The 129th WHA Haiga Contest, April 2015 (Ed.Kuniharu Shimizu)
http://tfship.net/haiga_contest/129/pravat_k_padhy_ind.html

Atoms of Haiku Published by Author's United, April 2015

budding flower--
I photographed her
tender smile

*****

falling leaves--

the frog jumps into

thin sound

*****

foggy morning--

the sun gently

warms up

*****

tender sunlight

the birds about

to lift the sky

*****

smooth landing

of the helicopter--

a kingfisher departs

*****

confused decision

the house-fly jumps from

one place to other

*****

school bell--

the kids rush to open

mothers love

*****

early dusk--

the wind curves towards

old window

*****

crowd-square

the talks collide

each other

*****

childhood steps

I remember my

ancient home

*****

gentle walk--

the sound bridges

the distance

*****

final chapter--

a few days for winter

to stay

*****

mannequin--

the butterfly chooses

the other way

*****

https://www.createspace.com/5448842

Pravat Kumar Padhy (India)

flori de cireş –
mireasma învăluie
râul lung

Tr. Olimpia Icoba
(Honourable Mention, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival, 2013)
Acolada, Nr. 7-8 julie-august 2014

http://www.editurapleiade.eu/images/static/files/7_8_2014.pdf

Special Feature: Atlas Poetica, April 2015

Myth & The Creative Imagination, Special Feature by Sonam Chhoki, Atlas Poetica. 22 April 2015 — Perryville, Maryland, USA

Atlas Poetica : A Journal of World Tanka announces the publication of a new special feature, ‘Myths and the Creative Imagination’ edited by Sonam Chhoki. “Twenty-five poets from around the world attest to the power of myths to open up the world of imagination. Some delve into the rich symbolism, others draw out the resonance that particular myths have for them, and still others interpret the theme of this special feature to explore their own personal myths.”—from the editor.
Visit http://atlaspoetica.org/?page_id=1382 to read for free.

Sample Poems:

how can I fault
the curious Pandora
for opening the jar—
I thought my face cream too
promised eternal youth

Margaret Chula, Portland, Oregon, USA

an ant
on this pilgrim path . . .
oh teach me, Santiago
the size of today
the strength of now

Carole Harrison, Jamberoo, Australia

from a ball of flesh
Queen Gandhari brings forth
her Kaurava clan . . .
science celebrates Louise Brown,
the first test-tube baby

Pravat Kumar Padhy, Odisha, India

the humming of the clock
fading now to silence
by your bedside
half a world away
a banshee prepares to sing

John Tehan, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA

Dido
cut an oxhide into strips . . .
the glorious city
of Carthage bloomed
in the Mediterranean Sea

Ali Znaidi, Tunisia

Contributors:
Jenny Ward Angyal, an’ya, Marjorie Buettner, Margaret Chula, Tish Davis, Sanford Goldstein, Autumn Noelle Hall, Carole Harrison, Elizabeth Howard, Marilyn Humbert, Gerry Jacobson, Chen-ou Liu, Gregory Longenecker, Vasile Maldovan, Joy McCall, Mike Montreuil, Pravat Kumar Padhy, Patricia Prime, Aruna Rao, Miriam Sagan, Debbie Strange, John Tehan, Laura Williams, Kath Abela Wilson, Ali Znaidi.

http://atlaspoetica.org/?p=1391

pebbles

on the table top —

story of river

***

Kieselsteine

auf der Tischplatte —

Flußgeschichte

***

Chrysanthemum-17, April 2015 (Managing Ed. Beate Conrad)

http://www.bregengemme.net/chrysanthemum/media/Chrysanthemum_17.pdf

Some of my poems from the collection of short-verses, “The Tiny Pebbles” have been translated into Rumanian by Olimpia Iacob and published in CONVORBIRI  LITERATURE , April 15 , 2015.

Pravat Kumar PADHY

S-a născut în Odisha, India. Este cercetător geolog şi poet. Scrie haiku, tanka şi haibun. Publică poezie  în revistele din străinătate: The World Haiku Review, Lynx, Four and Twenty,The Notes from the Gean, Chrysanthemum, Atlas Poetica, Simply Haiku, Red Lights, Ribbons, Lilliput Review, Under the Basho, The Heron’s Nest, Shamrock, A Hundred Gourds, Magnapoets, Bottle Rockets, Presence, Asahi Haikuist Network, The Mainichi News, Mu International, Acorn, Skylark, Frogpond, HSA „Haiku Wall” in Bend,Oregon, USA, The Bamboo Hut etc.

