Haiku: The Art of Words and My Maiden Journey

by Pravat Kumar Padhy


I used to enjoy poetic feeling and symbolic expression while composing essay at an early age of around thirteen. In school career, I sublimely endowed with the natural beauty and used to write articles pertaining to scenic landscape of resplendent nature. While writing essays in school, often I composed some proverbial short poems (one to two lines) at the end. As an intermediate college student, I submitted some of my poems in my mother tongue, Odia and one day to my surprise, the editor posted them on “Wall Magazine” in the prestigious BJB College Hostel. In 1978 a few of my haiku-like stanzas in my mother tongue, Odia, appeared in the “Deepti” magazine under the short- verses (3-4 lines) sequence Satyameba (Truth Alone). The translation of one of the poems, Jibanata (Life) is as follows:

half-moon in the sky
her body veiled in mixed
colours of clouds

Deepti, Vol.8, No.III Oct-Dec 1978
The Living Anthology

I had written an article on “Ezra Pound and His Poems” and was published in one of the leading Odia journals “Manas”, 4th Issue in February 1980. In an interview for the collection, ‘Interviews with Indians Writing in English' (Writers Workshop Publication, Calcutta,1992), edited by Atma Ram, I opined, “Poems come to my mind as fragrance to flower. Anything I see, it creates a symbolic frame in my mind......... when I see a small grain of seed, I feel it is tiny / because it nests with care / the mightiest in it”.

“A Better Living” (Kavita India, Vol.III, No. 2&3, 1990) is probably the one of the shortest poems I have ever written :

Try best
Like bird
Reaching
To its nest

I had a chance of over viewing the published review article on “Indian English Haiku and R K Singh” by Razni Singh in e-zine “Got Poetry”, December, 2007. I read the article carefully and the poetic esteem of gracefulness of three lines of expression. Dr R K Singh was my English professor in Indian School of Mines, (IIT-Dhn), Dhanbad. I scanned through my manuscripts of eighties and the published ones. To my surprise, I found that some of my short poems closely resemble (though in strict sense I was not aware of the Japanese short poems) with haiku and tanka. In Sept 2009, I posted a four-line poem “Pretending” in “Poetbay”.

They speak of volume
In reality it fills
Thin hopes
Of vacuum.

Poet Tai, UK with appreciation comments: “This makes a perfect haiku in three lines. Wise words, all the same. Really liked the imagery of thin hopes of vacuum”.

I started searching to know about the beauty and genesis of haiku poem. I could come across the age old exquisite poetic work of iconic literary pursuits of Japanese poets through internet and further corresponding with the leading writers. Since then it has been a thrilling experience of writing and reading haiku. I experimented with interaction by posting some poems in e-zines namely Akita Haiku International Network, The Four Seasons Haiku, Poetbay, Poetry Pages, Dreamer’s Reality, Lit Org, Critical Poet and others. The beauty of definition, more so the essence of aesthetic Japanese style, thrilled me when I got an e-mail from Werner Reichhold on 23 September, 2009 about acceptance of my haiku poem and republished in Lynx-Aha Poetry, XXV:1 Feb 2010.

Dog is misspelled
the child discovered
the Great

Lynx-Aha Poetry, XXV: 1 February 2010
(Original poem, “God” first published in “World Poetry Anthology”, 1992)

He writes:

Dear Mr. Pravat Kumar Padhy,

We received your submission and we will publish your haiku …., first line: 'Dog is misspelled...'

To get even more familiar with what is going on about Japanese poetry genres in the English speaking world, we recommend a book that's available at Amazon.com, named 'Writing and Enjoying Haiku'. It's a hands-on guide with a lot of useful information. I am sure you will enjoy it.

Best wishes
Werner Reichhold
23.9.2009

Later I could come to know that around the same time my first online haiku (composed earlier in 1990 as a short poem titled “Seed” ) appeared in “The World Haiku Review”, Vol. 7, Issue 2, 2009 with minor edits by editor Susumu Takiguchi.

creation is mystical
vast value of life
compressed in a seed

Werner Reichhold encouraged me to go through some of the haiku poems written by western haikuist with writing literature in Asian roots. He appreciated my observations of image building and encouraged me to turn these observations into poetry. His inspired words encouraged me in my journey towards understanding of the beautiful Japanese short form of poetry. Initially I wrote some of the haiku with sublime metaphors such as:

life takes an absence
amidst roaring cries--
a different silence

The Critical Poet, May 21, 2010

calendar pages—
between the dates
time escapes

The Critical Poet, May 2010
Paul comments: “ I'll play though abstract (with time escaping), this ku is actually closer to haiku because of its profound thought of what is between the pages, a metaphor for fleeting life….”.

