Red Dragonfly
haiku. poetry.
Tag: Jay Otto
August 21, 2011
(fog drifts)
(Photo by Jay Otto)
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fog d r i f t s
over the moon
over the boat
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Variation on a haiku posted to the Moon Viewing Party at Haiku Bandit Society, 8/13/11
August 19, 2011
Dragonfly Dreams
Did I have any idea what I was getting myself into when I announced this topic? No, I did not. I had no idea that so many people would send me so much varied and amazing poetry about dragonflies. Just as I had no idea there were so many kinds of dragonflies until I started doing a little (okay, a lot) of research…
I’ll launch into the poetry in a minute, but first off, for those among you who like me have to know every. single. thing. there is to know. about something before you can possibly just enjoy reading about it (yes, we are annoying)… here is the Wikipedia article on dragonflies (which fascinatingly contains an entire section on the role dragonflies play in Japanese culture and even references haiku) and here is the page on dragonfly kigo from Gabi Greve’s World Kigo Database.
Okay, I’ll shut up now and let you enjoy this dream of dragonflies.
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(Photo by Jay Otto)
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aki no ki no akatombo ni sadamarinu
The beginning of autumn,
Decided
By the red dragon-fly.
– Shirao, translated by R.H. Blyth
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toogarashi hane o tsukereba akatonbo
red pepper
put wings on it
red dragonfly
– Basho, translated by Patricia Donegan
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(Photo by Jay Otto)
a dragonfly lands
on a stranded paper boat…
summer’s end
– Polona Oblak, Crows and Daisies
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within his armful
of raked leaves
this lifeless dragonfly
– Kirsten Cliff, Swimming in Lines of Haiku
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(Artwork and poetry by Rick Daddario, 19 Planets)
dragonflies
the soft blur of time
in another land
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(Photo by Jay Otto)
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out of myself just briefly dragonfly
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adding a touch
of blue to the breeze -
dragonfly
(Magnapoets Issue 4 July 2009)
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fading light -
everything the dragonfly
has to say
– Paul Smith, Paper Moon
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(Artwork by Amy Smith, The Spider Tribe’s Blog)
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a crimson darter
skims the mirror-lake…
your lips on mine
tomorrow
may never come
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twisting and turning
a dragonfly splits
a ray of light …
he says he loves me
in his own way
(Simply Haiku Winter 2011)
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catching
the blue eye of the breeze
dragonfly
(Simply Haiku Spring 2011)
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– Claire Everett, At the Edge of Dreams
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(Photo by Jay Otto)
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on the water lily
remains of a dragonfly
morning stillness
(Evergreen English Haiku, 1995)
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from sedge
to sedge to sedge
dragonfly
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with a few brushstrokes the dragonfly comes alive
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autumn dragonfly
waning
like the moon
a few scarlet leaves
silently fall
.
– Pamela A. Babusci
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(Artwork by Rick Daddario, 19 Planets)
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Dragonfly rising
everything shining
in the wind
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Gold dragonflies
crisscross the air in silence:
summer sunset
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A cirrus sky
one hundred dark dragonflies
with golden wings
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– Kris Lindbeck, Haiku Etc.
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(Photo by Jay Otto)
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The dragon-fly,
It tried in vain to settle
On a blade of grass.
— Basho, translated by R.H. Blyth
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The dragon-fly
Perches on the stick
That strikes at him.
— Kohyo, translated by R.H. Blyth
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the instant it flies up
a dragonfly
loses its shadow
— Inahata Teiko (1931-), translated by Makoto Ueda
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(Artwork by Rick Daddario, 19 Planets)
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red dragonfly
on my shoulder, what
rank do I have?
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spiderweb down,
a damselfly touches
my lips
— Michael Nickels-Wisdom
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born in the year
of the dragon-
fly!
— Mary Ahearn
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(Photo by Jay Otto)
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sunset
from the tip of my shoe
the red dragonfly
(South by Southeast 18:2)
dew on grasses
the dragonflies
are gone
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in a wrinkle
of light
dragonfly
.
