Tag: haiku

Haiku (semi) Final

Pound’s Haiku
12 : 5 width ratio
5, 7, 5 meter scheme
5, 7, 5 meter scheme, alternate take
The apparition of these faces in the crowd; petals on a wet, black bough.

Here are some of the images from my final submission on the Pound haiku. These are the ones where I tried to illustrate the poem fairly literally:

  • The first one has 2 pictures that have a ratio of 12: 5 in width (like the 12 and 5 syllables in the 2 lines of the haiku.
  • The next 2 images go for a more classical 5, 7, 5 syllabic layout of images of the faces in the crowd and the petals on a wet black bough.
  • And the final image superimposes the apparition of the faces in the crowd over the petals on a wet black bough.

Click any image to see them all enlarged on the screen. I also submitted a bunch of other images that have already been shown here.

Still point of the turning world

In thinking about the haiku form (see last post) I have been considering Japanese calligraphy and images which have a very calligraphic look to them. I also think of various Buddhist concepts, like Eliot’s “still point of the turning world,” in the Four Quartets.

At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered. Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline. Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance, and there is only the dance.

Here is a Bashō (considered by many the greatest practitioner of the haiku form):

One way or another, I think the image selection above (most taken on a walk to Caesar’s Camp in north Farnham) all have a kind of calligraphic, still feeling to them. Click any image to see them all full-sized.

Petals on a wet, black bough

I continue to work on my haiku project. Finding ‘petals on wet, black boughs’ is proving difficult. Above, this week’s selection of ‘leaves on dark backgrounds.’ It is, after all, not necessary to be literal. I can call on poetic license, can I not? Click any image to see them all enlarged.

Here is Pound’s original haiku: