“If you love riddles and puzzles, we are sure you would love the fun of fitting a haiku together” says the introduction to My Haiku Moments: An Activity Book for Young Haiku Lovers, one of an an imaginitive pair of small, square books by Kala Ramesh and illustrated by Surabhi Singh (Katha, 2010). The other is called simply Haiku and while the Activity Book is a conventionally formatted booklet, Haiku is anything but! Opening Haiku for the first time and you are presented almost literally with a cascade of color as you gradually find a fold that opens flat, to reveal one of several large square areas filled with an abstract flow of lines and color – and poetry. Close it up, and then open it again and you find yourself on a different “page”. Specifics emerge from Singh’s gorgeous swirls to reflect some aspect of the haiku scattered throughout – and there’s humorous bathos too – one string of lines, on closer inspection, reveals an electricity pylon; and one of the haiku ends with “bird droppings”. Indeed, the haiku themselves offer plenty to capture young poets’ imaginations, making them fly, but always from a familiar starting place, such as:

kite contest
the rise and fall
of ohs and ahs

The activity book takes you through the formula of creating a haiku and gives interesting background snippets. I learned for the first time, for example, that hai means humor and ku means poem. I also learned that haiku never have a title – so we’ll know better next time… There is no insistence on fitting your haiku into the 17 syllable pattern, although there are “tips” to make it work: the emphasis is on having fun and creating poems that give an interesting slant on reality. There’s a “Word Dance” page and then, at the end, a broadening of the already wide haiku horizons with “Meet Haiga, Haiku’s sister”.

Haiku and Haiku Moments make a delightful pair and I’m sure that those who follow its path into creating haiku will also be inspired to try out a bit of interesting presentation. If you’re looking for a creative activity for your kids this summer (or winter), look no further.

Elaine is hosting Poetry Friday today over at Wild Rose Reader… let’s head on over.

 Speaking from my current abode here in Japan, I’d like to introduce a short bilingual book of haiku I discovered recently at my local picture book library.  Haiku no Ehon or A Picture Book of Haiku by Toshio Suzuki (Rin Rin Kikaku, 1993)  is a wonderful book of haiku by well known poets Basho, Buson, Issa, Kyoshi and Kyorai.  The illustrations of the poems are quite stunning — traditional images done in sumi-e ink with some very colorful embellishments.  The book was produced post-humously; Suzuki was suffering with cancer when he worked on the paintings done for this book.  Suzuki belonged to a group of painters who are referred to as ‘juvenile painters.’  Juvenile painting is a kind of illustration done for childrens’ stories and songs.  Suzuki challenged himself as a juvenile painter by trying to illustrate classically known haiku in a way that he felt would be accessible to children.  I think he succeeded admirably!  

And speaking of Japanese poets, fellow PT blog contributor Corinne, sent me this link to a post with video by Sylvia Vardell on her blog, Poetry for Children, about a recent poetry book by Tanikawa Shuntaro whose work I wrote about a while back for Poetry Friday for PaperTigers.  Check it out!

Andromeda is hosting today’s Poetry Friday at A Wrung Sponge – head on over…

For today’s Poetry Friday, in the midst of Poetry Month in the US and Canada, I’d like to share with you an unexpected delve into poetry I shared with Little Brother last week, following an observation he made during a regular walk with the dog. We were out in local woods, which are a carpet of wood anemones at this time of year, when he suddenly stopped and said, “It’s like walking in the sky.” I suggested he hold onto the thought and use it to create a haiku…

Later, back home, Little Brother told me all about the haiku writing in The Way of the Dragon, the third in Chris Bradford‘s Young Samurai series (Puffin Books, 2010), of which he is a huge fan. We found the book and read the relevant section together – and I appreciated how Bradford draws his young and I imagine mostly male readers towards the poetic form through humor as well as cultural inference. We then touched on Basho, and I suggested he take a look at Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho by Dawnine Spivak and illustrated by Demi (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1997); read Sally’s post about this wonderful book. He’s a big fan of Demi’s books too so he soon had it off the shelves and was engrossed… and having read it from cover to cover, literally, he then moved on to the titles mentioned in Demi’s biographical notes. Much later, our thoughts returned to our walk and our own haiku. I was definitely upstaged – here’s what Little Brother came up with:

Wood Anemones

Walk among the stars
Treading on the vast green slopes
Then the world flips round

This week’s Poetry Friday is hosted by “haiku nut” Diane Mayr at Random Noodling – head on over.

I have so often enjoyed reading original poems as part of Poetry Friday so I know this will be of interest to many of you. And do let us know if your haiku make their way into this exciting project.

Poets are asked to submit your Haiku inspired by Japan’s ‘sense of place’: inherent/special aspects of Japan. Works do not need to reference the tsunami. The haiku selected which will be used as the basis for a series of art events in Japan to support Japanese rebuilding and humanitarian efforts following the earthquake and tsunami.

All the proceeds from the sale of art cards inspired by the poems and the admissions to the events will go towards Give2Asia’s Artists Help Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Fund

WHAT: A series of art + Haiku events to support Japanese rebuilding and humanitarian efforts.
WHERE: In art galleries throughout Japan
WHEN: October and November, 2011
WHO: I’m an interdisciplinary artist based in San Francisco.
More info on me can be found here:
www.movinginplace.net/lauriehalseybrown
www.senseofplaceLAB.com

DETAILS: Poets are asked to submit Haiku’s that are inspired by Japan’s ‘sense of place’: inherent/special aspects of Japan. Works do not need to reference the tsunami. I will use (more…)

Although it’s February and feels like winter — at least in my part of the country — February actually  marks the beginning of spring in many East Asian countries.  The Asian calendar is particularly sensitive to changes of season.  When I think of writing about the seasons in poetry, the first form that comes to mind is the haiku and the most famous practitioner of its art, Basho.

Grass Sandals: The Travels of Basho by Dawnine Spivak, illustrated by Demi, is a delightful picture book that captures the essence of the wandering poet for children.   In it, Basho is featured as a character embarking on a journey.  Upon his hat, he writes: “Hat, I will soon show you cherry blossoms” and sets off.    Of course, Basho has his adventures — not of the swash-buckling kind, mind you — and he records them in haiku.  He wades in rivers, sits under ancient trees, sleeps on grass pillows, and swims in the ocean.  This meandering but mindful wandering is presented on each page with images, haikus, and Chinese characters — kanji, as they are known in Japanese — for the most salient natural element presented in the poem.  So in addition to being a good book about a famous historical figure, Grass Sandals teaches a little bit of kanji as well!

Illustrator Demi has drawn wonderful images of the traveling Basho on a background of washi — Japanese paper — to great effect.  (You can see more of Demi’s artwork in the PaperTigers gallery.) The genial nature of the poet is well reflected in his expressions.  Grass Sandals is a good introduction to the poet and the form, and a lovely Asian way of welcoming in a season that might not otherwise feel like spring at all!

This week’s Poetry Friday host is Irene Latham at Live. Love. Explore. – head on over!