Haiku – Competing Flowers
Spring, petals invite
They float through the air, butterflies
please visit… none do
~Theodore Maestranzi
Read MoreNot a Poet – Hiatus on Some Haikus
I believe that my strength exists in writing novels. The format allows me to really spread my wings as a writer; I am a tangented person, so it is nice not having a limit – other than the story’s needs (I believe in the writer is a medium approach to aesthetics). But, I really enjoy the struggle of writing a haiku. It is the poetry form I choose because of my love for nature and the hardened structure surrounding it. My goal is to be a novelist, mostly because I tend to like writing novels more than writing short stories. However, I write short stories as a sort of experiment – testing the waters to prove that a theory I have works and I can apply it to a novel. Now, I have begun writing short fiction to get published so I can better my chances of finding an agent.
But that is too much about me and not why I am making this post… while cruising around the internet to find some magazines who were looking for some short fiction, I came across a magazine asking for haikus. Normally, I wouldn’t share my haikus because I don’t feel they are all that magical. But then I realized, why not? If someone else found beauty in them, then I should share them (this thought is what started my push to publish haikus on my website). The issue with my submitting my haikus to a magazine… I can’t publish them on the website until they are rejected (or accepted, stay positive… stay positive… stay positive). So, there are some really good ones (that I like) but I can’t share them with you until the submission is over – which means you are going to get the ones I don’t feel are superb. I believe I will be notified of my success or failure in July. If any are accepted, expect me to plug the magazine and then post the haiku three months later.
Read MoreGuest Haiku – Matsuo Basho
viewing a mountain moon
rarely is it seen so clear
in dirty old Tokyo
~Matsuo Basho
Taken from Basho The Complete Haiku, translated by Jane Reichhold
Read MoreGuest Haiku – Kobayashi Issa
| English | Japanese |
|---|---|
|
So much money made ~Kobayashi Issa |
Kane Moke ~Kobayashi Issa |
Taken from The Spring of My Life and Selected Haiku, Translated by Sam Hamill
Read MoreHaiku – Writing in the Corner
A Petrified Vine
Suddenly, Aquamarine Light, Life
The Forest Breathes Anew
~Theodore Maestranzi
This Haiku took me way too long to write. At the coffee shop: I read, wrote a journal entry, wrote another haiku, and then got brain busted on this one. I knew what I wanted, and that was to focus on the color aquamarine, but I found it impossible to really drive to the heart of the haiku’s message since so many syllables were taken up by that single word. Each time I tried to write it, I found myself struggling and trying to increase the density of each word to fully cover what I was feeling. In the end, I like the way it ended up, but I wish I could share it with the person who inspired it.
Read MoreHaiku – Sippin Java in the Sun
Enticed by Pink Blossoms
Sunlight Warms the Bumblebee
Winter’s Over, Perhaps
~Theodore Maestranzi
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