– Donna Fleischer, word pond
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(Poetry by Melissa Allen; illustration clip art)
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through and through the gate dragonfly
– Melissa Allen
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coupling dragonflies
at break-neck speed—
HOT!
(Modern Haiku 35.1)
– Susan Diridoni
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(Photo by Jay Otto)
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on the dried husk
that was an iris blossom
black dragonfly
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we came here
seeking solitude
the loon
the dragonfly
and the speedboat
– Christina Nguyen, A wish for the sky…
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(Artwork by Kitagawa Utamaro: “Red Dragonfly and Locust [Aka tonbo and Inago]”, from Picture Book of Selected Insects with Crazy Poems [Ehon Mushi Erabi]). From the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.)
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this brief life a dragonfly
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dragonfly
where there is water
a path
.
– angie werren, feathers
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tombô ya ni shaku tonde wa mata ni shaku
dragonfly–
flying two feet
then two feet more
– Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue
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(Photo by Jay Otto)
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a break in the rain…
the stillness
of the dragonfly
– sanjuktaa, wild berries
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dragonfly—
how much of me
do you see?
– Alegria Imperial, jornales
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noonday heat
dragonflies slice
the still air
(South by Southeast Vol. 12 #1)
– T.D. Ingram, @haikujots (on twitter)
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evening breeze
teetering on its perch
a red dragonfly
(Haiku Pix Review, summer 2011)
.– G.R. LeBlanc, Berry Blue Haiku
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high notes
a red dragonfly skims
across the sound
– Margaret Dornaus, Haiku-Doodle
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(Haiga by Polona Oblak, Crows and Daisies)
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the heat
between downpours
blue dragonflies
– Mark Holloway, Beachcombing for the Landlocked
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Steel blue flash
flies wing
drifts
– Robert Mullen
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dragonfly dreams
the hospital intercom
repeats her name
.
with the password
to her sanity
darting dragonfly
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iridescent dragonfly
hard to see
how her Ph.D. matters
.
tell me the old stories
one last time
convalescent dragonfly
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discharge papers
the dragonfly returns home
on new meds
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letting go of her walker
she lifts into the night sky
dragonfly
.
– Susan Antolin, Artichoke Season
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Multimedia Interlude:
Sick of everything around here being flat and quiet? I found some moving stuff that makes noise for you too.
- First, there’s this amazing (very) short film by Paul Kroeker of the last moments of a dragonfly’s life, which I discovered via Donna Fleischer at word pond. It’s set to music and is incredibly compelling:
- Second, there are several versions of the well-known Japanese folk song (I mean, well-known to the Japanese) Aka Tombo, which means “Red Dragonfly.” This is apparently an indispensable part of every Japanese child’s upbringing. There are an almost infinite number of variations of this on YouTube so if these four aren’t enough for you, feel free to go noodling around over there looking for more.
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and on this general theme…
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perched on bamboo grass
the low notes
of a dragonfly
(Haiku inspired by Tif Holmes’s Photo-Haiku Project: http://tifholmesphotography.com/cphp/2011/07/july-2011-series-entry-11/)
– Kathy Nguyen (A~Lotus), Poetry by Lotus
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for when even
the music stops—
dragonfly wings
– Aubrie Cox, Yay words!
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(Photo by Jay Otto)
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mid-morning
a dragonfly and I
bound for Mississippi
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in and out of view
the computer-drawn dragonfly
on the web page
– Tzetzka Ilieva
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dragonfly
at 60 miles per hour
those giant eyes
– Johnny Baranski
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(Photo by Jay Otto)
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first impressions
a dragonfly hovers
before landing
– Cara Holman, Prose Posies
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– Linda Papanicolaou, Haiga Online
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In this forest glade
The snail gone, a dragonfly lights
On the mushroom cap
– P. Allen
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‘Oh! Catch it!’
‘I heard they eat their own tails’
When I was a child, living on an Air Force base in Okinawa, it was a common belief, among the elementary school set, a dragonfly would eat itself if you caught it and fed it its own tail. I looked online and didn’t find any references to this notion so maybe we were all sniffing the good Japanese glue.