Poetry is the essence of human urge and awareness. The mystic of art and literature delightfully reveal the kaleidoscope of science through colorful flair of human aspiration. It amalgamates the spiritual romanticism, aesthetic feeling and intellectual cadence of human beings in the perennial journey along the corridor of nature’s panorama of blissful beauty. Science is the composite reflection and poetry is its genetic soul. Let us put poetry to thrive in time and anti-time, in matter and anti-matter. Let it speak out the truth of human life and truthful endeavour. Let poetry light the lamp of humanism and brotherhood and let the flow of poetry escape with out any sound and merge with solace of silence. Writing haiku unveils the poetic essence and lively moments associated with all the entities within the fold of nature and human observations. Essentially it explores the uncommon in the common as put forth by Alice Frampton.

Art of haiku writing is a way of observing around nature, behavioural sense of man, animal and non-being entities with blend of kigo. The spirit of haiku embodies the use of kigo, kireji, ma, yugen with poetic credence. Haiku is unique in its form and simplistic expression with reference to season or nature as a whole. This makes it distinct style from other poetry. It should reflect simplicity and honesty in expression without scar of artificiality, complexity or pretention. The image that is created through haiku in its brevity is undoubtedly is the spark of self realization (zen moment).

My first printed haiku was published in the journal “Ambrosia”, Summer Issue, 2010, edited by Denis M. Garrison. It was a very simple poem coining images with juxtaposition and assimilating the intrinsic values. Gabi Greve and Alan Summers appreciated this haiku for its simplicity of expression.

rainy day
mud escapes
between toes

Ambrosia, Summer 2010


I have the opportunity of reading the scholarly articles by A C Missias, Jeanne Emrich, Jim Kacian. Jane Reichhold , Robert D. Wilson, Elizabeth St Jacques, Ken Jones, Martin Lucas, Michael Gunton, George Marsh, Fay Aoyagi and others. I learned basic guidelines from various articles published in different sites such as British Haiku Society, Haiku archival in World Haiku Review, Modern Haiku, Simply Haiku, AHA Poetry, World Kigo Database , Graceguts etc. The classical concepts enumerated by Haiku Masters Basho, Busan, Issac, Shiki and Chiyo-ni inspired me a lot.

I got special inspiration from the editors Gisele LeBlanc and Michele Pizarro Harman of Berry Blue Haiku, a journal specially focused for children. The following haiku, alongside with Jane Reichhold, appeared in Issue 2, September 2010 with a beautiful art background by Svett.

sudden wind
falling leaves meet
in one corner

Robert D. Wilson and Sasa Vazic of Simply Haiku, from time to time, critically assessed my haiku and encouraged me a lot. I shall cherish to remember some of the poems they have selected along with my maiden translation in mother tongue, Odia.

the tree—
spreads its branches
without noise

*****
drizzling day--
moon in the sky with
cloudy face

Simply Haiku, Vol.8, No.3, 2011

Publishing in The Heron’s Nest is indeed a great occasion to remember. I still cherish with fondness the e-mail I received from Alice Frampton along with references of classical haiku writings. She encouraged me a lot during my journey into haiku writing and I consider her as my mentor.

fragrance
fills the gap
between the flowers

The Heron’s Nest, Vol. XIII, No.1, March 2011

The haiku published in “The Mainichi Daily News” on November 3, 2010 was accepted by an’ya for display in the exhibition in Liberty Theatre at the Quarterly National Haiku Society of America Meeting in Bend, Oregon, USA, June 3-5, 2011. It reflects the beauty of nature and is associated with tender anxiety of a child.

half-moon—
the child wonders
the rest

There has been always a rainbow of pleasure from the critical analysis by iconic poets making my learning curve a splendid ladder.

flight of cranes—
bridging the sea
with the sky

Haiku Reality / Haiku Stvarnost, May 2011

“The haiku exhibits a simple phenomenon for the common observer. The flight of crane is a dynamic manifestation making an image of static linkage between the sea and the sky. The first line, in segment form, juxtaposes the genetic linkage with the other image expressed in the second and third lines.

