Therese,
Thanks for the kind words. I will try to continue to earn them!
In response to your questions . . .
You have made me go the to book case and get down the volume of R.H. Blythi’s HAIKU on “spring.” The seven categories of season words are:
The Season
Sky and Elements
Fields and Mountains
Gods and Buddhas
Human Affairs
Birds and Beasts
Trees and Flowers
Please note that there are season words for all of the seasons in each category. In this spring volume, he quotes haiku with the following seasonal expressions (in part):
The Season
spring begins
the spring day
tranquility
spring evening
Sky and Elements
frost
the spring moon
the spring breeze
spring rain
Fields and Mountains
remaining snow
the spring sea
Gods and Buddhas
the shrine of Ise
the Nirvana picture
Human Affairs
the dolls’ festival
kites
the ebb-tide shell gathering
tilling the field
closing the fireplace
Birds and Beasts
skylarks
cranes
horseflies
mud snails
cats in love
frogs
Trees and Flowers
camellias
plum blossoms
cherry blossoms
shepherd’s purse
violets
You might be interested to hear that about 20 years ago a Japanese poet named Yagi Kametaro made an informal survey of season words and reported that the largest group was “human affairs.” This ought to put to rest the idea that haiku are “about” nature.
Of course, many of the seasonal expressions used in Japanese haiku are not appropriate to our haiku, but some are. (“kite flying” for instance.) Contemporary English-language haiku try to avoid being imitative of Japanese haiku. On the other hand, we have much to learn of seasonal consciousness from them. If we were to make our own “Gods and Buddhas” list for spring, it would include such obvious things as Easter and Passover, Good Friday, etc. We had a great essay on Japanese seasonal consciousness in the last issue of Modern Haiku, but I am afraid it is not up on our website. But there is an essay on Korean-Japanese haiku which you might find interesting. (
http://www.modernhaiku.org/essays/Ko...neseHaiku.html)
As to the Aeolian harp, thanks for the update, but I actually did know what it was. If I must comment I guess I would say that I don’t see a close enough relationship between the images to find that they relate for me poetically. Not clear enough who is collecting seedpods or why, I guess, though I confess I might be missing something obvious. (Perhaps you could explain what you had in mind?) Also, I find the relationship of the first and second lines a bit awkward . . . think it might be better with “harp’s” and no punctuation at the end of the first line. Sorry not to have more positive to say about it.
Lee