Saturday, October 09, 2004

Indian summer haiku

Indian summer
a spent salmon
washes ashore

w.f. owen
1st Place, Henderson Haiku Award, 2004

Indian summer
a fish slips through
the gill net

w.f. owen
3rd Place, Henderson Haiku Award, 2001

Indian summer
rust on our hands
from the swing

w.f. owen
3rd Place, Haiku Poets of Northern California Award, 2003

Indian summer is that period after a cool or cold period of weather in which there is unusual warmth. As I understand it, in Japanese haiku, it is referred to as "little spring." I especially like writing about Indian summer because it is a transitional time, a time in which new life or a "last fling" of activity is felt before hibernation. To me, the exciting times to write haiku are those of change, transition and life/death. It also is a time in which our mortality is experienced--the ebb and flow of life and death.

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