The Solitary Daisy – Issue 36

Sunflower

Michele’s Musings

Hello and welcome officially to autumn! This is my favourite season – bring it on with the sweaters, fall colours and pumpkin spice. I was recently working on a project to put all my haiku into their appropriate seasons instead of one long, random list and it seems that writing haiku with autumn season words are also by far my favourite! What about you? Do you gravitate to one particular season either in general or in your writing?
 
I received a couple of great responses to my question about writing haiku while travelling. I’m including them both here in full. Thanks, Ceó and Oliver!
 

 
Hi Michele, and welcome to the Island! Will you get to see the salmon swimming up the rivers?
When I travel I bring a small (around 3.5 x 5.5”) notebook that fits in a pocket easily. You can get them cheaply at bargain stores or department stores in various colours and patterns, or plain. Or you can invest in fancier ones to enhance your writing relationship, making writing a special occasion.
I bring them on hikes and even just going into town for groceries (you never know when inspiration will strike). Most of them are lined, but I like the ones with blank pages so that I can sketch also.
I jot down anything that inspires me. Sometimes this becomes a poem, other times its material I can’t use. Most often, it is material I can prune and polish up to use later. In the back I write down words that I like the sound of or that are new to me (ululations, etc.) You never know when you might need a fresh word J
This morning I saw the salmon jumping while the Great Blue Heron’s back was turned. Hopefully I can capture some good words from that. I’m new to haiku and enjoying The Solitary Daisy.
Have fun at the beach!
Ceó
 

 
Hi Michelle,
My haiku travel tip is to have a field notebook or other tiny notebook in one’s pocket, backpack, or luggage. I recently walked the end route of the Camino Portugues and managed almost-daily haiku this way. My other trick was to make a point of writing haiku whenever I stopped for tea or a snack. Lastly, if I saw something beautiful, I would try to write a haiku instead of taking a picture.
I hope your upcoming travel goes as smoothly as possible.
Best,
Oliver
 

 
We did see the salmon spawning on Vancouver Island – so beautiful! It was a wonderful trip with lots of time for rest (and writing) built in. Thanks again to you both for your great answers!
Hope you all can take some time to soak in the season! Happy Autumn!

Isabella’s Insights

Not really a new column, but a brilliant letter from Isabella Mori to her non-haiku friends. Reprinted with permission.

In case my non-haiku friends are interested in what is a haiku, here are a few words. First of all, I’m talking about what we might call literary haiku. If people enjoy writing little 3-line ditties of 5/7/5, that’s totally fine (but it’s not my thing). This is about the type of haiku you’ll find in a well-respected haiku journal. And when I talk about haiku, for simplicity sake, I also talk about senryu.

Here’s a great example by Carole MacRury:

antique shop –
a carved elephant’s
missing tooth

Typically, these are the bare bones of what you’ll find (and there are tons of exceptions written by people who have studied these guidelines, understand the spirit behind them, and experiment with disregarding some of them):

• about a concrete moment/impression/thing
• three lines or one line (“monostich”)
• 17 syllables or less (very few English haiku poets adhere to 5-7-5)
• written in the present
• grammatically incomplete
• in two parts (see examples above and below)
• there will be a connection between the two parts. It might take some thinking to understand the connection but the parts will not be totally disconnected

Literary haiku/senryu can contain or allude to philosophical musings but there will always be a specific/concrete aspect to it. E.g. you might have something like

love and marriage –
I’m eating from my ex’s
TV tray

But wouldn’t see

love and marriage –
an ex should never
become a friend

Or

love and marriage –
the wheels
on my office chair

Member News

First, let us apologise to Sandra St. Laurent. In our last issue, we incorrectly credited the video, Chasing Sunlight which was created by Sandra St. Laurent. Our apologies! It’s a gorgeous video, and if you haven’t checked it out yet, please follow the link.

Morag Elizabeth Humble had two haiku selected for Haiku Girl Summer, and one for Kokako. She generously shared them with us:

sun-soaked lake
diamonds sparkle out of reach
of my fishing line

peak Perseids
on my back in the campsite
many wishes 

and for Kokako –

tendrils of morning
shrouding the shore
a loon laughs

Congratulations, Morag!
 