Anyhow, even though we constantly snagged lizards and grasshoppers and cicadas, I never saw any one ever catch a dragonfly, as common as they were.
dragonfly
we play in the puddles
afraid to get close
– Steve Mitchell, Heed Not Steve
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(Photo by Jay Otto)
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dragonfly—
wings vibrating
on the rock face
(From the sequence “Ten Haiku: For the Dodge Tenth Anniversary Hike” in The Monkey’s Face)
dragonfly
on my fingernail
looks at me
(From Wind in the Long Grass, edited by William J. Higginson [Simon & Schuster, Books for Young Readers, 1991])
– Penny Harter, Penny Harter homepage, A Poet’s Alphabestiary, Etc.
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An old tree
No bud and no leaf
full of dragonflies.
— @vonguyenphong22 (on Twitter)
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neti neti
a dragonfly hums
raga Megh
(raga Megh(a)=a raga for the monsoon season. Neti neti= a key expression from the Upanishads: “not this nor this” or “not this nor that” alluding to the essence of things.)
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”the sky’s gone out”
on the radio – and then
a dragonfly
.
dragonfly -
I mark an unpaid bill
“later”
– Johannes S.H. Bjerg, 2 tongues/2 tunger
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(Photo by Melissa Allen)
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in and out the reeds
a blue dragonfly
mother keeps sewing
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stitching
water and sky together
- damselflies
– Paganini Jones, http://www.pathetic.org/library/5644
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boys playing games
stones miss the darning needle
– Jim Sullivan, haiku and commentary and tales
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dragonfly heading to the lemon hanging in the sun
– Gene Myers, genemyers.com, @myersgene (on Twitter)
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(Artwork by Kitagawa Utamaro, “Dragonfly and Butterfly,” from A Selection of Insects)
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bluetail damselfly
escapes the empty cottage
where children once played
(1st place Kiyoshi Tokutomi Memorial Haiku Contest 2009)
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on the bus
to the children’s museum
first dragonfly
– Roberta Beary, Roberta Beary
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flitting idly
from flower to flower
a blue damsel
lights upon the lotus
unfolding iridescence
— Margaret Dornaus, Haiku-Doodle
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(Photo by Jay Otto)
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dark waters
a dragonfly dreaming
its reflection
.
iridescent wings
the flying parts of
the dragon
– Stella Pierides, Stella Pierides
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silhouetted dragonfly
reeds pierce the moon
(The Mainichi Daily News, May 30, 2009)
– Martin Gottlieb Cohen
July 22, 2011
Mushroom Harvest
Wow. You people are amazing. I say “Mushroom haiku,” you say “How many?” A lot, that’s how many. My mushroom craving has now been completely satisfied. I’m not gonna go on a whole lot more than that because … wow. You speak for yourself, I think. Thank you.
(Just a quick link for those of you who like your mushrooms with more scholarship: The mushroom kigo page from Gabi Greve’s World Kigo Database)
– Terri L. French, The Mulling Muse, first published Contemporary Haibun, Volume 12
6 AM moon –
out of the still dark grasses
one white mushroom
— sanjuktaa
Unlike the mushroom
A snail moves to the shadows
In a forest glade
— P. Allen
(Photo: Melissa Allen)
fog rising –
mushrooms push aside
a bed of pine needles
(The Heron’s Nest VI:11, 2004)
– Curtis Dunlap, The Tobacco Road Poet
(Artwork: Rick Daddario, 19 Planets)
a tree falls
only the wood ear
listens
– Angie Werren, feathers
dry season
the earth not breaking
for the mushroom
– Mike Montreuil
(Photo: Jay Otto)
boiling herbs—
the mushrooms we gathered
darkening
warm cabbage
mushrooms—only wind
at the door
– Penny Harter, Penny Harter homepage, A Poet’s Alphabestiary, Etc.
sudden storm
the mushrooms’ umbrellas
overflowing on the grill
— Tzetzka Ilieva
moonshine
a fairy circle lights
the pine forest
— Margaret Dornaus, Haiku-Doodle
fairy rings
wishing for the rain
to stop
— Christina Nguyen, A wish for the sky…
(Photo: Jay Otto)
Sticking on the mushroom,
The leaf
Of some unknown tree.
