In myth and folklore, the violet is a symbol of purity, fidelity and modest beauty. But in haiku they are most often associated with a sense of wonder at the regenerative power of the Earth. Last month’s winning and honorable mention haiku celebrated the power of these simple flowers to awaken the heart in spring.
- Sari belongs to Grandstaff violets bloom alongside graffiti in an ‘abandoned’ space forgotten by the rest of the world.
- Valerie Rosenfeld experiencing the return of spring after months of feeling like the violet “never existed.”
- Benjamin Bläsi he finds radiant beauty in a wild corner of the city, where the violet “glitters in light and dew.”
Congratulations to everyone! To read more merit poems from past months, visit our Tricycle Haiku Challenge group on Facebook.
You can submit a haiku for the current challenge here.
Spring season Verb: Violet
WINNER:
abandoned drain pipe
except for the violet
and graffiti
“Chief Sári.”
Nature loves ruins. Whatever is created by human beings does not cease to exist if humans no longer have a use for it. Abandoned houses become homes for squirrels, raccoons or other creatures. When it rains, a downspout under a culvert keeps the ground moist for wildflowers, even though the road above it has been closed for years.
Abandoned spaces tend to evoke feelings such as “melancholic beauty” in haiku poetry, or “longing for the passing of time.” Buddhist readers see them as signs of impermanence. But these interpretations only scratch the surface of last month’s winning poem.
The poet who founded it International Haiku Poetry Day In 2007, he has been perfecting his craft for years. This can be seen not only in the restrained simplicity of his haikus, but also in the juxtaposition of the images.
A free verse poet might have stopped after the first twelve syllables, leaving us with a refreshing (if slightly sad) image of violets growing wild in a desolate urban or suburban setting. But then the poem could hardly be distinguished from the flat little nature portraits that regularly appear in magazines devoted to such haiku.
The spray-painted lines and colors of the graffiti restore the active human presence to the poem, giving it dimension and real emotion. They also provide a shift in thinking.
Graffiti is fundamentally anarchic – without any utility or productive purpose. In fact, it stands against them. Like the spring violet, the artist is attracted to empty, unused spaces – places left unguarded by the human world.
Is the painting a work of art or vandalism? The answer is not clear. But the return of man to a scene from which he has been absent for a long time raises deep questions in the 21st century, even if the poet did not answer them.
Is this what it feels like to win your heart back?
Is there value beyond productivity, purpose, or utility?
Who will we be when everything we’ve created is gone?
TRIBUTES:
a few months ago
as if they were violets
never existed
— Valerie Rosenfeld
city violet:
they shine in a wild corner
with sunshine and dew
-Benjamin Bläsi
◆
You can read about the word of the May season, as well as relevant haiku tips, in last month’s challenge below:
Spring Season Word: “Violet”
that this color
you would think its roots are deeper
common violet
Submit as many haiku as you like that contain the season word “violet”. Your poems should be written in three lines of 5, 7, or 5 syllables respectively, and should focus on a single moment that just happened.
Be clear in your description and try to limit the topic. Haiku are almost always better if they don’t have too many ideas or images. So focus on the soy of the season* and try to stay close to that.
* REMEMBER: To complete the challenge, the haiku must be 5-7-5 syllables long and contain the word “purple”.
Haiku tip: Join the great reality!
To master haiku is to live by these two basic conventions so fully that they become the chief imaginative pursuit of our lives. This means that we live, eat, breathe, sleep, work and eventually die by these conventions, using them to express every aspect of our experience.
The first convention of haiku, the fixed 5-7-5 syllable pattern, reminds us that all things are expressed through form. The wild rose has five petals. The heart has four chambers. The primary colors, three in number, together make up all the others. There is endless variety in nature, but it all fits into the larger pattern of the whole. Everything has a form.
With time and practice, the 5-7-5 syllable form penetrates so deeply into our consciousness that transforms with our consciousness, “giving us the mind to follow nature and return to nature,” which Basho claimed was the secret of all great art.
The second convention, the use of seasonal words, connects us to the wisdom of nature. Just as all beings exist within the limits set by their form, so all beings exist in relation to other beings because of time. Nothing is static. What goes up comes down. He eats what he eats.
For the haiku poet, the entire universe is constantly changing – forever dying and being reborn. Seasonal words anchor us in that Greater Reality, show us where we belong, and show us where to owe
There’s a lot more to say about learning haiku, but that’s the gist of it. Lasts a lifetime. Or many lifetimes. So it’s best to be patient and focus on the basics. The rest will come as it comes.
A word about that violet: First of all, violet has three syllables. They are said so quickly and so close together that the ear sometimes hears them as one. Violets bloom from March to June in most temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, but can also be found in Australia, New Zealand and the Andes. Tendon Haiku World: An International Almanac of PoetryWilliam J. Higginson notes that violets range in color from white to yellow to blue, but notes that “the word ‘violet’ always means one of the many blue or ‘violet-colored’ violets, unless otherwise specified.”
One of the most traditional signs of spring, the violet has an unusually broad symbolic meaning. Because they are small in size and grow close to the ground, they are often associated with humility, while their return each spring is associated with loyalty and faithfulness. They can also symbolize transformation, transcendence, tranquility, mourning, sacrifice or peace. Violets were used in love potions and sleeping pills, as well as in many perfumes. Since they are edible, they are often added to salads. Violets are a natural source of vitamins A and C.