Again, Jasminka and I both agreed on this haiku for Second Best of Issue. And again, I liked it for the visuals it presents of a whole "flight of cranes" bridging the sea "with the sky" . . . it was a difficult choice between first and second place for these haiku are actually similar, not in subject matter necessarily albeit they are both about the ocean/sea, but in the way they are both very well-written”- an'ya

The pristine juxtaposition or disjunction indeed heightens the essence of haiku.

barren branch
the lone bird choruses
with me

Chrysanthemum – 10, 2011

early evening
the bat moves
moonward

Chrysanthemum – 10, 2011

day light
the tunnel retains
its darkness

South by Southeast, Vol.18, No.3, 2011

Valentine day—
between you and me
a thin moonlight

A Hundred Gourds, Inaugural Issue, December 2011

green vegetables
my mother smiles with
morning freshness

Sketchbook, Vol. 7, No.4, Issue 43, 2012


John Daleiden comments with appreciation: “One of the most important qualities of a vegetable is "freshness", a trait Pravat Padhy associates with his mother's "smiles" in a unique juxtaposition”.

red carpet--
the monks walk
barefoot

Gems : An Anthology of Haiku, Senryu and Sedoka, 2014

wild flower--
I breathe my
loneliness

The Heron’s Nest, Vol. XVI, No.4 December 2014

flat palm--
so many cross-roads
to the destination

Wild Plum, Issue 1:2, 2015

frosty morning
I freeze
my final decision

Frogpond 38:3 Autumn Issue, 2015

early dawn--
millions of stars
in dark

EarthRise 2015: Years of Light, Haiku Foundation, April 16, 2015


The interrelationship between living beings and nature has been portrayed through haiku. It extends the association of the living creatures with nature in the form of haiku writings. The minute observations enlighten the natural images and enriches the haiku literature.

Midnight moon
a cow listens to the
flowing stream

Asahi Shimbun, September 19, 2014

autumn melancholy--
the shadow connects
the trees

Wednesday Haiku # 213, Lilliput Review, June 3, 2015

Kala Ramesh comments about the above haiku:

“Reading Padhy's haiku I was reminded of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, who said, "You may call a tree a standing man, and a man a walking tree, Ultimately the oneness of all things (WH # 213)”.

first rain
the paper boat carries
my childhood

Asahi Shimbun, May 31, 2013
Butter Fly Dream Anthology, 2013

I occasionally do experimentation by assimilating the essence of scientific fragrance with the petals of poetry. In one of my poems titled “The Other Being”, I wrote in “Poetbay” in 2010:

At times I wonder
Perhaps we are the
Living images
Of distance cosmic rays
At an imaginative focal length.

I have coined an idea of “Astro-Poetry” assimilating the essence of scientific entities in poetic canopy and manifesting it in haiku writing. It looks fascinating to extend the beauty of haiku to get assimilated into the images of space and beyond. David McMurray in “Asahi Shimbun” and Isamu Hashimoto in “The Mainichi Daily News” published some of my haiku based on such concept. Some are as follows:

counting stars
I move round
the galaxy

The Mainichi Daily News, May 25, 2011

rising moon
evening extends
to sky

Asahi Shimbun, October 21, 2011

End of year
celebrating the journey
around the sun

Asahi Shimbun, December 16, 2011

deep dark space
many cosmic townships
with their own light

The Mainichi Daily News, March 23, 2012

Isamu Hashimoto comments for the above haiku, ‘deep dark space’:
“To put it simply, this piece deals with twinkling stars. However, no one could feel sentiments more hearty than those the above depictions conjure up. This is the secret of haiku”.

blue earth--
lone robot on
the moon

Simply Haiku, Vol.10 No.1, Summer 2012

Donna Fleisher writes for the haiku ‘blue earth’:  “Your blue earth” haiku is extraordinary. A true gateway in consciousness. It shifts perspectives: the widest perspective shift occurs between outer and inner cosmos (planetary and cellular); and other perspective shifts involve human and cyborg, lunar and earthly, astrological and geological, cerebral and emotional; journalistic and poetic…..”.

