Thursday, April 9, 2009

Haiku Friday


Hosted by Christina.

I began writing and publishing haiku and short articles on Japanese culture in 1981. My personal site at aol was recently deleted (along with everyone else's) after 7 years. It had my prize winning poetry and articles on understanding and writing haiku in the Japanese tradition. But there are a few sites or books that mention my work. Haiku are about images and the five senses, they do not use the poetic devices of Western literarure. Read them slowly, one line at a time, and do not think, but visualize with all your physical senses engaged. Enjoy.

in a backyard
two women folding sunlight
into sheets

Museum of Haiku Literature Tokyo Award 1991

spring
she holds each egg
up to the light

Second prize in the Japan Airlines Haiku Contest 1990

noon light
the stillness of fish
in a heron's eye

First prize in the Jack Stamm Haiku Competition Australia 1999

More of my haiku.
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Recent posts:

Thursday Tea(review of The Blue Fox by Sjon)
Library Loot
Mailbox Monday
"25 Books That Caused a Commotion"
Weekly Geeks 13 (haiku poetry)
Giveaway: The Girl Who Stopped Swimming (until April 19)
Thursday Tea (review of Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf)


* All of the poetry on this page is copyrighted by Sandra Fuhringer.

18 comments:

  1. Beautiful, Sandra! "sheets of sunlight" is an image that I needed in my mind right now ...

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  2. Lovely...and I will add you to my site later!

    I love Japanese culture too and enjoy doing haiku...though I'm still 'young' at it... :)

    i'm from Asia, Philippines specifically and we have the sun all year round thus I get to take those shots...

    I'm sure to be back here!

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  3. Hi Sandra!

    I loved reading these haiku again.

    I remember them fondly as they are such fine examples of good contemporary haiku.

    I'll never forget "folding sunlight into sheets" and also the freshness you brought into the poem about herons.

    As we know, many writers chose heron as a subject and it was hard to find something fresh in the way of images until Sandra's wonderful poem!

    all my best,
    Alan
    With Words Online Haiku Competition
    .

    ReplyDelete
  4. How cool, we have a haiku master amongst us now.

    Those are lovely - thanks for sharing :)

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  5. Beautiful and so refreshing.. keep them coming. :D

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  6. How sad about your AOL site! Were you able to copy it somewhere?

    Peaceful weekend to you.

    Tink *~*~*
    Not-so-hidden Mickey

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  7. hi! thanks for your very useful explanation of haiku! I started writing them this year for Haiku Friday and love to do it. But i've got a lot to learn--your poems are amazing examples to learn from.

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  8. I really like the visual I get from the first one. Nice work.

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  9. Sandra, these are beautiful. I will try my hand at them soon.

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  10. your poetry is/incandescent- sheer, profound;/makes me want to write.

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  11. Folding sunlight into sheets. What a wonderful image that evoked. Just beautiful, Sandra. Thanks for sharing.

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  12. They are all good but the first one encapsules an everyday situation we all know. Fantastic!

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  13. I should really try some more nature-inspired poetry instead of just converting my latest thoughts into 5, 7, 5. Beautiful haiku!

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  14. Great idea Mel, eco-writing is so important nowadays, especially with people saying the recession means they haven't got time to protect nature.

    If you drop the misconception that haiku has to be 575 (which even Basho didn't follow on occasion) and just look for the other features of a good haiku such as kigo and kireji, you'll have so much more fun.

    Also try prose and haiku form 'haibun' for good nature writing. Haibun incorporates strong objective writing that has terse prose intermixed with haiku.

    all my best,
    Alan
    With Words
    .

    ReplyDelete
  15. Sandra, thank you so much for sharing these! I'm glad to know it will be a weekly feature :)

    I appreciate your telling us how to "read" haiku, that is, to visualize with all the senses. It really makes, well, "sense" when you explain it that way.

    Please tell us you have back-up of everything you had on AOL! What a shame it would be to lose all your work.

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  16. The first haiku is my favorite. I like how you gave advice on how to read a haiku.

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  17. These are gorgeous! I love these haiku. Do you still write?

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  18. Sandra, do you still write haiku?

    Gerald Brady Memorial Award (1996)First Place
    Sandra Fuhringer

    reconciliation
    the candle between us
    sputters
    all my best,
    Alan
    With Words

    ReplyDelete

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