Kingston Lacy Haiku

Yesterday I went to a ‘Haiku and other Short Poetry’ Workshop at Kingston Lacy, a National Trust property.

First warm-up exercise:

We played a Haiku ‘consequences’ type of game:

We were each asked to write the first line of a Haiku – five syllables, with a theme of Spring. Then fold the paper over and pass it round.

Then the second line with 7 syllables, fold over and pass it on

Then the third with 5 syllables, fold over and pass it on. The words in pink are the ones I wrote.

And then we read them out:

Bluebells under trees

Spring has sprung out of the soil

Holding the moment

*

Petals underfoot

Deeply inhale the blue scent

The trees are alive

*

Morning has broken

Stepping softly in the silence

Trip over with joy

 

It was fun to co-create and felt pressure free with only one line to write at a time.

I get such a buzz out of creating something with others, whether it is a design with my grandchildren or a Haiku or a Renga

 

 

Later we talked about flipping the first and the last lines to see if this would be an improvement, e.g.:

The trees are alive

Deeply inhale the blue scent

Petals underfoot

*

Holding the moment

Spring has sprung out of the soil

Bluebells under trees

*

And then used our own lines and flipping the first and last:

Trip over with joy

Deeply inhale the blue scent

Bluebells under trees

This seems like a fun way to play around with a Haiku to look for different emphasis and sometimes it seemed to create more poetic strength – I’m definitely going to try this one out in the Haiku challenges.

It was a fun workshop, I really enjoyed it, and then I had a wander around the house and gardens.

I’m just a teeny bit obsessed with bluebells at present. I bet you got that!

I love them for their fleeting beauty, their subtle yet heady scent and the way they mark the beginning of my most favourite time of the year, when all the Spring flowers burst forth in a soft fluffiness of colour.

 

A bluebell doodle

And they remind me of a bluebell time when love was in the air – oh that heady feeling, remembered each time I walk in woods carpeted in a soft purple-blue haze.

lying in bluebells

mirroring clear skies above

on high forever

*

Latin name for Bluebell: Hyacinthoides – that’s 5 syllables, the first line of a Haiku right there! Or maybe a better last line?

Trip over with joy

Deeply inhale the blue scent

Hyacinthoides

“Hyacinthoides non-scripta: The Bluebell’s Latin name, Hyacinthoides, comes from a Greek myth: when the Prince Hyacinthus died, the tears of the god Apollo spelled the word ‘alas’ on the petals of the hyacinth flower that sprang up from his blood. Non-scripta means unlettered and distinguishes this bluebell from the similar-looking hyacinth.” (from the Scottish Wildlife Trust site)

Does the scent of a Spring flower bring back happy memories for you?