black hole--
mystery of the universe
gathers light

NaHaiWriMo, February 17, 2013

deep silence--
planets move around
without noise

The Mainichi Daily News, March 20, 2013

firecrackers—
a snap shot of
big-bang

Culture Haiku Magazine, November, 2013

Association with historic events sometimes can be reflected through poetic membrane. Haiku literature can also link the historical sequences and major events in the form of archival and reflect the advancement in art, literature and science through time.

beyond horizon
a migratory bird
busy in nesting
Haiku News (NASA rover “Curiosity” on Mars Surface), Vol.1 No. 35, September 11, 2012

Neil Armstrong--
baby’s maiden walk
on bright moon day

The Kloštar Ivanić International Haiku Competition, 2014 (Award Winning Haiku)

A subtle use of metaphor, for correlation, coexistence and comparison, sometimes twists the fragrance of haiku.

flow of river--
I gather wisdom
at every turn

Diogen Haiku, May 2012
World Haiku Review, August 2012

I felt humbled when Poet Angela Leuck expressed her desire to make a poster on my haiku, ‘time and space’ that I had sent to her:

time and space
life – a season of its
own garden

wedding morning
the butterfly wings
its tender touch

Sketchbook, Vol. 7, No.3, Issue 42, 2012

Bernard Gieske comments:
“Pravat Kumar Padhy’s haiku was particularly meaningful to me. Just as the morning is the beginning of a new day, so marriage is the beginning of a new journey in life. The butterfly seeking the sweet gifts of flowers on this morning evokes a promising sunshiny day, the exchange of many gifts, and an array of colorful flowers. So too marriage is a promise of future joys. The butterfly has undergone the transformation of a past life as a caterpillar. The marriage couple now will undergo their own transformation. The wings of a butterfly are fragile and must be handled with care. So too marriage calls for a “tender touch”. The kind of desired transformation of those becoming one will need to take place under all the conditions of love which include tenderness, kindness, trust, faithfulness, and so many other things”.

Robert D. Wilson chose one of my haiku for the ‘Third Choice of the Summer issue of “Haiku Reality”, Vol.10, No.17 Summer 2013 and posted it on his own art.

crescent moon
the old man returns
from nowhere

Robert D. Wilson comments on ‘crescent moon’:
“Where is nowhere? Is the crescent moon a portal from oblivion to this earth? What is the correlation between the crescent moon and the old man? Layered, this poem can be metaphoric, and yet . . . This is a thinking person's haiku. It doesn't bore readers by telling all. It is our job as readers to interpret this activity-biased haiku. Perhaps an old man is stepping out of darkness into a patch of light painting by this sparse, thin moon”.
The Haiku Sequence can help stitching a long chain engulfing the impact of expression. “The World of Difference”, my maiden haiku sequence on the differently enabled children, has appeared on May 5, 2012 in “Akita International Haiku” with translation in Japanese by Hidenori Hiruta. The haiku are dedicated for the cause of those children who can still make the world a place of charm by spreading the light of beauty.

world disability day
they join hands for a
virtual circle

*****
moonlight--
the blind boy senses
from its calmness

*****
world of difference
she shares her smiles
with all absences

*****
rainbow sky
her broken voice adds
a lot of colors

*****
bright sunlight—
falling short of
for the blind

*****
tender breeze—
her feeling raises
high waves

*****
warm touch—
the stone melts
with grief

The fabric of resonance knits the inner feeling of poet and its relationship with the nature, human behavior, culture and spirituality. This is often expressed by haiku.

Religious conclave
tender breeze unfolds
the hymns

Asahi Shimbun, November 2, 2012

Prof. Dennis Woolbright of Seinan Jo Gakuin University of Japan appreciated the haiku and comments:
“This is a lovely haiku and one can easily imagine the spiritual peacefulness one would feel in that place at that time”.

