WHCBEGINNERS EXERCISES
 

 A haiku written as 5-7-5: Our first exercise covered the 5-7-5 format and writing

muddied winter wool
hanging down from all the sheep
how clean the goats look

Isa Kocher, PS

We then tried to rewrite the same haiku freestyle,

all the time mournful
watchman of the graveyard—
the old pine trees

Anıl Engin, TR

pine trees—
mournful watchmen
of the graveyard

Anıl Engin, TR

and moved on to rewrite another person’s haiku freestyle.

Original:
 

sleeping through the heat
flying foxes wrapped in wings—
nomads in their tents

Kathy Earsman, NZ

flying foxes
wrapped in wings—
nomads

Kathy Earsman, NZ

flying foxes sleep
tented in their wings
nomads in the heat

John Daleiden, US

An’ya dropped in to fill a gap when the other mentors were unavailable with an exercise on settings/subject/verb:
 

fields
full of flowers and birds
buffeted by the breeze

Isa Kocher, PS

pin-up calendar—
my hand pauses above
the counter bell

Ami Shecter, US

Carole gave an exercise on Kigo, first, by introducing the class to a traditional online Japanese Saijiki, to which they then composed a haiku using a reference from the spring list of topics:
 

narrowing path—
a tuft of fur caught
in the brambles

Ami Shecter, US

We moved on to exploring seasonal references in their own countries and discussed the usefulness of a more world-wide saijiki and how we might contribute:

foreshore walk—
letting her granddaughter find
the first greenhood

Lorin Ford, AU

autumn leaf—
the unmoored boat
drifts seaward

Lorin Ford, AU

After this, a session on structure where we swapped first and last lines of original Japanese haiku and discussed whether this made any change to the whole concept...

...followed by DeVar’s excellent exercise on fragment/ phrase:

cloudy sky—
tattered election banners
swaying in the wind

Kamesh Rao, IN

Another topic we covered briefly, was the judicious use of devices such as alliteration, assonance and internal rhyme:

ocean waves
footprints wiped away
without trace

John Daleiden, US

on his black shirt—
three buttons and
a bellybutton

Kamesh Rao, IN

As usual, we concluded with a kukai, and the winners were
(now where did I put that envelope…???):

Ahh yes...click here to open the kukai winners envelope!

 

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