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# / Author
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LI
Hugh Bygott
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A tranquil sunset:
the sun slips into the cool sea —
rising, a rosy moon.
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LII
Zhanna P. Rader
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Endless sun
sweltering down on the metal ship —
all you touch red hot
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LIII
Hugh Bygott
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Only the Sun knows,
the sea's mystery remains —
a deserted ship.
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| If haiku essentially require kigo words and immediate experiences, then it seems that haiku cannot be truly universal since in some biomes, such as coral reefs and equatorial oceans, it is difficult to define all seasons. Indeed, it is often in the creative imagination that the finest thoughts are possible. HB |
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LIV
Zhanna P. Rader
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Scuba-diving —
the fish peck
at my skin.
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LV
Hugh Bygott
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Only this fragment —
the polyp's life is over:
warm seas still wash the reef.
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LVI
Zhanna P. Rader
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Hot pebble beach —
the barefoot bathers'
teetering...
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LVII
Hugh Bygott
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Solitude; grey sand ,
grey water and grey sky are one —
the East China Sea.
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| This is a clear memory, December 1982 on a small beach in Southern Kyushu, south of Nagasaki. HB |
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LVIII
Zhanna P. Rader
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Just me in the waves...
swimsuit full
of red seaweeds.
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LIX
Hugh Bygott
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Summer-bronz'd life guards —
turning heads, the white-legg'd English girl
walking in the waves.
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| Memories of the world's greatest beach, Bondi Beach, Sydney 1950 |
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LX
Zhanna P. Rader
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A bay striped
with causeways —
palms along the shores...
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LXI
Hugh Bygott
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Storm darkened sea —
the white fleck of an albatross
drifts, broken as the palms.
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LXII
Zhanna P. Rader
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Cruise ship sailing
through the warm wind —
terns search for fish.
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LXIII
Hugh Bygott
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Tropical night at sea —
the honeymoon couple unaware
of the fiery sunset.
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LXIV
Zhanna P. Rader
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Warm inland breeze —
a toddler runs after the waves,
then away from them.
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LXV
Hugh Bygott
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Soft waves at twilight —
two young girls walk at the waves' edge
remembering childhood.
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| Zhanna, I like LXIV very much. You have said a lot in 17 syllables. I have taken the child to a later time, but I admit my first line was influenced by Sappho. HB |
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LXVI
Zhanna P. Rader
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Sea-side blackbirds
getting still closer
to the snacking lasses
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LXVII
Hugh Bygott
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The endless sea —
closing its sphere in unity,
past and future are one.
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LXVIII
Zhanna P. Rader
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Late summer —
the sunset spills its red and gold
over the sea.
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LXIX
Hugh Bygott
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Swept up by the winds
a cicada falls to the sea —
caught by the gull in flight.
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| Insects have very low terminal velocities in free fall compared to humans which average 50 metres per second. Some small mammals also have low terminal velocities. A mouse can fall five floors without injury. HB |
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LXX
Zhanna P. Rader
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Sunset —
honeymooners ride a horse
along the beach.
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LXXI
Hugh Bygott
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Soft sand at ebb tide,
water laps her kimono —
alone with the sea.
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LXXII
Zhanna P. Rader
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A gull on the post,
letting my camera
closer and closer.
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LXXIII
Hugh Bygott
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Sweeping across the sea,
set for the granite city —
these urban gulls to be.
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| The city of Aberdeen in Scotland has the highest population of city herring-gulls anywhere in the world. This species, Larus Argentatus, has a very large wing span in full flight, up to five feet in length. These birds are present in all seasons, just as sandpipers are present in all seasons on Californian beaches. This raises a difficult question for haiku poetics. Is the kigo word or phrase universally essential for haiku poetry? HB |
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LXXIV
Zhanna P. Rader
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Ruby ball of the sun
dropping straight into the sea —
smell of fish.
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LXXV
Hugh Bygott
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Spring dusk mirror'd sea:
low in its arc, piercing the water —
the kingfisher strikes.
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LXXVI
Zhanna P. Rader
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Moonless night —
whitecaps rolling
across the black sea.
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| Beautiful imagery here, Zhanna. From this, the imagination makes new possibilities. |
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LXXVII
Hugh Bygott
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Above winter seas
the moon seems colder, fainter —
I watch her clouded face.
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| I concede that many of the poems that I write have the characteristics of classical hiraku. I owe much of this to the influence of Earl Miner. This great classicist, one of finest scholars of our times, Professor Earl Miner of Princeton University died in April this year. HB |
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LXXVIII
Zhanna P. Rader
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On the empty sand beach
written in huge letters,
"Hello, Mother!"
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LXXIX
Hugh Bygott
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Moonlight in the room —
the summer tide writes out their sand-play —
children awake at night.