Sunset--
the beggar lights up
candle of faith

Asahi Shimbun, April 5, 2013
festive day--
suddenly everyone
close to God

Bottle Rockets, February, 2014

A gentle feeling that unveils inner urge and gets associated with intimacy of the surrounding creatures is the key of aesthetic sparkling. That is what haiku is. Every living being has its importance in the creation. It is through poetry, we can recognize them with high honour. Their images through haiku assemblage a separate entity in literature.

desert land
measuring sand dune height
a lone lizard

The Notes From the Gean, Vol.2, Issue 1, June 2010.

straight road
the snake on its
meandering way

The Notes From the Gean, Vol.3, Issue 2, June 2011

winter morning
two butterflies
warm the garden

The Heron’s Nest, Vol. XIII, No.2, June 2011
The Singing Light Anthology, Nov 2014

naked tree
the crows veil
the darkness

Ginyu, No 53, January 2012

moonlit shadow
the old dogs lick
each other

Editor’s Choice, Icebox, February 8, 2012

old tree--
I feel warmth
of affection

LYNX, 28:1 February, 2013

wall painting--
the spider in the
war field

Under the Basho, Inaugural Issue, September 2013

spider web--
my thought caught
in between

Under the Basho, Inaugural Issue, September 2013

bird’s song--
I wish to translate into
my mother tongue

Mu International, Fifth Issue, 2013

migratory birds
across the borders--
same blue sky

Creatrix 26, April 2014

desert journey—
camels follow shadow
after shadow

Creatrix 26, April 2014,
Creatrix Haiku Prize 2015, WA Poets Inc, Australia

Morning dream--
an owl stares at me from
the hanging cloud

Asahi Shimbun, August 29, 2014

white pigeon--
it moves with its
shadow

Writers & Lovers Café, Fall 2014

smooth landing
of the helicopter--
a kingfisher departs

Atoms of Haiku, Author’s United, April 2015

confused decision
the house-fly jumps from
one place to other

Atoms of Haiku, Author’s United, April 2015

potholes--
a frog jumps into
scary night

Brass Bell , December 2015

Staying thousand miles away from Canada, one can still scintillate the blend of beauty of nature and spread the immortal aroma.

cherry blossoms—
the scent bridging
the long river

Honourable Mention, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival, 2013

One-line haiku (monoku), I often write, emits the feeling instantaneously. It has its own beauty and style of expression and it ignites the spark in the readers’ mind.


in front of the mirror I repeat myself

A Hundred Gourds, 3:1 December 2013

melting away my pain-- garden dew

The Heron’s Nest, December 2013

floating clouds birds fly the other way

Brass Bell, July 2014

snow fall he hardens his words

Gems : An Anthology of Haiku, Senryu and Sedoka, 2014

for all your denials the smiling Buddha

Under The Basho, 2015

The art of imagination needs to be extended in subtle form beyond the boundary so as to create the aesthetic beauty of haiku writing:

disputed land--
the trees share their
tender shadows

NaHaiWriMo, February 13, 2013

early morning--
the sweeper gathers
autumn wind

Haiku Presence, Issue 49, 2013

cotton flowers--
the sky blooming with
cloud-art

Shamrock No. 27, February, 2014

long walk--
the slum boys stare at
the distant stars

The Heron’s Nest, March 2014

The essence of haiku lies in unveiling the implied expression of the happening of the moment. I feel that haiku literature can have a psychological overprint in the form of tender healing touch. As an extension of solidarity to the suffered people on the event of Fukushima nuclear disaster, I shared my deep sorrow in the form of a haiku, published in the anthology “We Are All Japan”, edited by Robert D. Wilson and Sasa Vazic in 2012.

sunset…
unlike the other day
in the east

We Are All Japan Anthology, 2012

trees float
the river swells
with tears

The Temple Bell Stops: Grief, Loss and Change Anthology, 2012

Bewildered with the horrific cyclone in Odisha in 2013, I wrote:

rainstorm--
a lonely pigeon’s
heavy footsteps

Writers and Lovers Café, Fall Issue 2013.

