On the Rough Road

On the Rough Road is a collection of haiku that I first put together in 2016 following a series of prompts on ‘Carpe Diem Haiku Kai’ based on Matsuo Basho’s ‘Oku no hosimichi’ (Narrow road to the Deep North)

Recently, I redesigned and edited the chapbook and though it seemed to take forever, it was a nostalgic walk through old haiku and haibun I had written, giving me fresh insight into my state of mind and writing style, then – and now.

Over the years, I’ve surely learnt a thing or two, but also lost something. I don’t entirely know what that is, but I believe some of my best haiku are in this little chapbook. For more details, check this link.

I chose one haiku to leave here today:

here, finally

i open my book of regrets

to the rain

On the rough road

Re-organized my blog and this collection of haiku I put together three years ago, now has its own page.

Thought I’d put it out there, in case you didn’t see it earlier – tucked away in a cluttered sidebar.

The page has a feedback option as well, so do share your thoughts – on the collection, on haiku, on Basho, on travel, on life!

 

Fading

a solitary leaf stirs in the snow
nothing –
the footprints are fading

For CDHK where the inspiration is a melancholic haiku.

 

 

 

 

Honey Glazed Sky

honey glazed sky
spring recites
the secret poems of dawn

For CDHK where we learn Basho’s ‘Sense Switching‘ or ‘Synesthesia’ technique in which the poet presents an unexpected or different sensory aspect of the object. “..closely associating a sensory experience of one kind with a sensory experience of another..” -Toshimi Horiuchi
Basho writes:
pine and cedar
to admire the wind
smell the sound

also

the sea darkens —
a wild duck’s call
faintly white

Lost

tumbleweed
at a crossroads
asking for directions

For CDHK where we learn Basho’s ‘Pseudo Science‘ technique which is not merely a distorted view of science presented with poetic license but a valid thought process in the “other reality” that exists in the poet’s mind. “…what we see or experience there is so real that we report it as a normal phenomenon. Thus my name “pseudo-science..” – Jane Reichhold
Basho writes:
a falling sound
that sours my ears
plum rain

Waiting

all of infinity
in an infinitesimal double helix
waiting…

For CDHK where we learn Basho’s ‘Paradox” technique which encourages the reader to ponder about the juxtaposition of two incongruous realities. “..one must not think ill of the paradox, for the paradox is the passion of thought, and the thinker without the paradox is like the lover without passion…” – Søren Kierkegaard
Basho writes:
black forest
whatever you may say
a morning of snow

Stillness

in this churn of sky and sea and time
from whom will the mind
learn stillness?

For CDHK where we learn Basho’s ‘riddle” technique that tries not to posture as intriguing rhetoric but to trigger, like a Zen Koan, philosophical introspection. An old classic is “ “Am I a butterfly dreaming I am a man or a man dreaming I am a butterfly?”
Basho writes:
has spring come
or the year gone away?
second last day

Mynah

dark clouds rumble
a lone mynah
swallows a tear

For CDHK where we learn Basho’s ‘Narrowing Focus” technique in which you start with a wide-angle lens for the 1st line, switch to a normal lens for the 2nd and zoom in for a close up for the 3rd line, drawing the reader to a single basic element of the haiku.
Basho writes:
old village
not a house without
a persimmon tree

Blur

blurred evening
the rain dissolves
the colours in the sky

For CDHK where we learn Basho’s ‘Sketch’ or ‘Shasei” technique, strongly advocated by Masaoka Shiki, which requires the scene to be depicted exactly as it is without riddles, pun or rhyme.
Basho writes:
early autumn
the sea and rice fields
one green

Melancholy

melancholy
the empty park bench
and the winter sun

For CDHK where we learn Basho’s ‘association’ technique – a method of relating distinct things through new and apt associations.
Basho writes:
hating flowers
the mouths of talkative people
and the wind bag