May NaHaiWriMo - Part 6

The sixth chakra (ajna) is the chakra of forgiveness and compassion and is also known as the third eye chakra.Situated in the middle of the forehead,the colour representing this chakra is indigo.

And the prompts given by Sheila Windsor were:

21 - open/ing
22 - ink
23 - Hortensia Anderson (in memoriam)
24 - perspective



What I wrote:

May 21 (open/ing)

Sorry,submitted for publication

may 22(ink)

power outage
the ink bottle
overturned

May 23 (Hortensia Anderson)

Hortensia Anderson passed away on 23rd May. She had once mentioned in an interview this poem as being her favourite among all the poems she wrote.

moonlit night--
the pond floats
a waterlily

My tribute to her was a take-off on that one.

moonset--

petals of the waterlily
close around you

May 24 (perspective)

blue kite unreeling the summer sky

Third eye chakra is the narrow gate which opens the way for our consciousness to ascend to its final destination, which is the seventh center.

May NaHaiWriMo - Part 5

After the heart chakra we move up to level 5, the throat chakra, also known as Vishuddha. Vishuddha is positioned at the neck region near the spine, with its superficial activation point in the pit of the throat. This is the chakra associated with" self expression... speaking one's truth... clear and honest communication."




And the prompts were:



17 - voice (own)
18 -mirror
19 - tea
20 - blue


I wrote these in response:

May 17 (voice)

where
my voice trails off-
the winds in the bamboo grove

May 18 (mirror)

the antique mirror
holding
an ancient face



framing me
the pitch-black night
train window

May 19 (tea)

evening tea-
the robin sipping sunset
at the birdbath

May 20 (blue)

blue butterfly
one more bloom
in the morning glories

May NaHaiWriMo - Part 4

The fourth chakra or heart chakra which is also called anahata is located in the centre of the chest, over the heart. It is related to love and compassion and is the integrator of opposites in the psyche like mind and body, male and female, ego and unity. The colour associated with this chakra is vivid green.

The prompts given by Sheila for this level were as follows, though I am not sure of her reasons behind one or two of them.




13 - break/broken
14 - child/ren
15 - rose/s
16-drum/music


Anyway, these were my responses:


May13 (break/broken)

broken wall
filled
with the bluest sky

May 14 (child/children)

see saw
on the other end
she places her doll

May 15 (rose/roses)

petals shut tightly-
the rose
from my shy neighbour

May 16 (drum/music)

rain
in the junkyard
drumbeats

The fifth chakra or throat chakra awaits us in the next level.

May NaHaiWriMo - Part 3

I was truly sorry to learn that Hortensia Anderson passed away today after a major surgery.The cancer she had been battling for past three years had spread and perhaps this was inevitable , yet the news was shocking. I had been acquainted with her work right from the time i started my haiku journey and she was right up there in my list of must-read poets. R.I.P Hortensia Anderson, you and your beautiful poetry will be missed !

Coming to the NaHaiWriMo prompts i had been writing about... at the third level of the chakra prompts we're about to explore the Solar Plexus Chakra known also as Manipura chakra,the third primary chakra, according to Hindu tradition. Located midway between the rib cage and the navel, this is associated with personal power or sense of identity.
The solar plexus chakra relates, among other things, to digestion and to friendship as well and is represented by the colour "yellow". The prompts for this level were,

9.power
10. ball
11.meal
12.sunshine

Here are my responses to the prompts:


May 9 (power)

power pylon-
two hawks fight
for the highest perch

May 10 (ball)

thunderclap-
another ball lands
on the stadium roof

May 11 (meal)

making dinner--
spaghetti and
my tangled thoughts

May 12 (sunshine)

water's edge-
a sandpiper stepping
into sunrise

At the next level, we will explore the heart chakra.

