Shiki kukai June , July 2011

Before I begin,I'd like to tell my readers that I was featured in two other blogs this month. Margaret Dornaus and Cara Holman, both of them wonderful and well-known poets, were celebrating National poetry month on their blogs and very sweetly offered to host me. So I did a guest post on Margaret Dornaus' Haiku doodle on April 16th and was featured in April poet showcase on Cara Holman's Prose posies on April 22.You can read them here and here.

Going back to my Shiki kukai posts, these two are from July and June, 2011 respectively. The kigo for July was "moths" and I wrote this.( This one has been posted in this blog previously)

gypsy moth--

the wind tugs at

a brown leaf

For June, the kigo was "outdoor markets" and this was my response.

flea market rain--

the leaking roof
of the umbrella shop

Was placed 8th and 9th for these two. Seems like I've made these places my own :-(

A haibun by Margaret Dornaus

So, having winded up to some extent the work that had kept me busy most of the month, I am back at my desk again ,catching up on all my reading and generally splashing about in the haiku pond. I have missed so much action in the past few weeks...one of them being "your most beautiful thing", a project by Fiona Robin to celebrate her first novel and which I'd really would have liked to participate in; but come to think of it, what would I write about? My family? My daughter? These rain clouds? This forest path disappearing in a blue haze? This life? Choosing the most beautiful thing would really land me in a dilemma! Many others have written beautifully though, about this in their blogs.And when I read Margaret Dornaus' haibun in her blog Haiku doodle, it touched a chord. I , too, was reminded of the city that I left behind so many years ago and yet the overpowering sense of belonging I still feel with it.

So here is what Margaret writes about her most beautiful thing. I decided to bring it here straightaway on my blog for those of you who are too lazy even to click on a link.

My most beautiful thing . . .

Posted on April 24, 2012

I grew up on the Oklahoma plains, but I never felt part of it until I moved away. Then I realized that the place I came from is like my people. Wild and raw and expansive. With long horizon lines and dust-filled skies that turn the sunsets into rivers of light. Ugly and beautiful. Dangerous and tame. Alive.

late autumn
the buffalo’s shadow moves
through the tall grass


--Margaret Dornaus

The wild open plains of Oklahoma and the dusty, noisy city of Calcutta are not, cannot be alike. But some things remain the same. The connection with one's land, for one.Ugly and beautiful, that too! And above all,
'Alive'.

Thanks Margaret, for sharing this with us all. For letting me use this on my blog. And for reminding me of one more beautiful thing in my life through your exquisite haibun.

China? Woohoo!

I mean, i do get visitors even from Brazil,Colombia(!), Egypt and even from Saudi Arabia or Maldives or Lebanon, (once or twice from Pakistan, too) and of course the major chunk of my readers are from USA and Russia. But China is a first time, because most of my chinese friends live outside China. So anyway, whoever you are, nin hao and xiexie (hope I've got them right) and happy to have you visit!

Shiki kukai September 2011

It looks like I had not participated in quite a few shiki kukai before February this year. This one is from September 2011. The Kigo theme was "any citrus fruit". I chose to write about lime.

sour lime...

i cannot do

without him

And in the free format section in response to the theme of "rain", I wrote this.

day-long rain...

quietly,quietly

your absence

I was placed seventh in both the sections.

Shiki kukai February 2012

falling stars
letting go of memories...
almost

The free format theme in February was "night lights"(natural) and I was placed seventh with this entry.


In the Kigo section the theme was "lingering cold" and I was not even in the top 10, but still I kinda like my entry here.

lingering cold--
a handful of stars
in the soup tureen

Shiki kukai March 2012

image:Ichiro Tsurata

Kigo theme: Spring

spring breeze...
i catch his gaze
and hold it

I've been participating in the monthly Shiki kukai contests for such a long time now, and a few other kukai on some other sites as well, but never kept any proper records of them. I remember a few and some would be there languishing in my old notebooks, but mostly I would be at a loss if asked which poem I had entered for a particular kukai.Chancing upon a poem on one such site the other day, it looked vaguely familiar until I scrolled down and found it was actually written by me.

So anyway, I've decided to get organised and keep track of the poems entered or at least the ones which were placed well. Starting with the most recent one, the March 2012 Shiki kukai, the above was my entry for the kigo section and the one below for the free format section. Both were placed eighth and considering there were about 130+ entries in both the sections this time, I am quite pleased with my effort

Free format theme:dram/reverie


daydreams--
sinking in the sun-scented grass
me and a damselfly

And this was another one that I had entered for a Sketchbook kukai contest.

spring's end--
the gurgle of the brook
now a murmur

(Sketchbook 6-2, March-April 2011, Spring's end kukai, 1st place)

I'll search the kukai archives and find and record my other entries also by and by.

National poetry month

So my self-enforced sabbatical is over...though not sure if it could be called that, because i have been posting for Aubrie Cox's "i doodle you ku" challenge everyday religiously! And what a wonderful experience it has been! The poems by all the participants were so different in the way they responded to Aubrie's doodles and yet so wonderful, that it was difficult to pick up a favourite. I desisted from commenting because it might seem i was being partial to one over the other, when in fact everybody was outstanding. But like all good things, this too, has come to an end and I'm going to miss it all sorely for a few days at least...I've become so addicted to my daily dose of doodles! I plan to bring at least some of those doodles by Aubrie along with my responses here in this blog sometime later.

Meanwhile , April is upon us which is celebrated as the national poetry month all over the world; yes, even in India, though it must have originated in USA and Canada.I wish i had planned something special to celebrate the month in my blog. However, plenty is going on in many of the other poetry blogs that i visit regularly. Cara Holman is hosting April poet showcase in her blog Prose Posies and Margaret Dornaus also is having guest posts by poets on her blog Haiku-doodle. So is Angie Warren at Feathers. And Yousei Hime at her blog Shiteki Na Usagi. With so much to read , I know I'm not going to have a dull moment. And then there is always Johannes S H Bjerg who is continuing with what he calls "parallel poetry" and which he started writing a few months back... in his blog 3ournals and frags. I have found this form absolutely fascinating. Just click on the link and go visit his blog once, if you'd like to sample something totally different!