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Joan Daniels

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Letter

Here are some thoughts on Blithe Spirit 12.2.  Where do haiku come from? Is it an extra sense - a seventh sense? Poetic insight? Do our spirits leave us for a fleeting moment and become part of the experience?  All I know is that they do seem to just pop up: a couple of walks round my garden to see how new plants were doing produced these:-

   By the garden pond:
a frog leaps into sunlight
   goldfish plunge deeper

  

   Illuminating
a shady garden corner
   chinese lanterns


And then a memory, though not as far back as Eric Speight’s:-

Wedding day photo -
my daughter in white satin
champagne and tears

Haiku do seem to heal; they also help to overcome grief: I wrote the following after I had to have my 17 year old cat put down last year:-

   Autumn farewell -
my old cat leaves me
  for new hunting grounds

Meanwhile may I suggest the following as an alternative in Kate Hall’s ‘shopping list’ haiku:-

Easter holiday:
children’s voices in the park
crumpled daffodils

 

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