Apr

April Fool 1

April Fool—

my neighbour's pesky cat

with a pea shooter

1

two

stories—

Egg Moon

1

Egg Moon—

over a ploughed field,

its frozen tide

1

on the path,

young flower people—

fearless!

2

Egg Moon,

one tattooed breast—

reflects

TIP: The slit in the lemon drizzle cake is to allow plenty lemon drizzle to soak into the sponge for enhanced succulence when icing the cake after it comes out the oven. (Simply draw a line with your finger in the cake mix prior.) Here's a nicely worded basic requirement of proper haiku (or 'haikus' as he somewhat eccentrically prefers). . . . "Haikus do not usually refer to a participant: in other words — no self. This usually extends to mean no adjectives are included, as adjectives imply there is a person judging (a beautiful tree implies an opinion, there-fore someone who holds the opinion)." - Arnie Kozak, Ph.D.

Lafcadio Hearn [1850-1904]

2

Icarus, —

an Easter puddle

evaporates

"Instead, following a plotline almost too farfetched for a potboiler novel, fortune handed him a plum of an assignment—capture the vestiges of the storied Japan of yore, at just about the last possible moment before the country makes its great leap forward in sync with the brave new century—and an author's junket turned into an accidental pilgrimage, an odyssey like none other's. One can hear his wonder at it still reverberating in one of the rapturous closing paragraphs of "Dust," which in spite of its cosmic extravagance—or should we say because of it?—offers itself up as the ultimate vagabond writer's valedictory." - David Barber

Hearn introduced West to Basho's frog song!

2

down there in fairy-land,

even the snails are stirring...

underfoot

NOTE: Snails start wake up from their wintertime snooze around now (April),

here in rainy England - God bless'em.

item 3

moonlit daffodils—

paused in their perfume

miles away

"I don't take with me an intention to write haiku. They come to me. When they

do, I write descriptions of the perceptions that gave birth to them. My personal,

ineffable reactions to these perceptions I think as momentary enlightenments."

Stewart W. Holmes

Also see: Muse

3

butterfly time!

Elton's haiku goggles

at the ready

4

reclaiming its property

the North Pacific

rippled

Fukushima: Alone in a Nuclear Zone

" Naoto Matsumara is the only resident living in the 20km exclusion zone around Fukushima

nuclear power plant. He has refused the government's plea to leave his hometown of Tomioka

as he vows to take care of the animals left behind." vimeo.com

ALSO SEE

Horrorshima : Aug 6th, 1945 - Arts Lab 13

we watched the blast

from a picnic area

on the edge of town

Branded by Spirit 5

lit by Egg Moon—

snipping the distance

at a medium clip

onion eggs 5

hippy eggs—

boiled in onion skins

until hard

5

HaikuOW? - sound of water

5

how strange,

too many Easter eggs

or something

PIC: The versatile and prolific, self-taught Italian designer Lino Sabattini is a master creator of cutlery and tableware. It was thanks to Gio Ponti, who raved about Lino Sabattini's designs, that Sabattini became known to a wide following. In 1956 Gio Ponti presented Lino Sabattini's metal objects in "Domus". Ponti also organized

an exhibition for Sabattini in Paris the same year. Lino Sabattini became director of design at the prestigious Christofle Orfèvrerie.

CAROL FERTIG

http://www.thesupplemental.com/

http://www.fertigny.com/

SABATTINI IMAGES

http://goo.gl/XCAVh

6

Good Friday service—

slicker then a whistle,

Mr & Mrs Snail

NOTE : Most snails are hermaphroditic. I expect they prefer company though, from a genetic point of view at least. Easter is about the time of year when they wake up and start getting busy. The crunch of a snail underfoot is a terrible thing and I always make sure the victim is dead (mercy killing). Afterwards, one tries to remember it was the creature's karma interacting with one's own - still feel sorry for the unlucky little blighter. Afterwards, it's important to clean the guilty shoe's sole, for slippage may occur to compound the deplorably regrettable incident.

7

Egg Moon,

please illuminate

the woods

NOTE: Good Friday and the moon is full. That's a close shave this year,

bearing in mind how Easter Sunday is calculated: Easter Day falls on the

first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox.

The Haiku Expert

7

"The Vladimir Devidé Haiku Award is for haiku regardless of whether traditional

or modern; it transcends haiku divisions and is based on literary merit only."

