Haiku, Haiga… agus scéalta eile

Happy St Patrick’s day.  Scroll down for the English text…

 

Ceol Fuiseoige

idir neamh agus caorán

déan gairdeas a stóirín

 

Chualas an lon dubh

i nduibhe na h-oíche

cumha i do dhiaidh

 

Aisteach go leor, scríobh mé roinnt dánta le déanaí.  Bhí mé ag freastail ar chúrsa filíochta leis an bhfile Amanda Bell agus chinn mé ar triail a bhaint as.

Níl sé éasca – ach tugann sé tuiscint níos fearr duit ar saothar na bhfilí nuair a bhíonn tú ag sracadh leis tú féin. Is i mBéarla a bhí na dánta ón gcúrsa agus tá ceann amháin díobh le feiscint thíos.  Scríobh mé cúpla Haiku freisin (thuas) agus bhí mé níos sástaí leo seo – agus ansin thosaigh mé ar na Haiga. (Sin dán agus pictiúr le chéile, cosúil leis na fáinleoga thíos)

Ach measaim anois go bhfágfaidh mé an fhilíocht ag na filí.  Nach bhfuil go leor filí iontacha againn in Éirinn!

 

The Vase   (after “Home is so Sad” by Philip Larkin)

 

We sat at the top of the stairs,

I had a grown-up football

but I think I let it go.

We watched

in awe

as it bounced higher and higher

down towards the hall below.

 

One step, two steps, four steps, TEN!

 

It barely touched the vase.

Somehow

Granny’s precious heirloom

rolled off the table

and fell in slow motion to the floor.

 

Consternation

 

We tried to fix that vase

with ‘UHU, don’t say Glue’

but it never was the same.

It leaked

and you could see the jagged cracks.

 

If I had it now,

I would try to make it better

with Superglue,

I would carefully, tenderly

choose the pieces and find the closest fit

and then hold them together

until the bond was set.

 

Yes, I was trying to write some poems recently.  It was during an online poetry appreciation course that I was taking, a wonderful course presented by the poet Amanda Bell.

I was quite taken with the Japanese Haiku form of poem, and also with the Haiga.  Traditionally Haiga were painted by Haiku poets, an image and a poem together. They were simple yet profound observations of the everyday world, represented with a minimum of brushstrokes, “thus evoking elegance and beauty in their simplicity”.

Now, that’s what I’d like… How about you?

Amanda Bell

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiga

https://www.oliviercornetgallery.com/