Tag: haiku

Haibun: Cool Breeze

a black whippet playing with a ball on the beach

The crowds have left the beaches and a new calm returns. We are grateful the sand remains as pure and clean as we found it in our lockdown days. The rising sun takes the edge of the sharp wind that blows in from the North. As Eivor chases a yellow ball, we reflect how all that’s gone before has brought us to this moment.

new coolness
even in circles the path
remains a path

© Xenia Tran

close up of a black whippet with a yellow ball

Wishing you all a happy Monday and a wonderful new week,

with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/3.2 – 1/2000 s – ISO 100 and f/2.8 – 1/320 s – ISO 100.

Frank J Tassone’s Weekly Haikai Challenge #156: New Coolness

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #114: Negative Space

Friday Favorite: Between Heather and Grass

Laurie Graves shares a beautiful review of Between Heather and Grass on her blog Notes from the Hinterland, alongside music by Jon Batiste! Thank you so much for sharing this Laurie, we’re so happy you enjoyed our second collection! xxx

Notes From the Hinterland

I decided to change the title for my Friday posts. Formerly, it was What’s Making Me Happy, but I had borrowed this from the excellent podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, and I thought maybe it would be best to have something different. There is a fine line between admiration and plagiarism, and I didn’t want to cross it.

So now the title will be Friday Favorites, but the content will be the same as I list things that made me happy or caught my attention during the week. Often I list three things, but today there will only be one as it needs to stand by itself.

Long overdue to be featured on this blog is the very beautiful book, Between Heather and Grass: Poems and Photographs Filled with Love, Hope and Whippets. It was published by my blogging friend Xenia Tran, who has the lovely blogs

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World Haiku Series 2019 (199) Haiku by Xenia Tran

We are deeply honoured and delighted to share our haiku with haiku friends in the world and appreciate each other’s haiku as part of the World Haiku Series 2019, celebrating the 330th anniversary of Bashõ’s visit to Kisakata at the same time. A special thank you to Mr Hidenori Hiruta for his beautiful Japanese translations.

Akita International Haiku Network

World Haiku Series 2019 (199)

Haiku by Xenia Tran

blossom haze

spring is passing

before our eyes

– from Between Heather and Grass – Poems Filled with Love, Hope and Whippets by Xenia Tran (Nairn, UK: Holistic Linguistics, 2019)

花のもや

春が過ぎて行く

目の前で

light rain

around the buddha’s feet

a sea of diamonds

– published in EarthRise Rolling Haiku Collaboration 2019 (Winchester, VA: The Haiku Foundation, 2019)

小雨

仏の足の周り

ダイヤモンドの海

sea pinks

sunlight draws her colours

around the rocks

– published on Whippet Wisdom blog

海のピンク

日光が色を描く

岩の周りに

these colours

the new and ever never

gifts from the sea

– from Between Heather and Grass – Poems Filled with Love, Hope and Whippets by Xenia Tran (Nairn, UK: Holistic Linguistics, 2019)

これらの色

新しい、かつてない

海からの贈り物

empty salad bowl

too beautiful to eat

these flowers

– published on Tranature blog

空のサラダボウル

美しすぎて食べられない

これらの花を

stillness of trees

the wind picks up where she left

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Haiku: Changing Patterns

a black whippet running along the beach with a ball

healing the past
nature smooths the lines
of old defences

© Xenia Tran

two whippets on the beach beside the dunes

Wishing you all a happy Monday and a wonderful new week ahead,

with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ 200, Settings: f/2.8 – 1/1000 s – ISO 100 and f/2.8 1/1250 s – ISO 100.

Thursday’s Special: Pick a Word 2020 – 1st ed (Rift & Span)

Word of the Day Challenge: Pattern

Haiku: Morningtide

two whippets walking across tidal sands towards the sea

daybreak
a band of mist rises
into blue

© Xenia Tran

two whippets on tidal sands with exposed rocks and seaweed

Wishing you all a blessed Thursday and a peaceful rest of the week,

with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/4 – 1/800 s – ISO 100, f/5 – 1/500 s – ISO 100 and f/4.5 – 1/800 s – ISO 100.