Poemele lui Pravat au fost publicate în antologii (Fire Pears 2; The Dance of the Peacock: An Anthology of English Poetry from India, published by Hidden Brook Press, Canada) şi în volume de autor (Songs of Love: A Celebration (Writers Workshop, Calcutta, India, 2012); The Tiny Pebbles (Ciberwit.net, India, 2011).

SIMBOL

Pe trupul meu

cicatricea

devine un simbol al identităţii.

Alţii se îmbracă,

acoperindu-şi  ruşinea interioară

cu veşminte exotice.

  

PENTRU O LUME MAI BUNĂ

Ne pretindem intelectuali

şi credem în lumea virtuală,

în calea de plastic a vieţii.

Creatorul

mai are o singură dorinţă:

progresul emoţional.

  

CANDOARE

Dorind să atingă

valurile bucuriei

sare aproape de capătul

nemărginirii.

Zîmbetul nevinovăţiei îi descoperă

tablourile cu urmele paşilor.

  

EGOISM PRETUTINDENI

Nimeni nu plînge cînd moare copacul,

cînd seacă răul,

nimeni să mîngîie.

Cînd fructele se scutură

nimeni nu le ridică.

Lumînarea se stinge

şi o înghite întunericul.

NEPUTINŢĂ

Cînd braţele tale albe

mă înlănţuie,

simt

cum sunt dus

dincolo de zarea

atingerii.

  

NEREUŞITĂ

Ne disecăm

jalnic

în numele

unui Dumnezeu indivizibil.

  

SĂMÎNŢA

Aşa mică cum e

tăinuie

grijulie

tăria

  

CONCENTRARE

Îmi  adunasem gîndurile toate

într-un punct,

şi punctul s-a făcut nevăzut.

Din cînd în cînd mai priveam  cu stăruinţă

şi până la urmă,

am devenit eu

punct.

ULTIMA  LUI  DORINŢĂ

Doreşte

să îi vadă pe toţi,

să rîdă şi să se veselească,

deşi este

nevăzător

din naştere.

  

MEDITAŢIA UNUI NECĂJIT

M-a sfătuit un Sfînt

să meditez

ca să  aflu adevărul.

M-am aşezat la colţul casei mele făcută din stuf

şi m-a furat somnul,

dormind pînă dimineaţa următoare

cînd cineva a bătut la uşă:

„SE CAUTĂ MUNCITORI SEZONIERI.”

CUFUNDARE

În vîrtejul căutării

Omul încearcă să dobîndească totul.

Cuprins, însă, de uimire, se trezeşte

într-o bună zi

rătăcit şi abandonat,

şi îşi vede umbra

rîzînd nebuneşte de el.

Traduceri: Olimpia Iacob

http://convorbiri-literare.ro/?p=4261

Dimineaţă de iarnă

doi fluturi

încălzesc grădina

Translated into Romanian by Olimpia IACOB, Acolada nr. 10 octombrie 2014

The Heron’s Nest, Vol. XIII, No.2, June 2011

http://www.editurapleiade.eu/images/static/files/10_2014.pdf

*****

flori de cireş –

mireasma învăluie

râul lung

(Honourable Mention, Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival, 2013)

Translated into Romanian by Olimpia IACOB, Acolada nr. 7-8 iulie-august 2014

http://www.editurapleiade.eu/images/static/files/7_8_2014.pdf

HAIKU SERIES – 10 by Gautam Nadkarni, Muse India, Issue 60, 2015

 Techniques Used In Haiku:

The technique of the Simile:

Some purists and diehards in the haiku world have made things very difficult for the poets. They have insisted since ages past that simile is taboo in haiku. Jane points out that such obstinacy is uncalled for because, as she points, even the Japanese Masters have used similes in their verse. However, haiku poets the world over found a way out of this impasse, by cleverly juxtaposing similar images so that even without using the sinful words ‘like’ or ‘as’, the similarity between them is conveyed to the readers.

crescent moon

a dinghy

riding the waves

---- Payal A Agarwal in A Hundred Gourds, Sept 2014 Issue

The above haiku says that a crescent moon looks like a dinghy riding the waves, or at least its reflection looks like one. It does this without using the sinful words ‘like’ or ‘as’.

soap bubbles —

all the dreams

I blew away

---- Vinay Leo R in A Hundred Gourds, June 2014 Issue

This haiku talks about, ‘all the dreams I blew away’ like ‘soap bubbles’, without using ‘like’.  Another haiku of this type is:

mother’s kiss —

the dew drenched breeze

on my forehead

----- Arvinder Kaur in A Hundred Gourds, Mar 2014 Issue

The technique of the Sketch or Shiki’s Shasei:

