Carpe Diem Utabukuro #8
All of the poems in this part of A Waka Anthology volume one: The Gem-Glistening Cup “From the Embassy to Silla of 736” are anonymous.
(MYS XV:3602/3580)
~~~
If on your way
Where you lodge along the sea
The mist should rise,
Please know it is my breath
Sighed as I stand here waiting.
~~~
my attempt
On your journey
When you stay by the seaside
Be aware that my breath
Will be the surrounding mist
Exhaled as I long for you
from your garden
waiting with anticipation
moonflower blossoms
~~~
in the moonlight
a flower unfolds
her love
Carpe Diem Utabukuro #5 Origami frog
I have been looking into the difference between haiku and hokku. In modern times a haiku can be about any subject. Basically if I call my three line poem a haiku, its a haiku. Hokku on the other hand has standards. It must be about nature and the place of humans within that nature, Second, the verse must be set in one of the four seasons — spring, summer, fall, and winter. English hokku is written in three short lines, It should consist of a longer two line part and a shorter one line. The first letter of each line is capitalized and it should have fitting internal and ending punctuation.
A hokku by the Japanese writer Kikaku, translated into English:
Summer rain;
A woman sitting alone,
Gazing outside.
My try at one in the same spirit.
Snow and ice;
The apple tree laid low.
Inside I grieve.
Adas Poetry Alcove 