— Basho, translated by R.H. Blyth
(Now that you have read this, it is very important that you watch this YouTube video of John Cage discussing this haiku.)
Mushroom-hunting;
Raising my head,–
The moon over the peak.
— Buson, translated by R.H. Blyth
one by one
ignored by people…
mushrooms
– Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue
My voice
Becomes the wind;
Mushroom-hunting.
— Shiki, translated by R.H. Blyth
pine mushrooms
live a thousand years
in one autumn
— Den Sutejo (1633-1698), translated by Makoto Ueda
(Artwork: Rick Daddario, 19 Planets)
mushroom garden-
in the damp,dark corner
full moon
magic mushrooms—
under the duvet I find
stars
dark cloud–
from the primordium
a billowing mushroom
— Stella Pierides, Stella Pierides
(Photo: Jay Otto)
a million puffball spores
dance across my map
– Norman Darlington
First published in Albatross (2007) as a verse of the Triparshva renku ‘A Bowl of Oranges’
garden in shade and fog
mushrooms grow
where something dies damp
— Jim (Sully) Sullivan, haiku and commentary and tales
to a mushroom:
wish i were
a toad
overnight rain–
and your head expands
into a mushroom
— Alegria Imperial, jornales
– Terri L. and Raymond French, The Mulling Muse, first published in Haiga Online Family Haiga Challenge, issue 11-2
asphalt and concrete
but I know a place near here
that smells like mushrooms
— @jmrowland
in this heat
hunting for mushrooms
with help
— Steve Mitchell, Heed Not Steve
high noon -
seeking shelter under the mushroom
its shadow
— Kat Creighton
(Photo: Jay Otto)
sunrise service;
blue meanies
at the potluck
– Johnny Baranski
Fearless mushroom
uppercuts
snarling hyena.
— Robert Mullen, Golden Giraffes Riding Scarlet Flamingos Through the Desert of Forever
roadside stand
the chanterelle seller’s
orange crocs
— Polona Oblak, Crows and Daisies
(Photo: Jay Otto)
The following three haiku are from Penny Harter’s chapbook The Monkey’s Face, published by From Here Press in 1987.
just missing
the mushrooms
among stones
– Penny Harter, from the sequence “After the Hike”
counting mushrooms
in my basket—
numb fingers
– Penny Harter, from the sequence “Snow Finished”
under the mushrooms
the bones of
a field mouse
– Penny Harter, from the sequence “Home Village”
Penny Harter homepage, A Poet’s Alphabestiary, Etc.
(Artwork: Rick Daddario, 19 Planets)
winter cemetery:
careful to tread between
the headstones
& these small clusters
of white mushrooms
— Kirsten Cliff, Swimming in Lines of Haiku
in the shadows
the child stomping mushrooms
smiles
– Penny Harter, revised version of a haiku from The Monkey’s Face (cited above)
crushing the year’s
first mushroom…
the laughing child
– Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue
A word of explanation here: Penny wrote (or rewrote) her haiku above as a kind of experiment in response to my mushroom challenge — the original featured a child “squashing insects” rather than “stomping mushrooms.” She had no knowledge of the Issa haiku until I discovered it shortly after receiving her haiku and showed it to her. As Penny says, “It is both a fun coincidence—and a bit eerie, but then I’m used to eerie coincidences.”
(Photo: Jay Otto)
After the rain
they come out
parasol shrooms.
A circle of toadstools-
what’s left to do
but dance?
Eating his lunch
on a tombstone
mushroom hunter.
No mushrooms there
the hunter gives the log
another good kick.
– Alexis Rotella, Alexis Rotella’s Blog
(Photo: Melissa Allen. Artwork: Kimberly Sherrod.)
first mushrooms
the children steal
each other’s hats
after crashing into the rocks strange and beautiful mushrooms
mushrooms the flesh of rain
– Melissa Allen
(Photo: Jay Otto)
mushrooms
the door
ajar
– Terry O’Connor
June 8, 2011
(first frost)
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Melissa Allen, haiku; Jay Otto, photography
Notes from the Gean 3:1, June 2011
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