How egalitarian! Anyting gans if it lookz leak it. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

PDF: http://bit.ly/2ndVladimirDevideHaikuAward

:D

7

The Egg Moon,

finally— in a curdled sky,

comes to pass

NOTE: We use the title of a particular moon name of our choice to signify the seasonal period. But, only on the appearance of the actual full moon do we prefix with a capitalised, 'The'. Hence, 'The Egg Moon', 'finally' arrives. However, the latter is academic and the effect of 'finally' in this post's haiku probably suggests the waiting for either the full moon night itself, and/or waiting to see the full moon peep through the intermittently obscuring 'curdled sky' (the latter being the unusual effect of some cirrus cloud cover last night). When the moon did appear through the interesting grays it was most aesthetic and beguiled the traveller to the point of nearly tripping several times! I took a few pics and do hope they develop well enough to post. . . .

* Additional comment, here

7

Holy Saturday—

the shopping mall is busy

being

"Holy Saturday is the final day of Lent, of Holy Week, and of the Easter Triduum, the three days (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday) immediately preceding Easter, during which Christians commemorate the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ and prepare for His Resurrection." - About.com Catholicism

"Holy Saturday (Latin: Sabbatum Sanctum), sometimes known as Easter Eve or Black Saturday, is the day after Good Friday. It is the day before Easter and the last day of Holy Week in which Christians prepare for Easter. It commemorates the day that Jesus Christ's body laid in the tomb." - Wikipedia

NOTE: The thought comes that Christianity is a profound example of making psychic realities out of the clay which is the substrate of the universal matrix. Our psychic realities, of course, are how we model the world (whatever the world actually is, you know, in and of itself). Universal Being does this when It dreamed/dreams up the cosmos. We, as parts of That, type thing, are endowed with the same powers, albeit to scale. As a universal dematerialist and frugal with it, one is inclined to keep a certain distance from being engulfed by the various possibilities of cultural homemaking and their settlement (not to mention the instrumental clatter of our inner typist). Obviously we are rooted in the social soil out of which we ourselves have sprouted in this life. Nevertheless, surely we can choose (or, be karmically attracted to) a certain objective freedom. Or, so it would seem. The yogi crowd reference this as vairagya.

8

Holy Sunday, Robin!

the heavens are opening—

holiday rain

"The word holiday derived from the notion of "Holy Day", and gradually evolved to its current form...from the Old English word haligdæg.

The word originally referred only to special religious days. In modern use, it means any special day of rest or relaxation, as opposed to

normal days away from work or school." - Wikipedia

So, if we're not working we're on holy time - you have been warned.

Fatwa 8

"Were there not a global haiku fatwa stamped on my

head I'd have been tempted stop doing Easter eggs

for Christmas." The Haiku Shaman

hiccups!

who eats an Easter egg

in that pram?

Those little tomatoes in the mandala pic are absolutely fabulous and the bees knees! Surprisingly

cheap to buy and totally essential for EVERY savory meal. Full of goodness and other nutrients.

Recommended.

8

Egg Moon,

she waters the wayward eye—

tree trunk

Quite like the painterly effect of this close-up camera judder. Reminds me of an artist whose name escapes me. Of course,

the haiku refers to walking into an obstacle on the path, distracted by The Egg Moon's atmospheric aesthetics, last Friday

night [see above] when it was on full throttle in a curdled sky.

Paschal candle 8

Easter candle,

with a matchstick haiku—

lights 'the room'

You'd never guess in a month of Sundays and in your wildest what this post's pic is a pic of, dear casual observers.

:D

NOTE: 'The room' is a reference to the 'dream space' of MA. The place where we conjure the vision of our haiku

experience. This academic information does not need interfere with other understandings which come when we

do this thing of ours. . . .

9

Easter Monday—

workers queue in the rain

at shop windows

WORD OF THE MOMENT

- waka - (first Japanese

poetry forms)

ASIDE. . . .

God bless me, I've tried to find cohesion in this essay's undulating premise [see link-2], but for the life of me I simply am excreted from each attempt at understanding the thing's morass of dislocate and unsubstantiated cobbled together statements and conclusions, the brain having become liken to a ball of wool the cat played with in the rain. A can of worms also springs to mind with a snappy salute, or grasshoppers. At first one thought it must have been penned by that paragon of confusion, Marlene Mountain (of the one-liner quip infamy). Simply cannot get any coherence whatsoever from this weasel worded gobbledygook!

https://sites.google.com/site/artslab13/weasel-w

http://www.modernhaiku.org/essays/PhilippouEssay.html

9

tethered

in the emptiness

they waited

Japan Times: The failure to tend to animals Regarding the March 28 front-page Kyodo article

"Noda draws on Fukushima lesson": I would like to add to the series of flashy remarks made by Prime

Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

SPREAD THE WORD ON THIS

"It is no exaggeration to say that the fate of Japan and the whole world depends on NO.4 reactor."

Letter to Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, from Mitsuhei Murata, former

Japanese Ambassador to Switzerland and Senegal.

Does Daiichi 4 Spell the End?: 'Cesium-137 is 85 Times Greater Than at Chernobyl'

9

rainy spring night,

along a familiar route, alone—

except for my ghosts

Some stray thoughts, brought in out of the rain. . . .

winter come spring

this muddy path is a friend

to his boots

Doppelgangers, how many legions of them haunt one's mystic trails? Of course, these are distractions and one clears, as well as one may (after some defragging), the busy mind in order to attend to the moments in passing without interference from the noise of data's fabulous machinations and suchlike. Sometimes a tall order, for sure, but our haikuing needs must.

"Develop the mind of equilibrium.

You will always be getting praise and blame,

but do not let either affect the poise of the mind:

follow the calmness, the absence of pride."

-The Buddha

So, we walk on the chequered squares with equanimity, then? My favourite term for this useful practice is VAIRAGYA - http://bit.ly/vairagya

10

on the mat

via April showers

a wet circular

on the mat

via April showers

a wet letter

10

HERE'S AN INTERESTING RABBIT HOLE

What's he like?

WHR April 2012 - World Haiku Review

"Every now and again I present a reprint of my past writings so that new readers may have the chance to examine them and also the “old hands” are given the opportunity to re-learn and reassess their points. Here is a reprint of my Editorial from WHR Volume 5, Issue 1, Spring/Summer 2005." - Susumu Takiguchi

COMMENT. . . .

So, encountering one of WHC's many mail shots which advertise the new issue, I popped a response on his Marlene Mountain shrine's email flyer (WHCmarlenemountain):

Basho had probably come to the common enough conclusion, towards the end of his exemplary life, which accords with Ecclesiastes regarding vanity. He took refuge in his poetic universe at the cost of being a dedicated mystic, on the road to nowhere, beyond beguilements and detours of rainbow visions. There is much truth, I'd say, in eschewing worldly things.

And yet...

This of course, refers to the Gabi Greve nonsense, here. . .

Editors Choice, December 2011 - World Haiku Review

The Editor’s Choice in this issue of World Haiku Review does not come from usual submissions. Rather, it comes from the flagship of the World Haiku Club: WHCworkshop. This is a general and free discussion forum (mailing list) where members enjoy showing their works.

The world of dew --

A world of dew it is indeed,

And yet, and yet . . .

Issa

11

April shower—

a snail's trail changes

its mind

11

April showers—

poring over text

without guilt

12

Down the valley, occluding star spotting, a long, dark convoy of rain

clouds. . . .

heading for the coast

a consignment of April showers

trucks over Venus

USEFUL

Planetarium

Browser based interactive star map and virtual sky

Stellarium

Free open source planetarium for your computer. It shows realistic sky in

3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.

12

April shower—

under the dripping tree

a blue cagoule

Colloquially (in street vernacular) a cagoule is referred to as a 'gagoole' - eat you hat, Google. A knee-length 'Pack-a-Mac'

(which is my own visualisation in this post's haiku), with a pair of wellington boots ('wellies'), and you're almost as watertight

as a _ _ _ _.

13

themed,

all in yellow at the grave—

an old woman

SNAP FUN

Photoscape

Photoscape does what Instagram does and much, much more. It's my

main photo editor since it was downloaded to test a few weeks ago.

Very handy and friendly utility. Free!

Pixlr

Turn you photos into cool looking effects like vintage and retro snaps.

With this fun and simple darkroom you can apply filters, lightning

and borders as easy as one two three. Free!

13

two cars swerve,

but not the man in a van, Mr Pheasant—

Friday 13th

BACKSTORY

The cock common pheasant (male hedge chicken) is probably the most stupid bird in the world.

The vehicle in front swerves and I'm thinking, 'drunk at the wheel, pull back'. Then I see the mesmerised bird in the middle of this country road. So, yes you guessed it, I swerve also (safely). Looking in the rear view mirror, to see if the moronic game bird had nipped out out of danger's way, just in time to see one of those ubiquitous (everywhere) white vans plough over it in a whirl of feathers and, no doubt, a squawk of surprised protest.

Frankly, dear reader, my theory is that the only reason that common pheasants are still in existence as a species is that they are bred (in large numbers) to shoot by rich folks who need to unwind from the pressure of their station in life by perpetrating violence as a displacement activity upon defenceless creatures, preferably the stupider the better. These road kills are a common sight.

I cooked one of these fresh and mostly intact accidents up once and that was a lot of work as pheasants are quite hard to pluck without ripping off their skin. Lot of work for little return - recommended for emergencies only.

