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Lillian here. Delighted to host Haibun Monday.

BEFORE I EXPLAIN THE PROMPT: TWO IMPORTANT NOTICES FOR ALL D’VERSE FOLK!

1.  Thursday’s OLN on June 25 will be hosted by Bjorn and will open for the first hour with LIVE VIDEO that you can participate in. Our chance to see and talk with each other. Promises to be fun!

2 After Thursday’s OLN, dVerse will take a 2 week summer break. We will reconvene on July 13th – which will also be the 8th anniversary of dVerse!

SO – NOW FOR TODAY’S HAIBUN PROMPT, which will take a bit of explaining, especially for those not from the U.S. and perhaps, for those not particularly familiar with sports.

Every March the U.S. experiences what is called March Madness. It has to do with collegiate basketball and a huge tournament that begins with the 64 highest ranked college basketball teams in the country. They are “seeded” by their records so if all  proceeded mathematically, the 4 best teams would be left in what is called the Final Four. College fans and basketball enthusiasts go “mad” as they watch these games and inevitably, some top-rated teams get upset, sometimes by a much lower rated team. The final two teams play for the Championship. Throughout the tournament, behind the scenes, media people have been filming and splicing together scenes of great joy and jubilation, cheering, mascots, great plays, etc into one film. At the last minute, they add clips from the final game. This film is then shown on national television at the end of the tournament. It’s the last thing you see as March Madness comes to an end and the final credits roll across your tv screen. That final film is called “One Shining Moment” and it’s what I look forward to every year. While none of us are college basketball players and March Madness was cancelled this year because of Covid-19,  I do think the words One Shining Moment are applicable to each of us. We’ve all had one or more “shining moments” in our lives. I’ve included a video below of the 2019 One Shining Moment film. Listen to the words…..even if you’re not into basketball.

So the prompt is to write about something that relates to One Shining Moment for you. It could be an achievement, something you worked really hard for, a particular scene in nature that was awe inspiring, an occurrence in your life etc. What do the words One Shining Moment relate to in your life?

AND —–  WE’RE GOING TO TRY OUR HAND AT A TRADITIONAL HAIBUN FOR THIS PROMPT!   See EXPLANATION BELOW – EVEN IF YOU’VE WRITTEN MANY HAIBUNS:

  • 1 to 3 PROSE PARAGRAPHS that must be a true accounting, not fiction, followed by a
  • Traditional haiku which means it MUST 
      • be nature based
      • be three lines (5 – 7 – 5 syllables OR short-long-short) 
      • have a direct or subtle relationship to the prose paragraphs: enrich the prose without condensing it 
      • include a KIGO (word or phrase associated with a particular season). See suggestions below in section on the SAIJIKI. 
      • (trickiest part for me) although only 3 lines in length, it must have two parts including a shift, an added insight. Japanese poets include a KIREJI (cutting word). BUT there’s no linguistic equivalent in the English language therefore punctuation creates the cut: a dash, comma, an ellipsis, an exclamation point. Sometimes it’s simply felt in the pacing or reading. 

Japanese poets often use a SAIJIKI – a book like a dictionary or almanac for KIGO. Divided into the 4 seasons, it includes categories within each: earth, humanity, observances, animals and plants. I found this VERY HELPFUL!  Here’s some examples:

SPRING KIGO:    Under Earth, warm (weather changes from cold to warm; water becomes warm); spring mist and spring haze. Under Animals: frogs (noted for singing); skylarks (in flight); swallows, ad twittering (singing of songbirds). Under Plants: blossoms, cherry blossom viewing, wildflowers. 

AUTUMN KIGO:    full moon. Under Humanity: scarecrow. Observances: grave visiting. Animals: crickets. Plants: apples, persimmons, colored leaves.

WINTER KIGO:    Humanity: snow viewing, first snow, ice. Plants: fallen and dried leaves. New Year: first laughter.

In other words, you may or may not actually use the words summer, spring, winter, or autumn.

EXAMPLES OF HAIKU with a Kigo and a Kireji (added insight after a cut)

The crow has flown away:
swaying in the evening sun
a leafless tree.            
            Natsume Soseki (186 –1916)

fresh snow on the mat –
the shape of welcome
still visible
           Michael Dylan Welch

Nightfall
too dark to read the page,
too cold.
          Jack Kerouac

Yuki Teikei Haiku Society’s Season Word List contains KIGO hints/words I found very helpful.

So here we go! Write a TRADITIONAL HAIKU about One Shining Moment in your life.

New to dVerse?  Need to be refreshed on the rules?

Here’s what to do:

  • Write about one of your shining moments, paying attention to the definition of a traditional Haibun given above: it should include a traditional haiku with a KIGO and a KIREJI.
  • Post the haibun to your blog AND add the exact URL for your poem to Mr. Linky below.
  • REMEMBER to either TAG dVerse in your post, or include a link at the end of your poem that leads readers back to dVerse (https://dversepoets.com).
  • If there is no Tag or link back to dVerse, I will gently remind you to add it or remove your post from Mr. Linky. Sorry to be so harsh…..but this is just part of the requirements AND it will bring you more readers and lead more folks to dVerse so they can participate as well!

Looking forward to reading about lots of shining moments!