طالب Talib is a seeker/student in Arabic.
俳句 Haiku is a Japanese lyric verse form having three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables, traditionally invoking an aspect of nature or the seasons. (Source)
[Japanese : hai (amusement) + ku ( sentence)]
I love poetry, in particular Haiku for its ability to evoke such powerful imagery along with deep, penetrative emotions. Indeed the intent of the Haiku poet is to convey their feeling and not their ideas. Haiku relies much on the senses and human-nature interaction. It enables one to convey their work deep into the mind and soul of another – as one is compelled to ponder, reflect and imagine – and more importantly – feel.
I am by no means an expert nor am I an intermediate. However I aim to learn as I go along, and improve and develop in my writings. I feel this site is a great way of sharing these feelings (and that is what Haiku essentially is) with the wider world, and in return you may wish to send back some feelings with your comments, which are most welcome.
All poems are my own – unless noted otherwise.
Apart from posting Haiku, I might also share my own thoughts, opinions and reflections in general, or reflected in my interests.
Other interests of mine include: politics, religion, history, warfare, civilisation/cultures, travel, reading, nature and animals.
Thank you for viewing my page – feel free to share your ideas and feelings.
TalibHaiku
2010
Haiku: Short, Simple & Sublime 
Talib (the sound of it is wonderful and the meaning as you choose this for your name as well)
you write beautiful poetry with some really stunning moving lines
happy to come across you
salam aleikum
Dhyan
(will come for more)
Wa alaykum asalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatahu Dyhan
Thank you for your kind comments and helpful feedback – you are most welcome here.
TH
greetings from Maine USA
thank you for your kind words and stopping by – i enjoy browsing your creative writings
my warmest regards
David
Thanks David, nice to meet you – welcome aboard
TH
i just started writing haiku, and i want to be better, but the idea of “practicing” is strange to me. at times words fall, easy – the images come to me and i am able to simply “write them into life.” but at other times it seems so contrived – what is that all about?
yours are nothing short of awesome.
Thank you for the warm comments and welcome to my blog Patrice.
I agree – I don’t think one can practise when it comes to haiku – or any other poetry, because I think it really comes from within, and of course you have your inspiriations or reflections.
It is good to read other haiku out there, especially the classics – of course the works of Basho comes to mind. You get good days and bad days with poetry I guess.
You also shouldn’t worry about it not being too comprehendable to observers- some of the best haiku are those mysterious ones, which really get you thinking, what on earth is the emotion the poet is trying to get across.
Keep up with the haikus.
TH
i hope it is not out of place for me to interfere here.
why can one not practice writing poetry? every talent in the world needs practice to perfect.
reading other poetry is one of the best way to improve as you mentioned talib.
writing makes writing better. the more you write the easier it gets, to find your rhythm and your “tone”
reading your own work aloud up as well as it puts you in a different point of view.
letting others read and comment on it (as here in blogland) gives you another view to consider, though i think as your words comes from you you are the one who know best
and last – revising always help. putting a work away for a while and getting a bit disconnected from it a bit less attached, allows us t judge its quality with open eyes..
this is my view and (very short) experience with it. and i must admit i am not following it as much as i would like to but, at least for me, this works..
all the best
D!
What you say is also very true Dyhan, especially about getting the feedback from the blogosphere, and of course writing making writing in general better. But whenever I write, I guess I do not view it as practising – not because I think I don’t need it – but I just simply write for the sake of writing and in terms of haiku, just writing out whatever I am feeling or thinking.
Of course like anyone else I do hope to become better at this, but I would see it as somewhat difficult to compare your work and see if it has ‘improved’ – especially when the tone and subjects are especially varied.
You brought up some very good methods though, especially for confidence in writing, which is most important. It is all down for the individual I guess, what methods work – like trying to improve in anything. The most impact on me was reading the classics and it opened up the world of haiku for me, and from then on I just began wriitng.
Its great to share ideas and views on the actual ‘writing’ of poetry and not just our poems itself, this is good – would be interesting to see other peoples’ views on this too.