13

"Things to do before you're 11 3/4". I do like this initiative by The National Trust,

here in the rainy British Isles to get kids out and about doing what a slightly older

generation (without electronics) took for granted to do. But, what could it possibly

have to do with haiku?

wild swimming?

not quite, just peering

at Forget-me-nots

???

wild swimming?

not quite, just peering...

Forget-me-nots

wild swimming?

not quite, just peering—

Forget-me-nots

wild swimming?

not quite, just peering

at Forget-me-nots

They all work well. Oh dear...let's see what time will tell (or, better still, show).

WORD OF THE MOMENT

- ginko - (haiku walking)

13

in a blue cagoule,

doing the heavy lifting—

April vapour

pdfforge

Free PDF Creator

Most useful. Say you're reading an essay on the web and you need to ponder it

at length. Easy. Hit PRINT, select from the drop-down menu: PDFcreator and, in

a trice, you have a desktop PDF. Neat, in fact nifty and it has a sense of humour

as it does it.

cloud appreciation society 14

Venus ,

through drifting April rain—

its crystal convoy

14

April mud,

except for the carpet,

invisible hills,

"This is the problem when ego rules over vision. Self-importance

cuts off natural light and all things beyond measure wither and

die in the electric." - The Haiku Shaman

NOTE (♪)

For all *proper haiku* fans, who want to tie-in their product with the turning of the year (coupled with cultural reference, as in full-blown kigo, or not) the following link's Wikipedia page is a wondrous portal - look at the top and the bottom). Thinking to devote a page here at geodesic_eye and over the road at sound of water to do something based along the lines of this.

pic 15

not quite Sisyphus,

see the Titanic unplugged—

per·petu·al·ly

On April 10, 1912, the Titanic, largest ship afloat, left Southampton, England on her maiden voyage to New York City. Today is the 100th anniversary of Titanic's sinking and the world remembers. She's not only a celebrity, that doomed ship is an immortal, sailing forever (in'ter·mit'tent·ly ) 'pon mythic seas. . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic

SISYPHUS [the ultimate hamster, on its treadmill HC]

(Greek legend) a king in ancient Greece who offended Zeus and whose punishment was to roll a huge boulder to the top of a steep hill; each time the boulder neared the top it rolled back down and Sisyphus was forced to start again - Wordweb

TITANS [forces of nature personified, hence 'titanic' HC](Greek mythology) any of the primordial giant gods who ruled the Earth until overthrown by Zeus; the Titans were offspring of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaea (Earth) - Wordweb

15

waxing lyrical,

inside its electric house—

a busy bee

For only the second time in my adult life a bumblebee showed me where it lived in the grass. I left a pointer stick a few feet away in a horses hoofprint. Then, fixed a landmark for the tree it was next to. Then, a few daze later, forgot which tree, which landmark... and so on. Then, guess what? Of course. April showers, along with the man who mows the broad verge, finished off that clever idea. Anyway, to cut a long story shor

23/04/12 UPDATE

Woot! Found it when I stopped looking. A rainy day, so all the bee clan (mostly women) where safely tucked up in their little underground palace, doing whatever they do indoors on a rainy day in England.

WORD OF THE MOMENT

- toriawase - (combining two images)

"This is a fable about the importance of making the most of our lives, even if our goals run contrary to the norms of our flock, tribe

or neighbourhood. Through the metaphor of flight, Jonathan’s story shows us that, if we follow our dreams, we too can soar."

- Richard Bach

http://bit.ly/JonathanLivingstonSeagullPDF

http://bit.ly/ZazenInMotion 16

windows,

in motion and not—

spring rain

16

old earth apples,

sporting spring's tubers—

hope vs faith

"In one Old English work, cucumbers are called eorþæppla ( lit. "earth-apples '), as

in French, Dutch, Hebrew, Persian and Swiss German, the words for potatoes mean

"earth-apples" in English." - Wikipedia

Rules

The 'rules' (methodologies) for any activity are for beginners, generally speaking, or those who need structure and fail to develop beyond such restraints (guidelines). Both levels of skill are fine, in their own way. How can we exclude the tadpole if we want to grow a frog? Basho, in his later years, became more mystically inclined and wanted to be a spokesman for direct transcendent experience. A valid parameter for the use of haiku, one of several equally valid options. Beauty and its cargo of understanding can emerge from anywhere, without warning. A child's 'crude' drawing of a human figure can inform and delight the moment just as much as those evocative painted caves in France and, more or less, any song by Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen. So, I try to allow for this apparent caprice of zoka (nature's creativity) in my own understanding as a dedicated, albeit somewhat laid-back, student of these matters. In haikai terms, it either works or not. This is the only criteria - at the end of the day.

an open ring in the woods 16

off the beaten track,

at every glance— spring's

timeless modernity

17

of course,

over the robin's children—

cirrus clouds

"Yes, yojo-yugan, this is a lingering emotion which ends almost before it begins and leaves

us in place of boundless mystery. The more we experience this the more we become that."

