean that the lady is pregnant. The first line is metaphorical. The poem then becomes metaphysical, asserting that love is to give. Plato's Symposium has a beautiful expression of this idea.
There is only one image. The power of the haiku is in the second and third lines. Perhaps many readers cannot see this, but this is the whole point - a haiku should not give up its meaning too easily.
I had hoped that each poem would have a cut and a kigo. However, some poems are being presented without a kigo. Ideally, if a person is in doubt they should email me first and I will help them. I don't want to discourage anyone, so please try to find a seasonal word. A kigo does not have to name a season. Thus moon is an autumn kigo by convention. The Girls Festival is a spring kigo because of the date on which it is celebrated. The short night is a summer kigo based on fact. There is no sense in the phrase a non-kigo kigo. I had hoped that this series would encourage people to experiment. I concede that some alleged haiku do not have a kigo or a kireji phrase, and read like a simple empirical statement stating a plain and obvious fact. I think that we should try to avoid that kind of presentation.
I am editing each edition to avoid giving Vaughn too much work. He has been dedicated in keeping the archives. I greatly appreciate his fine work. HB |
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XXXV
Zhanna P. Rader
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Butterfly garden ...
a Monarch alights
on her scented nape.
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XXXVI
Hugh Bygott
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Delicately
the butterfly alights on his hand ...
he kisses the touch.
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XXXVII
Dana-Maria Onica
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frosted dewdrops —
between the sheets
her pearls ...
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XXXVIII
Hugh Bygott
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Spring dinner party —
zipping up her dress, I imagine
Time running backwards.
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XXXIX
Dana-Maria Onica
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tasting
the peach ... shall I find
an excuse for pain?
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XL
Zhanna P. Rader
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Pussy willows —
she slowly brushes them
against her lips.
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XLI
Hugh Bygott
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A moor lark our witness —
we embrace and exchange
eternal vows.
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XLII
Betty Kaplan
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now in a small box
the ring that hugged my finger —
autumn deepens
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| Those who have lost a spouse will know how death affects the perception of seasons. HB |
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XLIII
Dana-Maria Onica
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drizzling rain —
behind her black veil
still untouchable
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XLIV
Hugh Bygott
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Brief summer storm —
reconciled, I give in
to her moist red lips.
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XLV
Dana-Maria Onica
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clay dolls —
your hands sculpting
me
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| Here is an excellent use of kigo without naming a season. Ideally a kigo should fit integrally into a haiku as it does here. Hinamatsuri, “The Doll's Festival” is 3 March in Japan. HB |
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XLVI
Zhanna P. Rader
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Hot day —
lilies in one hand, she unbuttons
her blouse with the other.
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XLVII
Hugh Bygott
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White roses, lacquer'd nails —
knowing her newly-wed innocence,
I restrain my desires.
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XLVIII
Dana-Maria Onica
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snowmelt river —
no bridge between
you and me
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XLIX
Hugh Bygott
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Scented dusk —
remembering the fate of Daphne,
I stay in the shadows.
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L
Dana-Maria
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a peacock dance —
after a long siege... at last
the laurel wreath
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