Summer Haikus VERIFIED
Our own staff got in the mix too. Morning Edition's Rachel Martin said summer reminds her of catching lightning bugs. NPR's resident poet, Kwame Alexander, said summer reminds him of playing stickball.
Summer Haikus
The summer holidays are almost here! For this week's Home School, we want to celebrate the season by inviting you to write your own summer haiku poem inspired by artworks on the Art UK website as in the following example:
In my own writing practice, I have often used haiku in collaborative art projects, such as the following weaving created by fibre artist Frieda Strachan which features a summer haiku in North East Scots (Doric):
Have a go at creating your own summer-inspired haiku by searching the artworks on the site with a keyword such as 'summer' or something that reminds you of this season, i.e. 'ice cream', 'beach' or 'sunglasses'.
In the summer of 1694, Matsuo Basho was 50 years old. He left Edo for the last time, spending time in Ueno, his birthplace, and then Kyoto, where he spent time as a student, before going to nearby Otsu by Lake Biwa.
Kasa (笠) hat. Haori (はおり), a thigh-length jacket with short sleeves, generally used for cold evenings. Basho describes it as a summer (natsu, 夏) garment, suggesting that the season is changing.
In Chinese and Japanese lore, cicadas are high status creatures one seeks to emulate. They are considered pure because they subsist on dew and sap. Lofty because of they perch in trees. In summer, their call is loud and long.
Poets, authors, and painters, all come to Matsushima to take in its loveliness, to try and capture the feeling. The site they come to see are the hundreds of islands, like shattered shards of a mirror in the sparkling summer water. Each island covered in pine trees.
Students in Rachel Scanlon's seventh grade class at Hudson's JFK Middle School have been learning about various types of poetry. For a recent project they commemorated the past summer through Haikus, a Japanese form of poetry that includes three lines, with five, seven and five syllables.
More than 100 contestants (38 children, 28 teenagers, and 43 adults) answered that question during the summer of 2010, describing their favorite outdoor and indoor locations for summer reading. Written entries ranged from three words to three pages. Original artwork and photographs were also submitted.
Your little one will sleep tight during the summer naps thanks to the Treasure summer blanket made of organic cotton double muslin. Its dreamy tones and elegant pompoms are your best allies so your baby can sleep in total peace.
But how do you know what image goes with what season? There are tons of kigo, so even professionals need some help. All kigo are formally recorded in a saijiki 歳時記さいじき, a book used by haiku writers to find the right seasonal word they want to use. These anthologies are often divided into five seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter, and New Year.
Spring is the season of new beginnings. The New Year has passed and plants and animals awaken to fill the world with noise, color, and smells. The days are still hazy, especially in early spring, but we haven't yet hit the oppressive summer heat.
Insects make appearances in summer haiku as well, and not just fireflies and cicadas either. Mosquitoes, fleas, and lice are all featured. It's common for haiku to treat insects with Buddha-like compassion rather than the annoyance that many of us feel.
SpringBarefoot child on rockstretches, touches dogwood bloom,linking stone to star.SummerSolar heat grows strong,roadside daisies flare and dance -suddenly summer!AutumnMountains wear rainbowspainted by October's brush.November joins the joy.WinterKing sun, needing rest,wraps himself in ermine robesand dreams a new spring.