- The Haiku Shaman

In an interesting book called The Way of Tea these terms 'yojo' and 'yugen' are linked together (yojo-yugen) and related to wabi and sabi (more typically known as wabisabi). Yojo is an obscure word. Its best definition (Google Search) rendered 'health'. Not much help. Then I came across the book above and all was revealed. Google Books have fielded some extracts (to get consumers to spend £27.50 discounted to £23.38, here in April's rainy UK) and these have been selectively pilfered and morphed into a useful PDF (by me) for convenient research porpoises only.

http://bit.ly/yojoyugendiscussedPDF

*This is crying out for an explanatory essay and so it will be - when time allows. (The Haiku Shaman has it synopsised, in his usual spot-on pithyness, though. How on earth he consistently does that, God only knows!)

17

Surely a haiga?

17

"I have never called my brief poems "haiku" except in certain rare cases

where a brief poem met what I felt were the key aesthetic requirement of

top quality haiku—which means among other things, freedom from ego."

- Gary Snyder

'The Practice of the Wild', by Gary Snyder [see link below], covers much of the common sense we can apply to haiku's perceptive ways of thinking about the world we live in and how we enhance our lives in that world through clarified understanding. . . .

http://bit.ly/GarySnyderEssaysPDF

http://bit.ly/GarySnyder

18

whizzing—

all the little dinosaurs

of spring

It came to mind today that birds are actually living dinosaurs. Time to go to work. . . .

Living dinosaurs: How birds took over the world - New Scientist

"The origin of birds has historically been a contentious topic within evolutionary

biology. However, most researchers now support the view that birds are a group

of theropod dinosaurs that evolved during the Mesozoic Era." - Wikipedia

19

closing shop,

just for another day—

the meadow's stars

This haiku came to mind as I stooped to check a little tribe of daisies in late

afternoon, very cute they looked as they 'closed shop' for the day. And then

the memory of this came (almost a proper kigo, then):

At evening when I go to bed

I see the stars shine overhead;

They are the little daisies white

That dot the meadow of the Night.

And often while I'm dreaming so,

Across the sky the Moon will go;

It is a lady, sweet and fair,

Who comes to gather daisies there.

For, when at morning I arise,

There's not a star left in the skies;

She's picked them all and dropped them down

Into the meadows of the town.

Frank Dempster Sherman

"The Latin name 'Asteraceae' is derived from the type genus Aster, which is a Greek term, meaning "star". In addition, the name daisy is derived from its Old English meaning, dægesege, from dæges eage meaning "day's eye," and this was because the petals open at dawn and close at dusk." - Wikipedia

19

my lodger,

she plumps for many more—

on the fly

First thought best thought? This was the first, more directive version:

she plumps for many more,

my lodger, Mrs Dusty Spider—

on the fly

More colourful and less ambiquous for those with that sort of a take on

you know what. Pushing the textual mass a bit is fun!

-

Play on words. Puns apart, the spider is fattening up tobe productive I'd guess that plumps for

is in the same bag as swell. In other words, 'expand in an embrace of', type thing - something

like that. . . . http://www.thefreedictionary.com/plump+for

SPIDER FACTS

"Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs and chelicerae with

fangs that inject venom." - Wikipedia

SPIDER MAN

"Seek those who find your road agreeable, your personality and mind stimulating, your philosophy acceptable,

and your experiences helpful. Let those who do not, seek their own kind." - Jean-Henri Fabre

Jean's CLASSIC: The Life of the Spider (PDF). Not only a definitive, first hand account of his fascinating subject,

but a new type of literature to boot. So much so that he's referred to as the 'Homer of insects'. Moreover, his new

style changed even the writing of novels. . . .

---> related item

20

she plumps for many more,

my lodger, Mrs Dusty Spider—

on the fly

20

"This is the moment when a photographer caught a vain blue tit appearing to admire his reflection - in a car wing mirror." - Daily Mail

/

in the wing mirror

a blue tit picks a fight—

with itself

20

little songbirds,

their melody pure and true—

nesting in paradise

21

where's the Moon gone?

She's off out on a date—

who's she dating?