TH
maybe it is not the best place to run this dialogue (multilogue perhaps) but i am thankful for you giving this space for it.
you say – just writing out whatever I am feeling or thinking. – and i cannot agree more with it and what you wrote before it. one of the things i have observed about me and writing is that the best things comes out in a flow, where the mind has as little as possible to say about it. in that sense, i think writing, writing, writing is a vital part of the practice, like meditation of keeping the ego away from life and letting the inner source over flow..from its own power..
i do think one an feel improvement – even if one chooses to work with a different style… the ability to pass the idea, feeling or scene to the reader, may it be as abstract as it can, surely can be seen in some levels of improvement graph – if you see what i wrote 2 years ago and what i write now, you can see, clearly i think, the changes. i think some big part of the tone is there, already, but you will also feel the better control over some issues – hence – a progress of some kind..
would be interesting to see other peoples’ views on this too. – same thought exactly, i am going (i hope you do not mind) to put a link to here on my page asking for people thoughts and i hope a multidialogue to embark
[…] the subject. we both felt it will be great to hear more about it. you are welcome to visit his About page where it is taking place or you could also comment here. as it all started there i am not giving […]
HMM, I won’t repeat what’s already been said, but I will have to agree with Dhyan and Talib…for me it’s as if getting better at handling your thoughts, feelings, ideas and getting better at expressing urself..which I have a lot to learn from:p interesting discussion though!
Welcome Zainab- yes it’s all about being able to express yourself, especially with haiku as one isn’t really spelling it all out for you- the feeling or mood that is.
Hi Talib, I’ve come here via Dhyan’s blog and you are all making some interesting statements regarding the writing process and the betterment of the art form. Perhaps the getting better is actually a type of ‘self revelation’ that is going on, as opposed to practicing, as you would the piano or dancing etc. Poetry and and visual art are unique in that once the basic skills are acquired and a certain level of competency is achieved, it becomes less about repetition to get it just right than it is as Dhyan stated, “keeping the ego away from life and letting the inner source overflow.” After saying all that, I’ve just noticed what a lovely comma filled run on sentence I’ve written! lol Thanks Talib for opening up such an interesting discussion, it has made me think more about my own approach.
Hi Val and welcome.
“Poetry and and visual art are unique in that once the basic skills are acquired and a certain level of competency is achieved, it becomes less about repetition to get it just right” – I agree with that, as there is only so much writing for the purpose of practise one can do. As I said before, I simply write – or type rather what I am thinking or feeling at the time, usually I upload these haikus straight after typing them up – others I will upload when I feel it is most suitable- especially given that many are based on seasons.
Thanks for contributing your thoughts.
TH
yes val – this is wonderful…
thought as wish other arts (playing instrument i would say) the better you get, the more ability you acquire – your standards go higher too. what i mean is that you are able to listen better, hence hear better and understand better what the artist was aiming too, at this point you might be able to know what you want to get but not really how. then comes the time you need to wait and patiently work on your skill – perfect it which is of course again, mostly i think, the ego story. even jazz, this free style way is a lot about understanding and knowing your ways. now of course, some have the magic in their hearts and need to do nothing, but to the most a certain level of work needs to be done.
take painting for example. if you look at a photo and someone who paints will look at it we see two different things, not only because we are different people (of course, that too) but because she would have better ability to judge (in the good way and in lack of better word) it. appreciate perhaps. understanding the method and the way of using them
as one said before. if you want to break the rules you better now them first..
salam/shalom/hello everyone.
I am going to throw in my two cents here…awesome haiku can result when you are experiencing a state of self-transcedence.
and because you rise above the situational/physical element of yourself, your surrounding or even the language, you can express sublime verses.
salam and welcome, thanks for sharing your 2 cents lostpoem, it’s a good point you make, almost spiritual as it were, as it is from within – it isn’t something like a long rhyming poem, where you sit and think and ponder – not that there is anything wrong in that mind you. But haiku is very “felt” it can really produce some sublime fascinating imagery.
talib, you distinguish haiku from poetry and i like it. i am not very familiar with that form, though i have tried it a little and read some. there is something unique about it but
do you think that a short poem not enclosed in this form would have a less effective influence? as a writer, i envy and appreciate the ability to put a feeling in three lines and a structure – it is a bit like caging the feeling or the moment in a box (rules) which is An Art.
have you never had the same feeling reading other styles of poetry. for me sometimes the fact that there is a “story” before the sets the atmosphere leads to that, that when the end comes (and watch – it can many times be as an haiku when read alone) my Self is gone and the lines can hit me.
i appreciate your passion for haiku, you are opening an aperture for me into this world…
I like your Haiku and the name Talibhaiku, it gives an interesting context
for the poems that opens it up and creates a new dimension to it. Cool. Please have look at some of what I wrote and let me know what you think.
