when february is here - NaHaiWriMo, second week

Into the second week and if I had thought things would become easier after the adverb prompts, I was soon proved wrong.This week's prompts were all about adjectives and they were: Native, Nuclear,Novel (not as a noun, but as an adjective, mind you), Northwest ,Numeric,New-fangled and Neuter.

Here are a few of what I wrote in response.

trailing lily roots-

the boatman sings

in his native tongue

nuclear family

the button

in the new-born's hands

northwest wind-
the desert-rimmed eyes
of the camel

loft ladder

seven wobbly steps

to the stars

pencil shavings-

all these days

without a poem

when February is here... NaHaiWriMo, first week

February,known as the shortest month for writing the shortest form of poetry, has been synonymous for me with NahaiWriMo since  2012. Though NaHaiWriMo continues on Facebook throughout the year,February is special as NaHaiWriMo founder Michael Dylan Welch himself is the prompter this month with a new prompt each day and many old and new poets in the haiku community join in and take up the challenge."Challenge"...hmm, you can say that again, because MDW is a real tough and ruthless prompter and it gets really challenging to tackle the prompts he throws our way day in , day out. Yet that must be the reason why NHWM is on its 5th year and I am doing it for the fourth year in a row.And if you're not participating in this February event, yet inquisitive about it , read on.

This year all the prompts star with the alphabet "N" (as part of a continuing alphabetical series. Last month Chrissi Villa's prompts had all started with "M" and next month it would be "O" and so on.) and we were informed that in the first week, they would all be adverbs Though I had sat and made a list of all the N-words we are likely to encounter in the course of this month, I had never bargained for this twist in the tale.

However, these were the prompts for the first week and my own rather feeble responses to some of them.

1st Feb:  NOW

now...

the distance between

me and my teacup

2nd Feb:  NOISILY

hard rain

how noisily he strums

the guitar

3rd Feb:  NERVOUSLY

midnight gravel crunch

the way the old house

stiffens

4TH Feb:  NAKEDLY

storefront mannequin so nakedly the dawn

5th Feb:  NONSTOP

nonstop the woods till the cicadas' end

6th Feb:  NONCHALANTLY

no thoughts

of tomorrow...

falling petals

7th Feb: NEAREST

paper boat
the poem that found
the Polaris

January NaHaiWriMo - fourth and final week

The final week of January at NaHaiWriMo and Christine Villa smoothly steered us from the relatively easier prompts to the not-so-easy ones.
The prompts were Mulberry,Milk,Mailbox,Maple,Magnet,Meteor, Mimosa, Medley and Melon.There was another prompt on the final day-- Magic -- which I missed. Here are the ones I attempted.

mulberry silk

cocooned in the fragrance

of grandma

night fog--

the chai at the highway inn

topped with thick cream

spilling out of the mailbox emptiness

lingering

in the maples

sunset

the heat...

van Gogh's sunflowers

cling to the fridge door

shooting star

a plink

in the glass chimes

mimosa

the blush of its blossoms

stain the sky

backyard chatter

the bulbuls

in the momosa

somewhere

in the melon patch

the moon

Finally,thanks, Chrissi, for this month of enjoyable prompts which helped me particularly, to get back in the habit of writing a haiku daily, on the eve of the big February NaHaiWriMo month.

January nahaiwrimo - week three

Mist, Mint,Match, Mosquito, Magpie, Mothball and Mud-- these were the prompts on NaHaiWriMo in the third week of January and here is what I managed to write.

estranged...

the mist

in his voice

mint leaf

a raindrop

turns green

striking a match

in the dark room

the leap of a wasp

drifting off...

this unfinished business

with mosquitoes

monochrome light

the chatter of magpies

at dawn

ma's closet

the scent of mothballs

almost a patina

football field

the squeals as high

as the mud splatter

January NaHaiWriMo - week two

The second week at NaHaiWriMo...the prompts were: Mesh,Mango, Manhole, Mosaic,Maze, Meadow and Mantel.

And the ku I wrote were:

window mesh-

the spider weaves 

a sunbeam

paisleys-

a whiff of summer

in the swish of her skirt

manhole night the beginning of another world

cracked mosaic--

a gnarled branch

against the sky

corn maze

the wind will have

its way

morning fog

the meadow lost

in cowbells

shrugging off

the mantle of clouds

Eucalypts

January nahaiwrimo, week one

NaHaiWriMo is always fun.Since I've not been able to get down to writing small stones, I started doing Chrissi Villa's prompts on nahaiwrimo this month and this is my first week's harvest. The prompts were :Mirror, Marmalade,Murmur,Morsel,Melody, Magnolia and Mask.


gleaming mirror
my questions thrown back
at me



black currant jam
I scoop out a spoonful
of darkness



snaking
across the forest floor
the murmur
of a fire



first morsel-
a mouthful
of toothless smile



windchimes
one or two ripples
in the pond



magnolia buds...
the words you write
on the window-pane


halloween night
everywhere
the raccoon eyes

missing the small stones

This January I’m definitely going to miss my annual ritual of writing a small stone everyday that I had been doing for the past few years and enjoying so much.Fiona Robyn, the founder of small stones has gone on a hiatus and any imminent comeback does not seem to be in the offing. But maybe I can still stop by to watch a moment and write a stone now and then, if not daily?

begging to be walked-
the old dog fetches
its leash

(Shiki kukai, December 2014)