Last night began another 'dark of the moon'. The last lunar cycle has ended and the new one has begun. Woot! For 3 days and nights the moon is directly between Earth and Sun. As a result, from the point of view of a night sky watcher on this planet, no reflected light from the lunar surface is visible to define Her form.

The legend goes that our reflective orbital rock has nipped off for a dirty weekend with her boyfriend, the local day star. After three torrid days of the gods know what partying excess, She is seen in the sky once again as a slender young slip of a thing, fashionably profiled like an Art Deco flapper, looking all sharp in silver. After a few days of waxing, though, it becomes quite apparent to all and sundry that she's up the stick and in the puddin' club (all this makes the Mile High Club seem as child's play). A few more days and the now matronly Full Moon signals the start of birthing yet another incarnatory vessel for Her monthly journey, and this wanes on for a couple of weeks until the process repeats all over again in the dark of the moon period. Interestingly, she is stooped in reverse as an old crone at that end of Her life cycle. (Bit of conceptual overlap in all this evocative symbolism, somewhat slippery, you know, like a dream.)

NOTES: 1) Hippy types and witches do sympathetic magic with this moonlit fertility cycle to make their dreams come true. 2) The mnemonic to remember how the crescent Moon positions is; for the Northern Hemisphere, DOC and for the Southern, COD (sorted). 3) All life responds to the various phases of the moon and farmers utilise this to good effect, especially with their plants (handy).

21

Seed Moon,

to be or not, is it?

little weed

Why is the Moon so capricious and flighty when it comes to fitting into the calendar months neatly? At the start of April we chose to haiku with one of the several traditional titles, namely, 'Egg Moon'. Now look here, it's still the same calendar month and we have a new blinking moon to cope with. What to do? Well, the Old English option is 'Seed Moon'. Yes, nice option, this'll do it. Woot!

NOTE: The various Moon titles are for when the orbital rock in question is at maximum brightness. However, for haiku porpoises, I propose that the title (slightly truncated) may as well cover the whole lunation cycle and be distinguished by a capitalised 'The' on the traditional day/night itself. So, 'Seed Moon', in this example, covers *whole cycle* and 'THE Seed Moon', is used *only when our most popular satellite is full*. (If anyone has a problem with this astonishingly precocious, yet totally brilliant innovation, then let them eat cake!)

http://tinyurl.com/handyhaikucalendar

"At the new moon, the lunar gravity pulls water up, and causes the seeds to swell and burst. This factor, coupled with the increasing moonlight creates balanced root and leaf growth. This is the best time for planting above ground annual crops that produce their seeds outside the fruit. Examples are lettuce, spinach, celery, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and grain crops. Cucumbers like this phase also, even though they are an exception to that rule. " - Gardening by the Moon

21

ginko with owls—

imagining the Seed Moon,

brightly under foot

---> NOTE: Click pic for better SIZE / Source / EditPad

22

International Mother Earth Day

watching a clock

on my wrist

International Mother Earth Day / Earth Day

There's a lot of variations on this theme. The original Earth Day was pegged to the spring equinox.

Now that was a good idea. Still, if it makes us all feel something's getting done then that's fine - as

Rome burns.

TECHNICAL NOTE

This pic is the source for the arty image above. It was jazzed up with a few tweaks using the excellent Photoscape.

This might be a good photo opportunity to keep a weather eye out for. You know, cartoons abstracted from nature

and urbania, type thing

22

22

spring stars

in a sense holes

dear diary,

NOTE

Browsing for some stellar constellation data to continue learning about the spring stars

(which are devilishly tricky) this popped up, here. Pretty well outstanding, not the least

from proper haiku aesthetic point of view and an elegant minimalism in general. Nice

enough cover for a haikai chapbook or diary or something.

23

"her indoors,"

my neighbour says—

"by George!"

More on George, here - http://tinyurl.com/handyhaikucalendar

23

"her indoors,"

my neighbour says—

"by George!"

Planters, Erwine and Estelle Laverne, Laverne Originals USA 1961,

Handpainted Aluminum, wood and iron. H. 37.5"- source

23

24

ha! this flower

to mark the entrance

little furry bum

24

dog walkers!

even in the bluebells

their politics

On this day, April 24, in 1888 the Eastman Kodak company was formed by George Eastman,

with the goal to democratize the process of photography. Kodak’s motto was “You press

the button – we do the rest.” NOTE: We use a Kodak EasyShare DX4530 (handy and nifty).

calendar

24

a crow elder

instructs by example—

empty tree

Ensuring Strategic Resilience through Haiku Patternswww.laetusinpraesens.org

Explores the role of haiku poems as a means of predisposing the mind to

a higher order of strategic resilience response to threats, especially when

a configuration of haiku defines form of pattern language. A link is made

to personal experience of death...