The grief-stridden human migration in recent time pained me a lot and I penned the following one-line haiku for “Asahi Shimbun”. David McMurray, moved by the emotional scene of crossing of migrants across the Mediterranean Sea, chose it on the top of his selected Ten haiku:

Shadows swim across a floating migrant

Asahi Shimbun, November 30, 2015

she sleeps--
with her toys--
vast sunset

Haiku Foundation, May 2015 (Kathmandu Earthquake Disaster)

Interplay of pathos can be expressed in the form of haiku writings. This can be imaged to express depth of grief and anguish.

melting candle--
widow wipes her
burning tears

LYNX, 28:1 February 2013

sad news--
I miss the colors
of a rainbow

Lakeview International Journal of Literature and Arts, Vol.1 No.2 August 2013

slaughter house
the morning sun lost
in darkness

Kernels, Spring Issue 2013

old well--
I pour excitement
into its loneliness

World Haiku Review, Summer Issue August 2013

temple bell--
the lone bird adds
its cry

Frogpond, 36-2 Spring/Summer Issue, 2013
A Vast Sky Anthology, 2015

One can reflect the surroundings through the art of haiku writings and create different platforms of exploration of socio-economic issues in subtle poetic style.

pale moon--
garbage darkens
the Ganges

Shamrock, No 20, 2011

old lake--
I feel closeness
to full moon

Award Winning Haiku, UNESCO International Year of Water Co-operation, Irish Haiku Magazine, 2013

One gets assimilated with the nature and shares feeling through crafty way with simple words that carry meaning beyond the boundary.

house shifting--
unfolding pages of
old memories

Simply Haiku, Vol. 8, No. 3, Winter 2011

sunrise--
the morning enters
without a knock

Frogpond, Winter Issue, 2012

autumn wind--
her long memories
hinge on my door

3rd Qrtly European Kukai, September 2013

village pond--
the fisherman’s grief
still drowning

Cattails, Premier Issue, January 2014

tree to tree--
I walk along carrying
shadows

Issa’s Untidy Hut/Lilliput Review, Haiku #149, 2014

distant waves
the sound creates
my own ocean

Chrysanthemum 14 , October 2013 .
The Blue Riband of the Atlantic, Per Diem Archive, The Haiku Foundation, March 2014

flowing river--
the bereaved girl hold
a palm-full of water

Acorn, Issue#33, Sample Poem, Fall 2014

thick clouds--
a gap takes me
to the ocean

Modern Haiku, 46:2, 2014

spring morning--
the butterflies paint
the gentle wind

Haigaonline Vol. 15, Issue 1, Spring 2014 (Haiku featured in Barbara Ann Taylor illustration)

flower garden—
Buddha and I
smile together

hedgerow #15, 2015

Poetry creates a fabric of resonance to transmit the human essence in the living world of physics and geology and further into a greater space. It directly bridges the poet’s inner feeling and his relationship with the nature.
Bam Dev Sharma, President, Campus of International Languages, Tribhuvan University, Nepal recently comments:

“P K Padhy’s haiku create beautiful collage of internal human conditions and the beautiful and bountiful nature—the sun set, the sea, the twilight, the amorous sky. To put this broadly, we can say that he is expert in blending the body with ethereal delight, the flower with fluid, the birds with feathers, the physicality with the celestial beauty. As soon as I picked up some haiku, I was moved by their vibrant images, the sense of hybridization, and immaculate articulation of natural exposition. I was amazed the way he used his quizzical expression in profound aesthetic propensity. We can find some traces of his exquisite quality in the following haiku:
sunset-- / the vast sky filled with / drop of tears

Times of India, July 28, 2015


summer breeze--
a dragonfly above
the old helipad

The Mainichi Daily News, July 2, 2015

thunder clouds
the stagnant voice
in between

hedgerow #41, August 7, 2015

I enjoyed reading his haiku. I find a rhapsody of beautiful cosmos which is singing for the poet and communicating with him. As a reader, I am sparkled by intriguing feelings and mood of pensive thought. There is deep layer of ironic exposition with enchanting imagery in the same way as William Wordsworth got enchanted to see everything in the clouds--the daffodils, the chariot, and throne, the beautiful child, and so on. I find poetic perpetuation with immaculate scenic description exposing not only beauty, but pouring imagination. …………So, in his haiku, to be precise, there is pastiche of human mood, the nature, the diverse natural panorama with image vibrancy which is peculiar quality of the poet. These reflect the beautiful combination of seen and unseen, the language that is felt and the language to unspoken yet”.

Nature is the mother of all living beings, matters and antimatters. When we honestly try to unveil the beauty and correlate with others, we do become philosophical. You start pouring respect to everything within the ambient of nature. The inner feeling slowly mingles with the soulful light through creative writings leading to possibly self realization and enlightenment. The tiniest object of nature has its genuine worth in this world and it is associated with us in different forms. I feel it is the realisation of this truth that has given rise to the genesis of Haiku poem.