Ronovan’s Weekly Haiku Challenge #321: Morrow & Surge (daybreak & rise)

Paula’s Thursday’s Special: Pick a Word 2020 – 1st ed (Estival)

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Bask

Haiku: Dreamcatcher

a blue and white whippet on the beach on a misty morning

dreamcatcher
our old telepathy
works again

© Xenia Tran

tidal outcrops in the firth with a cormorant drying its wings

Dreamcatcher was first published in Frameless Sky Issue 12, a poetry video journal featuring artwork by Hemapriya Chellappan, music by Corine Timmer and poems from more than fifty poets from all corners of the world. A very big thank you to Christine L Villa and Shloka Shankar for featuring my poem and putting this beautiful edition together.

Into the Warp and Woof, an anthology with a selection of contributions from the first ten issues of Frameless Sky, is now available in pdf and paperback format from Velvet Dusk Publishing.

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Canon Powershot SX60 HS, Settings: f/4.5 – 1/1000 s – ISO 100, f/4 – 1/1000 s – ISO 100 and f/5 – 1/1000 s – ISO 125.

Nurturing Thursday

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Connection

Haiku: Sandcastle

a blue and white whippet pausing in the dunes

sandcastle
old defences catch the sea
on a new day

© Xenia Tran

two crumbling WW2 defences with a sandcastle between them on the beach

Wishing you all a happy Monday and a wonderful new week,

with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Settings: f/2.8 – 1/640 s – ISO 100, f/4 – 1/800 s – ISO 100 and f/4.5 – 1/1000 s – ISO 100.

Friday Fun Challenge: Beach

Ronovan’s Weekly Haiku Challenge #320: Day & Flaw (Day & Catch)

Word of the Day Challenge: Accidental

Haiku: Trust

a blue and white whippet looking up at the trees on a forest trail

forest trail
the dogs meet and part
with their shadows

© Xenia Tran

close up image of large green ferns catching the sun

Wishing you all a happy Monday and a blessed new week ahead,

with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/2.8 – 1/500 s – ISO 160 and f/2.8 – 1/800 s – ISO 160.

Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge #109: Under the Sun

Word of the Day Challenge: Trust

Ronovan’s Weekly Haiku Challenge #318: Meet & Part

Haibun: A Star Follows

a black whippet walking through a tidal pool with a ball

The sea retreats as the sun rises, leaving ripples in sand and glittering water. It’s great to be back on the beach. Pearl runs after balls and catches them mid-air. Eivor walks more quietly and gazes past the headland. We both rest our eyes on the mountains and hear a gentle voice saying Stay, stay a little longer.

august moon
walking through tidal pools
a star follows

© Xenia Tran

a blue and white whippet running through a tidal pool with a ball

The above haiku is an echo poem to the closing haiku in A Message from the Stars, a tribute to our nephew Jamie Baker (1977-1986) that features in Between Heather and Grass.

Below is a trailer video for the book which includes this haiku, as well as a clip of Eivor and Pearl on the beach you see in the photographs above.

A special post will follow later this month about the money we have raised so far with the sale of the book.

We wish you all a happy Thursday and a wonderful rest of the week,

with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/2.8 – 1/2000 s – ISO 100.

Frank J Tassone’s Weekly Haikai Challenge #150: Sturgeon Moon

Sunday Stills: Beautiful Beaches

Jez Braithwaite’s Water Water Everywhere #39

dVerse Poets: Open Link Night #271

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Stars

Haiku: Fringe of the Forest

a blue and white whippet sniffing the roots of a pine tree

forest light
our mind soothed by green
and wild heather

© Xenia Tran

a view across the heather toward Mount Cairngorm

Wishing you all a very happy Monday and a wonderful week ahead,

with love from Eivor, Pearl and Xenia xxx

Photographs by Xenia Tran, edited in lr.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix FZ200, Settings: f/2.8 – 1/400 s – ISO 100.

Rag Tag Daily Prompt: Fringe

Ronovan’s Weekly Haiku Challenge #317: Eye & Light

Word of the Day Challenge: First