Bastet’s Monday Haiga Challenge – Dawn – April 18, 2016

Hello Everyone!

Yesterday it rained and when the shower passed,  I went for a splendid walk – with my camera of course.  I decided to try to take some macros which I’ll use today for my haiga.   I was inspired by:

after a spring shower

 

 

Ok not so kosher as far as haiku goes … I’ve obviously personified that lovely flower … imagining its a sort of floral geisha to a passing samurai bee ( a real no-no in haiku writing) – so, alas, this is a senryu – in a picture! 😉

And what is a senryu.  Well in the past no honourable haiku poet would be caught dead writing a senryu – so if they wrote them they wrote them under a pseudonym – they were bar-room entertainment if we were to try to relate the usage of this type of poem to our modern days.

Over the years – beginning in the English-speaking world it seems, senryu  came up a bit in the world.  They are now sometimes called “human haiku”,  because they aren’t necessarily about the seasons, spirituality, nature or wabi sabi  in fact,  they often have to do with the more human, let’s say mundane aspects of life.  They still have the “short –  long – short” no more than 17 syllable word format (or for the more classical writers 5-7-5 syllables). It’s the subject that makes the difference between a haiku and a senryu.   Sometimes they are humorous, sometimes really tragic, sometimes erotic and very often down-right vulgar.  Sometimes they use metaphors or word play – and other poetic “devices” common in English poetry.  All very unacceptable in formal haiku circles.  Suffice it to say that through the last few decades in Japan and the English-speaking world,  senryu suffers less stigma than in the past – though many “serious” haiku writers still look down upon senryu and those who write it.  I’ve also been informed by more authoritative persons than myself that in Japan, scholars and universities still don’t recognize senryu as “real” poetry and it is not taught, though there are senryu magazines, contests and anthologies.

If you decide to link up with me … please tag Bastet’s Monday Haiga Challenge so that I can find you easily and link up with the Mister Linky app so that others can find you more easily!

Have a great week.