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| Long ago in the Poetics, Aristotle claimed that poetry was about human experience. This haiku may seem crowded, but it points beyond itself to a single idea — the feelings of a child. HB |
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LXXX
Zhanna P. Rader
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Sea-side garden —
the palm fronds lifting
in the night air...
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LXXXI
Hugh Bygott
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In evening silence
sea-weed resists the ebbtide —
my heart its desires.
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LXXXII
Zhanna P. Rader
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Spilled oil —
the sea,
silent.
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LXXXIII
Hugh Bygott
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New light on the sea —
beyond the breakwaters
I see the first faint geese.
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LXXXIV
Zhanna P. Rader
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Seagulls' cry
above white spray —
small boats rock.
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LXXXV
Hugh Bygott
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This eerie world;
strange shapes merge with still water —
mountains under the sea.
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LXXXVI
Zhanna P. Rader
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Light beams on Titanic —
Capitan Smith's porcelain bathtub
still intact...
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LXXXVII
Hugh Bygott
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It came that Spring night;
silently, relentlessly —
that fatal iceberg.
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| The English language has a wide variety of punctuation marks. The Japanese language is rich with stopping words or syllables for renga and haikai poetry. The word kana is well known. The word ran or the verb ending —keri, all have the same effect — to cut or stop the flow of words. In both languages this assists precision in meaning. HB |
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LXXXVIII
Zhanna P. Rader
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Paddling closer —
the iceberg, now bluish-gleaming,
creaks, groans and hisses.
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LXXXIX
Hugh Bygott
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Violent light,
volcanoes under the sea |
the Spring moon shines on.
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As Fowler says in The King's English, there are only four stops in the English language: (,) (;) (:) (.), (?) and (!) being tones. The virgule (|) was used in medieaval manuscripts to indicate a pause equal to the comma, or in some cases, to mark a caesura. I propose to use it as a pause to indicate an ellipsis where the auxiliary verbs, to be and to have are required syntactically. I have shown the puctuation in red with the virgule after three spaces.
In the haiku above, I have juxtaposed the violence of the light from the magma in the black depths of the sea with the serene romantic light of the Spring moon. Originally, the hokku were spoken, then written. The referee at the renga poetic composition, the shuhitsu, had to make sure that the rules were obeyed, correcting any infringements. After this, the final written version was available. The modern haiku is often only read. I believe that speaking is also important. The punctuation is necessary to assist the speaker to reach the correct meaning.
I also believe that every haiku poem has a precise meaning. It may take time for this to be found, but all the great haiku of the world, such as Basho's Summer Grasses, and Chiyo-ni's Rouged Lips, have this characteristic. |
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XC
Zhanna P. Rader
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In the moonlight,
the glow of the schooner's white,
wind-blown sails.
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XCI
Hugh Bygott
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In winter darkness
the young widow turns away;
the harbour lights fade.
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XCII
Zhanna P. Rader
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Cold seashore —
the campfire circle-dance
gaining speed.
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XCIII
Hugh Bygott
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Above the silent beach
the fireflies sweep away . . .
my heart too is empty.
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It seems that a necessary condition for haiku composition is that the sentence that expresses it must be in an eternal present tense. Even though the person changes, time passes and the world changes, what was said at that time remains true eternally. HB
Dear Hugh
I really appreciate your coments about or on Haiku.
Thank you
yvonne
Thank you Yvonne for your kind comments. I am a philosopher, and consequently I am very interested in finding out how a poet actually creates a haiku poem. One possible approach is to study the greatest haiku poets. Another is to follow the evolution of haiku from the Man'yoshu through the classical renga including the genius of Sogi. Perhaps there are many other approaches. There seems to be no easy solution. I certainly agree with you that discussion of haiku is very important. HB |
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XCIV
Zhanna P. Rader
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In the night sea water,
fish leave their glowing trails —
a hungry grebe dives.
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XCV
Hugh Bygott
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The dawn sky —|
the Pleiades have risen
over the lonely sea.
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XCVI
Zhanna P. Rader
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Reflected
in the still water —
puffins on the cliff.
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XCVII
Hugh Bygott
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Alone at the cliff top,
his kiss still fresh upon her lips —|
young lovers greet the Moon.
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XCVIII
Zhanna P. Rader
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First sunrays —
a cliff-swallow baby
breaks out of its shell.
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XCIX
Hugh Bygott
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Mysterious longings —| . . .
Departing geese slip between sky and sea,
through this line of light.
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| One of the most beautiful sights in nature is when dark clouds close the sky over the sea at sunset. It seems the world is closing, but there is another world beyond. I have often seen birds fly through this narrow space. My haiku complements Zhanna's fine expression of life coming to be. The departing geese, a Spring kigo in Japanese haiku, contrasts migration of geese to the northern breeding grounds with immediate new life in Spring in Zhanna's haiku. HB |
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C
Zhanna P. Rader
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Sunset's glow dyes
the sky and the sea in pink —
canoes on the water.
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