The following haiku by Kelly Sargent first appeared in Modern Haiku, reprinted on Charlotte Digregorio’s blog:

wedding day sky
I borrow
something blue

Kelly has been busy! She will be the new co-editor for Femku Mag. Submissions are now open. Additionally, one of her haiku was featured as the Haiku of the Day by the Haiku Foundation.

first day of kindergarten
the reach
of pumpkin tendrils

And this haiku received an honourable mention from the Haiku Society of America Haiku Award in Memorial of Harold D. Henderson.

receiving my sign name—
a painted lady
brushes my cheek

Congratulations to the following members who made the long list of the Haiku Foundations Haiku Dialogue – Looking Out Into Our World.

• Jerome Berglund
• Paul Callus
• Tracy Davidson
• Kelly Sargent
• Monica Kakkar
• Maya Daneva
• Julie Bloss Kelsey
• C.X. Turner
• Valentina Ranaldi-Adams
• Nitu Yumnam
• Madeline Kavanagh

If we missed anyone, it’s probably because we haven’t met yet! Drop us a line, introduce yourself, and say hello!
 
Michele Rule had three haiku selected for Femku Mag.
 
Sally Quon had one haiku chosen for the autumn issue of First Frost.

Sally’s Notebook

Autumn is the season of change, when we begin to fold into ourselves, practice hygge, and take time to learn new things. Opportunities abound, and it is my hope you take advantage of all of them!

Michele, Frithjof, Pam, and I recently visited a sacred site – Spotted Lake. I promise you there will be photos and haiku to come, but I’m a little under the weather this week, so I will have to put it off until our next issue. Getting old is not for the faint of heart!

I’m looking forward to several things over the next week. First, a visit from kj munro to talk about haiku and more. kj is turning over the reins, and I will be stepping in as Membership Secretary for Haiku Canada. I’m super nervous, but I know kj has my back!

On Wednesday, Michele and I resume our Writing Circle for the Federation of BC Writers – All Things Haiku.

Next up, on the weekend, we’ll be travelling to the Wine Country Writers Festival to partake in panels, workshops, and more. Michele and I will both be receiving awards for our entries in their annual poetry contest.

Hopefully, we will arrive home in time to attend the Vancouver Haiku Group on zoom.

Whew! I’m getting tired just thinking about it.

Upcoming Deadlines and Other Fun Stuff

Failed Haiku is open for submissions of senryu until September 25.

Here is something new and unusual – the Roll, ‘Bama, Roll Haiku Contest is open. Get your haiku in soon, as voting has already begun!

For our members in Australia, don’t forget to submit to Catchment – Poetry of Place, Third Edition, open until November 21.

Those of you residing in the Philippines, there is a call for submissions for a Filipino Haiku and Senryu Anthology. The deadline for this is December 31.

Akitsu-Quarterly is something to check out. Print journal only.

September 30 is the deadline for the Autumn issue of The Wales Haiku Journal.

Get your one-line haiku and senryu ready! Whiptail Journal is open for one week only, October 1-7.

October 31 is the deadline for the San Francisco International Haiku/Senryu/Tanka contest.

Many thanks to the members who submitted some of these locations for us to share!

This Week’s Prompt

According to Season Words by Mark S., this week is the micro-season of “Swallows Leave.”

For this week, write a haiku referring to the departure of a bird specific to your area. Send your haiku to sally_quon@yahoo.com or kelownalady@hotmail.com.

As always, we welcome all communication, news, stories, adventures in haiku, or anything else you’d like to contribute.

“The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be
aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.”

-Henry Miller

Michele Rule

Michele Rule is a disabled writer from Kelowna BC. She is especially interested in the topics of chronic illness, relationships and nature. Michele is published in the Asahi Shimbun Haikuist, Pine Cone Review, the Enchanted Garden, Five Minute Lit, Shadow Pond, WordCityLit, and the anthologies F*ck the Patriarchy, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and To Live Here, among others. She is an associate member of the League of Canadian Poets and Haiku Canada. Michele has been awarded honourable mention twice for the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational and also for the Haiku Northwest Porad Award. Her first chapbook is Around the World in Fifteen Haiku. Michele lives in a beautiful garden surrounded by people who love her just the way she is.

michelerule.ca/

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Sally Quon( Writer / Poet )

Sally Quon is a disabled poet and photographer living in the Okanagan Valley of beautiful British Columbia, Canada. She is an associate member of The League of Canadian Poets and a member of Haiku Canada. Her work has been published in numerous journals including The Heron’s Nest, Modern Haiku, Frogpond, First Frost, and Time Haiku. She is currently working on her first book of haiku, haibun, and haiga, tentatively titled, “My Valley, My Home.”

Featherstone Creative

featherstonecreative.wordpress.com/

• Ginko Walk at Munson Pond
• Maude Roxby Ginko
• Interview with Michael Dylan Welch