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* Dogwood Blossoms -- Volume 1, Issue 2 -- Mid-June '93 *
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* editor: Gary Warner: (GLWARNER@SAMFORD.BITNET) *
* assistant editors: Matt Burke: (burke@beta.math.wsu.edu) *
* Nori Matsui: (NORIM@EARLHAM.BITNET) *
* special consultant: Gary Gach: (ggach@pandora.sf.ca.us) *
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Dogwood Blossoms, is an at-least-monthly publication of the
Internet community. The goal of this digest is to be a place
where Haiku can be shared and discussed with other lovers of the
art. Submissions are encouraged, both of original work,
published work by other authors, and comments and critiques of
works in previous issues. Articles of "short essay" length are
also welcome.
When you subscribe, please volunteer any haiku you would like to
see discussed, indicating if it is published or original...
also, if you would like to serve on the "editorial board" please
indicate so, or if you can serve as a translator for non-English
submissions (which are welcome) please indicate so.
If you are a list owner, and feel that this digest would make an
appropriate posting on your list, please send me a note
indicating so. In this issue:
I. Administrivia (you're there now!)
II. "Who Are We?"
III. Original Haiku by Our Subscribers
IV. Selected Haiku by James Hackett
V. "Suggestions for Writing Haiku in English"
VI. "The Buddhist Sense of Matsui Basho's Famous Poem"
VII. Assignments for Future Issues . . .
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II. Who Are We?
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Although it is hard to be sure, from analysis of the email
addresses of our 54 subscribers, it seems that we are from:
32 USA Universities
5 corporations
5 foreign countries
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III. Original Haiku by Our Subscribers
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(Gar-Note: We begin this section with replies to our request
for job-related Haiku . . . )
By: Tom Frenkel (frenkel@cpmail-am.cis.columbia.edu)
manager's office
cardboard boxes carried out
sun shines through window
By: Matt Burke: (burke@beta.math.wsu.edu)
The Careless Archaeologist
Crunching Underfoot
Unimportant Bone-like Sound
Tibia Fragments
Actually, I'm not an archaeologist; my wife is. Often when she's
working on a site and I go out and visit, I worry about
accidentaly trampling an artifact. So far I haven't, but there's
always next time.
By: Gregg McClain (McClain@GEOG.SSCNET.UCLA.EDU)
Shi o matte Waiting for the teacher
mitsumeru koyomi gazing at calendar picture
momiji no e Autumn maples
At my university students spend a lot of time waiting . . .
By: Ed Cherry (CECHERRY@SAMFORD.BITNET)
Awash in flourescence
contemplating next command
-- System's Librarian
By: Gary Warner (GLWARNER@SAMFORD.BITNET)
(another late night in the computer room!)
Another command
another dose of caffeine
Five more files to go!
By: Nori Matsui (NORIM@EARLHAM.BITNET)
Kitsutsuki ya Pileated woodpecker,
shibashi mitoreru charmed to gaze upon for a while
syachuu kana from inside the car
Waiting for my daughter to come back from the piano lesson,
a big woodpecker came in front of me. Checking and peckeing
a tree with dry rough sound, I could not start the engine
even after she came back into the car. We simply watched
him for a long time quietly.
By: Nori Matsui (NORIM@EARLHAM.BITNET)
Modoreru fuyu Returned winter
toriire naosu putting back into house
shokubutsu ya all the plants and pots
After a week of very hot days, very chilly days and nights
came back. All the plants and pots have to be placed inside
of the house, quickly.
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IV. Selected Haiku by James Hackett from _The Way of Haiku_
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(Gar-Note: This is my favorite anthology of English Haiku.
You may expect to see more in the future!)
The fleeing sandpipers
turn about suddenly
and chase back the sea!
Mountains take the moon
and embers cool . . . revealing
a sky deep with stars.
Need friends ever speak?
There's tea to taste, and windsong
from the garden trees.
Hardy ant, even
heavily burdened you climb
this sheer garden wall.
A heavy night fog
has so silenced the city,
each light seems a friend.
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V. "Suggestions for Writing Haiku in English" -- James Hackett
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Leslie J. Smith , wrote to us asking:
"How does one compose a haiku? Is it all intuition, or are there
some rules?"
It seemed from some other notes that there was much interest in
this topic, so this article is in response to your questions!
I hope you find it useful. -- Gar
(Taken from _The Way of Haiku: An Anthology of Haiku Poems by
James Hackett_ published 1969 by Japan Publications Inc.