God particle--
search for the mightiest
in the tiniest

Haiku News, Vol.1, No.11, March 2012

desert art--
sand mountains
of womanhood

A Hundred Gourds, 1:2 March 2012

The haiku discovers the meaning of each entity through aesthetic way. Haiku imparts life to every object of realization and its vivid image. Essentially the genre of expression acts as a diligent medium to have a wide spectrum of exploration within ourselves associating with the rest. Writing haiku unveils the poetic parlance and lively moments conjoined with all the entities within the ambit of nature and human behaviour. This leads you to start realising the value of the tiniest dust particle to diamond, rain drops to ranges of mountain, distance of the sun to closeness to your shadow, tender grass to the giant General Sherman and rhythms of sound to the voice of silence.

Discussion on syllable counts, whether to express in one, two, or three lines or four lines may remain as debatable point, specially in the neo-literary revolution. The image-moment around us, phrasing and its poetic association with human behaviour, love, emotion, humour, season, climate, observances, plants, animals, geography and elements of senses are to be poetically embedded to enliven the soulful feelings of haiku writings. The basic ingredients need to be respected with a fair degree of modernity. At the end it should reflect the wisdom of poetic credence in line with the aesthetic spirits and contemporary values. The original haiku in Japanese language is a class of its own. One can perceive the spark-moment of the unique style. The time and topography have been changed over the years. Haiku should reflect the surrounding and preserve the poetic history of the land at large. Rightly Basho said, “Learn of the pine from the pine; learn of the bamboo from the bamboo”.

One can try to evolve contemporary sketch of neo-haiku irrespective of whether he lives in village, urban area or elsewhere. That is the beauty of Japanese masters’ craftsmanship. Let us revere them and their classical contributions even we dream to shift to Moon or Mars!

It has always been to have trans-creation of tender expression of the nature through the art of words for the readers to derive emotion, goodness, quietude and divine pleasure of the haiku moment. The poem needs to carry the essence of Zoka (creativeness), Yugen (depth and mystery), koko (becomingness), wabi-sabi (austere simplicity and solitude : Japanese aesthetic virtues) and ma (opening, space).
Solemnly I still continue to march ahead with my tiny steps! An incredible journey so far!


Biography: Pravat Kumar Padhy, Scientist and Poet, hails from Odisha, India. He holds a Master in Science and a Ph.D from Indian Institute of Technology, Dhanbad. His literary work referred in Interviews with Indian Writing in English, Indian Literature, Spectrum History of Indian Literature in English, Alienation in Contemporary Indian English Poetry, Cultural and Philosophical Reflections in Indian Poetry in English etc. His poems have been featured in anthologies and periodicals of repute. His haiku, tanka, haibun and haiga have appeared in Poetbay, Kritya, The World Haiku Review, Lynx, Four and Twenty, The Notes from the Gean, Chrysanthemum, Atlas Poetica, Simply Haiku, Red lights, Ribbons, Lilliput Review, hedgerow, Under the Basho, Haigaonline, Daily Haiga, Acorn, Frogpond, Skylark, Brass Bell, The Heron’s Nest, Shamrock, A Hundred Gourds, Magnapoets, Bottle Rockets, Asahi Shimbun, The Mainichi Daily News, Mu International, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Invitation 2013, Presence, HSA “Haiku Wall” in Bend, Oregon, USA, The Bamboo Hut, Haigaonline, World Haiku Association, tinywords, Modern Haiku, Creatrix etc.

Recently his tanka appeared in the anthology, “Fire Pearls 2”, Keibooks , USA. He is featured in “The Dance of the Peacock : An Anthology of English Poetry from India”, Hidden Brook Press, Canada, 2013, “Epitaphs”, Inner Child Press, USA in association with Shambhabi, West Bengal, 2014.

His haiku won the Editor’s Choice Award at the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival, Canada, UNESCO International Year of Water Co-operation and The Kloštar Ivanić International Haiku Contest, Creatrix Haiku Commendation Award and others.

“Songs of Love: A Celebration” published by Writers Workshop, Kolkata is his latest collection.