Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
Welcome at a new Carpe Diem Special. This month I am introducing a few of my haiku colleagues from The Netherlands and today I love to introduce Mariëtte Schrijver to you. Mariëtte started recently with creating haiku and senryu and, as I may believe her words, she was immediately caught and addicted to this wonderful little poem from the Far East. I can imagine that feeling, because I had the same feeling as I started creating haiku back in the eighties.
I encountered Mariëtte on the Facebook page "Haiku het jaar rond" (A whole year of haiku) where the goal is to create haiku following the real season of time, so the haiku now are themed autumn. As I read one of her first haiku published on that FB-page I was immediately caught by her way of writing haiku. Very nice scenery and close to the beauty of nature. Mariëtte follows the strict syllables count of haiku and I think that's very strong for someone who just has started to create haiku. It also follows what we learned from Jane Reichhold. Jane told us: "When you start to write haiku follow the rules, but when you are a haiku poet for a longer period and have mastered the form then try to create your haiku in your own special way, without counting syllables. Than try to follow the fragment and phrase in your haiku".
As you all know I am not that "brave" in my haiku according to the strict rules, it's (so to say) not my "cup of tea", but sometimes its awesome to try to create haiku the classical way.
Here are a few haiku by Mariëtte Schrijver, I have tried to translate her haiku doing justice to the Dutch Original:
het dovende licht
laat laatste bloemen zingen
over de velden
the dying light
lets the last flowers sing
over the fields
© Mariëtte Schrijver (Tr. Chèvrefeuille)
The above haiku she wrote as "caption" for this photo (© photo Mariëtte Schrijver) and I think it fits wonderful.
Another nice haiku written by her is the following:
de herfst haast zich voort
boom en wolken versmelten
met de grashalmen
autumn rushes
tree and clouds become one
with blades of grass
© Mariëtte Schrijver (Tr. Chèvrefeuille)
As I was preparing this episode I ran through a lot of haiku written by Mariëtte, but not all her haiku are haiku I think, several of them are more senryu. Here is an example of a senryu written by Mariëtte (this one was already in English, so no translation needed). With this senryu came a beautiful photo by Mariëtte herself, it is made with IPhone-Art, this means the photo and the adjustments are made with the IPhone:
just a bit small talk
between the boy and a bird
nothing matters now
© Mariëtte Schrijver
As you have noticed this senryu follows the 5-7-5 rule in a great way. I hope you did like this introduction to the haiku and senryu by my fellow Dutchman Mariëtte Schrijver. I think she is very gifted and has found her own wonderful style of writing haiku (and senryu).
This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until November 26th at noon (CET). Have fun!
I really like these haiku from Mariëtte, thank you so much for introducing her to us! I would translate the first haiku with two minor changes:
ReplyDeletethe dying light
lets the last flowers sing
over the fields.