(C) James Hackett.)
1. The present is the touchstone of the haiku experience, so
always be aware of the present moment.
2. Remember that nature is the province of haiku. (Carry a
notebook for recording your haiku experiences.)
3. Contemplate natural objects closely . . . unseen wonders
will reveal themselves.
4. Interpenetrate with nature. Allow subjects to express
their life through you. "That art Thou."
5. Reflect upon your notes of nature in solitude and quiet.
Let these be the basis of your haiku poems.
6. Write about nature just as it is . . . be true to life!
7. Choose each word very carefully. Use words that clearly
express what you feel.
8. Use verbs in present tense.
9. For added dimension choose words that suggest the season,
location, or time of day.
10. Use only common language.
11. Write in three lines which total approximately 17
syllables. Many haiku experiences can be well expressed in
the Japanese line arrangement of 5, 7, 5 syllables -- but
not all.
12. Avoid end rhyme in haiku. Read each verse aloud to
make sure that it sounds natural.
13. Remember that lifefulness, not beauty, is the real
quality of haiku.
14. Never use obscure allusions: real haiku are intuitive,
not abstract or intellectual.
15. Don't overlook humor, but avoid mere wit.
16. Work on each poem until it suggests exactly what you
want others to see and feel.
17. Remember that haiku is a finger pointing at the moon,
and if the hand is bejeweled, we no longer see that to which
it points . . .
(Gar-note: this last an undocumented quote by R.H. Blyth, which
has been refuted with "So also, if the hand is gnarled!")
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VI. "The Buddhist Sense of Matsuo Basho's Famous Poem"
Vadim A. Moiseyev
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(Gar-note: just a reminder from issue one of some of the
words used here. mizu = water, oto = sound, kawazu = frog
It's well known that the sense of the most famous Basho's
haiku "Furu ike ya" is the idea of silence. But in my
opinion, there is another aspect of poem - Buddhist ideas
included in it.
Let's analyze the poem step by step.
"Furu ike" - "furui ike" - means "old pond" or in some
translations "ancient pond". Imagine the water of such pond
- it is of a green color, isn't it ? "Kawazu" has the same
color too. It is only my assumption, but the appearing of
"green water " image isn't accidental. Note that in Chinese, the
word "green" ought to be read us "QING". This same word can be
pronounced differently, in a different intonation, and mean . . .
"feeling, sense, passion." The character QING is equal to
Japanese JOO and consists of AOI(blue, green)+KOKORO(heart).
Therefore JOO="A color of heart" and is widely used to translate
the Sanskrit term KLESHA. According to Buddha Tathagata the
"KLESHA" is the main reason of suffering (DUKHA in Sanskrit).
So "kawazu tobikomu"- "the green creature jumping to the green
water" can designate (by association) "the passion spirit
entering the world of passion".
Then, everyone who is familiar with ZEN knows the famous KOAN
about "the sound of one hand clapping". The answer is "the sound
of silence". Briefly one can explain it by "when two oppositions
strike, the suffering appear. If all oppositions are destroyed,
the suffering is destroyed too". Hence, the meaning of "oto" in
the phrase: "kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto" one can interpret as
"suffering".
Finally the Buddhist sense associated with the images of Basho's
haiku is
"A passion spirit
entering the world of passion -
a suffering appear !"
06 June 1993, Moscow
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VII. Assignments for Future Issues
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Thanks to all who submitted things for this issue!
The next issue will be out late June, around the 20th, depending
on submissions. If you would like to ask our editorial staff
for help on an article or haiku that you are working on, please
send them in with your questions, and I will find someone to help
you.
Assignments:
1. Should English Haiku have 17 syllables? Much debate has passed
on this issue. Some authors use significantly less, others
"around" 17, and others always 17. What do you think, and why?
Send if you are able some "shorter" haiku and we will compare
the styles in a future issue.
2. Original work. All submissions are welcome, but for next issue:
Stand by a window of your home for one hour, looking about at
the scene you see each day. Find the most significant thing you
see, and compose a haiku about it for us. Make us feel like we
have seen the same thing with your words!
3. Published work. Find a Haiku collection at your library, and
share with us some particularly striking works you find. If
you would like, find several by a single author, or several
on a single theme and send them together for a special section.
4. Send us a short note, telling what you thought of issue 2, or
responding to any of the Haiku that were included in this issue.
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