May NaHaiWriMo Part 2

After the base or Root chakra, we come to the sacral chakra.
And the prompts for the next four days were:

5. sea/ any body of water

6.fear

7. intimacy

8. orange


To quote Sheila Windsor, "With 'ruby' we completed the first and with water we move to the second level. We've connected with earth/roots and we've let go of old stuff/recycled.
Now we're ready to 'go with the flow'. "

These are what i came up with:

May 5 (sea)

the same sea
so much bluer--
twenty summers back

May 6 (fear)

cliff edge--
the pallor
in the aspen

May 7 (intimacy)

tug of waves
his hands
around my waist

May 8 (orange)

Sorry, submitted for publication

Next is the Solar plexus chakra.

May NaHaiWriMo --Part 1

image: Sheila Windsor

I am doing NaHaiWriMo again this month. And glad that I decided to do so. For Sheila Windsor, this month's prompter has come up with a really unique and ingenious model for prompts.

Sheila says:The model I'm taking my inspiration from for this month of prompting is: The Chakras. The model we're working to has seven levels... Seven levels gives us seven sets of four prompts with three spare at the end to play with..

So first we started with the Base or Root chakra (the colour red). And the prompts for the first four days were:
1. Roots
2.Recycling
3.Mother
4.Ruby

And here are my responses:

May 1 (roots) :

Sorry, this has been submitted for publication.

May 2 (recycling)

tire swing--
the child's laughter
in the wind

May 3 (mother)

an earthen lamp at dusk-
the way I remember
you

May 4 (ruby)

sipping wine
the colour
of a ruby-red desire

Next we come to the sacral chakra. I'll keep that for my next post.

Moon haiga

image:Dion Paul

Haiku posted at Moon viewing party.

haiku my photo challenge

I am happy and proud to tell you all that I was judged the 1st place winner in the haiga contest "haiku my photo challenge" held by Chrissi Villa on her blog Blossom rain. Angelo Ancheta and my dear friend Alee Imperial Albano were the other two winners. Kirsten Kliff blind-judged the contest and wrote a beautiful commentary on my poem.

Here is the haiga followed by the commentary by Kirsten Kliff.

Judge's Comments:

Thank you to all the entrants for sharing your haiku with me, and my thanks also to Chrissi, for inviting me to judge her Haiku My Photo Challenge. The three prizewinners are all haiku that stood up to multiple readings and continued to stand out from the crowd. I judged without knowledge of the authors of each haiku and without having previously seen the photo. And first prize goes to:

leafdance

rippling the sky...

sometimes, I think of you

This haiku stood out for me from the first read through. I find so much to enjoy about it, every line and word choice works: alone as a haiku, and then together with the photo as a haiga. It takes me into the photo as well as transporting me to another place, moving me somewhere deeper. I fell for “leafdance” – what a beautiful image! It breathes new life into the leaves, gives them their spirit back. A few of the haiku entered played with the reflection of the sky on water. This poet achieved the effect flawlessly in line two with “rippling the sky”. The image created is not intrusive or forced: it sounds so natural that the “leafdance” would be “rippling the sky”, whether reflected on the water or not. The pause brought about from the ellipses gives the reader a little extra time than just the line break alone to delight in this experience. Then line three moves the reader along, with that addition of “sometimes” speaking volumes. The mystery, the 'other', is created by this final line and yet the journey for the reader, coupled with the photo too, has only just begun. Stunning work!

If you would want to read the rest of the commentary, know more about this contest or would like to participate in the next one, don't fail to check out Chrissi Villa's blog Blossom rain.

Before I end, thank you Kirsten for your lovely comments. And thank you Chrissi Villa for this wonderful contest... it was fun! I am already looking forward to the next contest.

Shiki kukai November and May 2011

I found I had participated in November, 2011, "Eucalyptus" kukai after all. This one was placed 10th in the contest.

sound of an axe--

the rising scent of

Eucalyptus

And the next one is from May, 2011. The kigo was "coming of summer". I was placed sixth with this entry.

coming of summer--

the oriole leaves its song

in the wind