This technique gives a description of the natural world, rather like a sketch. Shasei, simply means, ‘to depict as is’. Shiki’s haiku utilizing this technique says:

evening

waves come into the cove

one at a time

Very often, the physical description has more than one layer of interpretation. It is Masaoka Shiki who insisted that haiku should ‘show’ and not ‘tell’, suggest without stating. Shiki is credited with having pioneered this technique. Here’s a modern day haiku which uses the sketch from nature technique:

through an empty nest

on a bare branch —

pieces of moon

---- Geethanjal Rajan in A Hundred Gourds, Sept 2013 Issue

Another one:

scented breeze

a baya weaving

a green nest

---- Ramesh Anand in A Hundred Gourds, Mar 2014 Issue

Yet another, this time a slightly contemporary or modern day sketch:

vacant desk…

the expanse of sunlight

uninterrupted

---- Arvinder Kaur in A Hundred Gourds, Dec 2013 Issue

Although this haiku appears to merely describe a piece of furniture, there is more than one level of interpretation. If the setting was more orthodox, I would have classified it as the mysterious type or Yugen type of haiku.

The technique of Double Entendre:

Here, certain words/images having a double meaning are used. Many Japanese expressions had sexual connotations and were used for their double meaning in haiku. ‘Spring rain’, for example, meant sexual emission.

The technique of the Pun:

The use of puns in haiku dates back hundreds of years, but even today haijin delight in their use.

black tea —

I search in vain

for the milky way

---- Pravat Kumar Padhy in A Hundred Gourds, June 2014 Issue

Here’s a haiku from the quill of the prolific Kala Ramesh of Pune, wherein she has used a pun very effectively:

tower of silence

the cawing of

a hundred crows, not one vulture

One has to be singularly ignorant not to know what the tower of silence is. The pun used here is not for humorous effect but to give the reader food for thought. One more, with a pun, from Angelee Deodhar:

Christmas Eve

the new baby finally asleep

--- Silent night

The technique of Wordplay:

Similar to double entendre and puns, though in this case they are language or culture specific, which is to say that each country/language has certain expressions, typical to it, which are used in a humorous way. Generally, these are place names which can cleverly be used for a double  meaning:

moon set

now it’s right — how it fits

Half Moon Bay

----- Jane Reichhold

In the above, Half Moon Bay is a place name, the name of a bay, to be precise.

The technique of Verb/Noun Exchange:

Here, a verb is interchanged or exchanged with a corresponding noun, or vice versa, for a certain effect.

stringing memories —

now I fly the kite

for father

---- Yesha Shah in The Heron’s Nest, Dec 2014 Issue

Obviously, here, ‘a string of memories,’ in the first part of the haiku wouldn’t have been as effective.

The technique of Close Linkage:

Similar to Comparison, Contrast and Association techniques. In order to connect the two different images in a haiku, the leap made can be a small one, a close one, and even a well-known one. The leap being a Close one, this technique is called one of Close Linkage.

winter road

finding on a beach

an open knife

---- Jane Reichhold

The leap from ‘winter road’ to ‘open knife’, and the resultant connection made is a close one. Here’s another example of Close Linkage:

loneliness —

each peak wrapped

in its own mist

---- Sanjuktaa Asopa in A Hundred Gourds, Sept 2013 Issue

This haiku may arguably be using the technique of Comparison rather than Close Linkage, but it is a moot point. In any case, there is bound to be an area of overlap between the two types because of their close similarity.

The technique of Leap Linkage:

Here too, there is a leap between images, but a much greater leap. Haiku employing this technique use an almost surrealistic leap between images. Examples are,

wild flowers

the early spring sunshine

in my hand

---- Jane Reichhold

Note the huge leap made between the first image and the second. Another haiku, with a similar fragment is:

wild flower—

I breathe my

loneliness

---- Pravat Kumar Padhy in The Heron’s Nest, Dec 2014 Issue

The leap leaves us almost breathless. Another one, using the Leap Linkage technique, is this gem from Kala Ramesh’s pen:

morning prayers

the rising sun between

my hands

What a gigantic leap, indeed, from ‘rising sun’ to ‘between my hands’!! The uninitiated might be inclined to dismiss this as balderdash…until, that is, they let the words and images sink in. That’s the beauty of the poem… this elusiveness!

http://www.museindia.com/viewrep.asp?id=61039

https://theurbanhalcyon.wordpress.com/category/issue-2/ (Ed.Neelam Dadhwal)

https://theurbanhalcyon.wordpress.com/category/issue-2/ (Ed. Neelam Dadhwal)

gentle ripples--
I gather the sound
of breeze

Sharpening Green Pencil, 2015
http://en.calameo.com/account/private/read/…