NOTE: As an act of foolish bravado I intend to analyse this somewhat extensive diatribe and see what's what. Wish me luck. Thanks.

RELATED ITEM

http://tinyurl.com/HaikuEvolution

25

Mrs Spider's new web,

after the spring cleaning—

so alamode!

"Term was anglicized as noun, alamode, which

was a form of glossy black silk." --- phrases.org

25

a bee and me,

completely engrossed we dine—

alfresco

To commemorate the KINDER TRESPASS (an important event for all proactive ginko

-- haiku walking -- advocates here in rainy England), this tune by Ewan MacColl. . . .

25

"The 1932 Mass Trespass on Kinder Scout has been described as the most significant

event in century-old battle for Right to Roam on Britain’s mountains and moorlands

now enshrined in law under the 2000 Countryside and Rights of Way Act. "

OLDIE BUT GOLDIE

(Dec 2011)

sliding over the view,

Great Orion and his little dog—

icy ginko

A SHORT ASIDE

"...an observation or sentiment in all its immediacy, before it is intellectually conceptualised." That is worth some thought. Makoto's pithy statement addresses the crux of a problem oft debated in the dovecotes of global haikai (in its current somewhat frantic infancy).

BASHO AND HIS INTERPRETERS by MAKOTO UEDA

(page 10/11) Google Books ---- Review Rating: 16.5/17

What is the primary requirement of a haiku presentation? It is this... The delivery of an original vivacious impression using words that 'charm' (present a compelling vision) the reader/listener into "...contemplating an aspect of nature or the human condition...". The audience make their own mind up from the original experience, through an impression of that experience, via a haiku's mediating text, in the elemental theatre of their mind's eye. Hence our mantra: "SHOW not tell". This primary visualisation skill is the corner stone of the uniqueness and magic of haiku. This also puts us in our natural place, back in God's garden, albeit in short bursts (initially). After the foundation stone of SHOW not tell, it's seasonal address (or kigo if we can manage that more complex cultural matrix generator), and after that the tricks of the trade (kireji / punctuation, contrasting images and so on).

25

ladybird

on a stinging nettle

the words

IS IT A BIRD!

IS IT A PLANE!

little bee?

On this day, April 25, in 1939 - DC Comics publishes Detective Comics #27

- introducing Batman, one of the company's most successful characters.

calendar

26

"I'm suffering because I'm holding onto a model of how it should

be other than the way it is. This causes mental gaskets to blow

out the side of my head." - William G. Gruff

/

their name,

those little blue flowers?

I forget

26

it is

what it is is all -

peasticks?

I do like the bamboo poles my neighbour makes wigwam structures out of for his peas.

However, there is much to be said for a found branch which has been blown off a tree

in a storm. The result when the peas are hanging off it is sorta like any other fruit tree.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pea

27

bleak for bees—

a farmer is spraying

the troops

Monsanto buys leading bee research firm after being implicated in bee

colony collapse --- Natural News

Below are 2 documentaries which are well worth watching (FREE) here:

Colony

Vanishing of the Bees

Website with more information: Plan Bee

Bee page

27

Don't hide your light under a bushel, John...

Related item here:

Books - geodesic_eye

.................................................................................................................................................

Punctuation in ku, here

and, here

.................................................................................................................................................

oh dear,

the neighbour wife...

nuff sed

haiku crossroads

Just been discussing Photo-Haiga with some fellow haikuites over at Haiku Workshop (by invitation only).

Gosh ---- must do a definitions item over at geodesic_eye (eye of the bee!) to sort all this out in my brain

cell (if one can locate it) . . . Looking and Seeing: How Haiga Works by Jim Kacian

RELATED COMMENTS . . .

QUERENT

Do definitions really matter - unless one is consciously striving to re-create something in its traditional form - or even in the current interpretation of that tradition? Two years ago, before I had even heard the word "haiga", I was posting haiku associated with a photographic image. I still don't think of these as haiga, simply because I was not intending to create one, and the haiku is not integrated with the photographic image. Since then it has become almost de rigeur to do this ...one just has to scroll down the newsfeed to confirm the phenomenon. Which all makes me wonder why, simply because there is a tendency amongst people to want to label and categorise everything, one should conform? And who is it that decides what something should be named?Surely a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. But then, the rose has to be a rose in the first place ....

RESPONDENT

Without definitions we are in chaos without a compass. Let the common herd play in the mire if they want, I for one like to know what I'm doing. This improves everything. Ladders to heaven. Roads to the East. One of these fine days this link's indication will get developed into a simple enough explanation of what should be available already . . .

http://tinyurl.com/HaikuMandala

QUERENT

Naming a thing doesn't make it "that", surely? An intuitive compass is as useful as a cognitive one for some people. "Knowing" something can be experienced on a number of levels, and one can ascend to heaven regardless of the means of getting there. Angels' wings, even.

