Haiku: inspiration.

Small watercolour by me, Magpies in Winter, 2005.

Poetry has always been my love besides painting. I discovered my deep love for poetry from the far east early on in art school. I would go to its little library and read the only book they had on the subject, Japanese verse. I would write the poems down.... contemplate on them, the sounds and thoughts which perhaps had been locked away in that musty library for many many years! It was’nt a lending library which meant that the book could only be savoured within the library itself!

I cannot explain but for some reason I relate to and enjoy oriental poetry- Japanese Zen masters, Chinese poets.........Amongst the various forms of Japanese poetry, haiku is my favourite,^ ^ I love its spare and ‘grounded in the present moment’ feeling.....It is amazing how 17 sylablles of a haiku can move your entire being. ^_^

Here is an excerpt from a book, ‘HEART a personal journey through its myths and meanings’ by Gail Godwin. She writes about the significance of the heart in a haiku. I choose to present this way of explaining about the haiku because I’m sure a mere definition of anything is always easy to find, what escapes us is the essence which is often so subtle,.. very subtle in the case of the haiku ^ ^

“The heart concept is central to the practise of haiku, Japan’s distinct form of poetry. Though haiku comes from the word haikai, which means ‘sportive’ or ‘playful’, it has a precise rule of form: it must be seventeen syllables in a 5/7/5 pattern. Characteristically it is attentative to a specific time and place and season, and it records or implies the evanescence of all existence. Its images arise naturally out of the kokoro – the heart-mind; they are felt and perceived at the same time. Even today, Japanese crtics evaluate a poem by two standards; its kokoro (sincerity, conviction, ‘heart’) and its craft.....The ideal haiku is not only spare, clean, swift, and resonant; it has amari-no-kokoro, a heart-soul quality that reaches beyond the words and leaves an indelible aftertaste."

Now to read some haiku which I consider part of our rich human heritage! ^_^

Basho (1644-1694)was the greatest of all haiku writers who crystalised the style. In his later years he was a student of Zen Buddhism, and his poems are an artistic expression of its philosophy.
(from ‘An Ode To Nature’ by Adi F. Merchant)

Spring:

a hill without a name

veiled in morning mist.

Soon it will die,

yet no trace of this

in the cicada’s screech.

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The poet in me.^_^

Untill now only a few have borne with me as I shared with them my poems, my heart’s pouring forth. Unlike painting, I do not know where the flow of words comes from! It’s source is much more mysterious to me. Of one thing I am sure, the heart is the main conduit. A sort of place, , where we gather, assimilate things, experiences and then they pour out as poetry or maybe a flower arrangement! ha ha..

I have presented a few verses from the time I was in Ladakh. Hopefully they are bearable to read...I hope ^ ^ They ar’nt haiku, but inspired from the general spirit of haiku. This “less words” style suits me very much ^_^ It feels nice to leave things open-ended, leaving the reader to associate as his present state allows.

Wind shaping clouds,
sky holding earth,
moon lighting our steps.

Dragon-wind blows,

leaves rustle praise.

A sickle-moon stood still,

harvesting done

someone left it in the sky.

Morning enters the room,
conversation of birds
lingers in the trees,
a stray cloud finds its way home.

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Love & light!