RESPONDENT

Rather than labour the point, let me conclude this discussion by agreeing that anyone may chose to disregard organised behaviour. As mentioned, I find that a map is useful and that it helps to have a common language to avoid interactive confusion when discussing whatever the subject happens to be. Without maps we would not be expanding our territorial conquest into the stars. Without structuerd language the universe would not have evolved out of its original porridge of inchoate chaos. Check the global ku crowd for an example of the latter.

"Having named the flower we need to ensure that the flower's title is not mistaken for the living entity. This is the mystic way. To correct these errors in thinking over direct experience. We need both aspects of perceptual (which includes cognition) instrumentality in order to evaluate any event. This is why the universe provided us with two sets of tools for the job." - The Haiku Shaman

.................................................................................................................................................

discarded tulips. …

the crystal vase fills with

emptiness

Sandip Sital Chauhan

also see 27

half-awake,

in the stars of a meadow...

insect circus!

28

after the rain

all these tiny green

wannabes

These are the 'wannabes' in question. Cute

little devils . . .

Photobucket Uploader

Damn Useful

This Photobucket Firefox addon allows you to right-click on images that appear on any web page and upload them directly to your Photobucket account. It also makes interacting with your Photobucket account a lot quicker and easier.

NOTE: Facebook users: From the pop-up screen (when you clik a pic - black surround) you can ENLARGE the image. If you then send your pic to Photobucket using this Firefox add-on ('Photobucket Uploader 1.3.3' - see link below) it seems you will get a larger pic in your album than is normally allowable case. Apart from this handyness, Add-on is totally recommended.

MORE NIFTY FREEBIES

28

If we pie-chart our Milky Way galaxy (to measure changes induced by galactic centre)

would it show 'seasonal variation'? Then, easonal reference (even KIGO) would apply

to outer space! (Handy for astonauts who do haiku, or shamanic flights of fancy.)

rough sea—

extending toward Sado Isle,

The Milky Way

- Basho

RELATED IDEAS

Milky Way Galaxy

Tokugawa Art and Culture

Here in rainy England, The Milky Way is 'at its best' during the summer months.

Therefore a summer seasonal reference. This is in common agreement in the

West generally, it seems.

I've heard that a problem with Nippon kigo, as defined by the various saijiki, is

that these 'haiku almanacs' are very local? One part of Japan is excluded from

another in definitions of what is a proper kigo for a particular calendar period.

For example . . . Tanabata

28

as if...

the primroses are over-egged—

welcome back, cowslips!

original pic

"The common name cowslip derives from the Old English cuslyppe meaning "cow dung"

probably because plant was often found growing amongst the manure in cow pastures."

- Wikipedia

29

runs through the market

with a fistful of coins—

hoody!

The old village apple tree (101 years this year) is a constant interest to me. It's been lopped, chopped, carved, backed into by vehicles from the car park beside it and had an electric light planted adjacent for constant default daytime stimulus. Not to mention the whirr of telephonic communications piping the world into locally quarried rough stone dwellings. And yet...it flourishes! (In some mystic slide-zone.) No, really. This charming plant is fascinating. I've been saying "hello" daily for several years now (even give its leaves the odd hi-5) and it's still a mystery to me. Over all other trees I'm acquainted with (no small number), our old village apple tree is the most magical. I even eat its children and, as a result, this tolerant entity seems to be a part of me. There's a windblown twig (with lichen) thriving next to this PC as one types.

29

if

this pine had an elevator—

buzzard's nest

More about buzzards, here

Buzzards have a haunting, plaintive cry

30

through lace

the spring stars—

close window

MAY TOMORROW

May day! May day! Well, we'll get thirty-one of them beginning tomorrow. Is it me or is the time just flying past? Stay in the present with this useful *FREE* resource for your ku seasonal references.

In Japan, seasonal reference (and the more advanced literary search engine called: 'kigo') is helped along with saijiki さい; じき (roughly translated as; 'an almanac for haiku writers'). All us foreigners outside of Nippon have are festival calendars - other than local knowledge of course. Get into the seasonal round and celebrate the broadening of your interests and knowledge which this will bring. Enjoy!

30

"ride a white swan

like the people of the Beltane..."

radio mast

jp/Bolan

—

Thank You!

Thanks for reading this month's haiku diary, and thanks for being a regular visitor to geodesic_eye!

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ON TO : May

♪

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