Thanks for commenting benchechesblog – I will be checking your blog for sure.
hi everyone!
I’m leaning toward the idea of ‘writing’ as, at a very base level, an act of communication (whether it’s with ‘self & others’ or ‘conscious & sub-conscious’ etc) and thus, every word we write (I hope) is subtly improving our communication.
the more we write, the better we are at it, the more we read & discuss, the better we become at thinking about our writing, and put together we improve?
so perhaps we’re ‘practicing’ whether we label it that or not? i know I get a lot out of moments like these, when I’m forced to articulate impressions of have about writing etc
thanks!
Ash
Ash, i knew you will come
and i agree
how we call it makes no different at the this..
we write we improve if we want and expect it or not..
I was reading many of your haiku yesterday and as i said at Dhyan’s blog…I was kind of struck, arrested by some of the thoughts 🙂
I am an avid fan of poetry…and haiku about year and a half…I don’t give much thought about refining, because what I write in the name of poetry is just a release for me, an emptying….I can’t work on the structure of poetry, so much, for myself…
But always inspiring to see and poets present and refine their thoughts and visions, the discussions et al…I will be a regularr here for sure, Talib 🙂
wishes,
devika
Thanks for the comment devika – good to see you here, and you are very welcome to my blog.
TH
dear talibhaiku–sorry for the delay. here is one of my modest attempts at composing haiku:
a sleepless night of
frivolous thoughts; even
the clock is counting sheep.
all the best,
yq
Thank you for sharing yq, a nice, original haiku – better late than never
TH
Salam
I’m seeking your permission to “steal” your lovely haiku-s to post them in my online journal. Of course with credits to this blog of yours. Keep up the good work! Makes me want to pen a few on my own. Insya’Allah. 🙂
Ma Salaama
Wa alaykum asalaam
Welcome Kartini Khalid, glad you enjoyed the haikus, you can surely post them on your online journal.
It has been a while since I have posted some as you can see, but I will hopefully get posting again 😀
wsalaam
sweet reading friend !
mostly your poems are Senryūs, not Haikus.
This is because you are omitting the Kigo from the works.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senryū
Assalamu ‘alaikum,
I have been looking for Islamic haiku and ended up here. You have some nice ones! Ma shaa Allah.
You don’t seem to blog here anymore. If you come here again, please visit this link and read some of my Islamic haiku.
http://eightfeettall.wordpress.com/tag/islamic-haiku/
Hello! I really enjoy your writing and have nominated you for a Liebster Award! Check it out here: http://goo.gl/ntcGyq
I have written this poem please put it on your website. Jazak allah khair.
Muhammad (saws)
What a year was 570 AD
A person was born, a prophet to be
Muhammed (saws) that was his name
People were misguided and that’s when he came
He would go on to leave all the idols behind
He is an example to the whole of mankind
Rabbi al Awwal, in it was a day
He came to this world to show us the way
He was born in Mecca , the holiest place
A life full of challenges he was to face
Abdullah, his father, had by then passed away
Leaving Amina, his mother, in her arms he lay
Haalima Sadia took over his care
Until he was six, our prophet was there
His mother then died, he was left all alone
Abdul Muttalib, his grand-dad then made him his own
When our prophet was nine, his grandfather died
Abu Talib, his uncle, became his new guide
In his 20′s,a merchant Muhammed (saws) became by trade
Al-Amin,(the trustworthy) became his grade
Khadija(ra)aged 40, became his bride
He was 25, with her by his side
To the poor, she gave away all her wealth
A dedicated wife in sickness and health
360 idols in the Kaaba, there were at that time
Our prophet realised that this was a crime
He would go to mount Hira, leaving behind his wife
Reflecting and wondering about the meaning of life
Whilst thinking there in the midst of the night
He heard a loud voice which filled him with fright
It was the angel Jibrail(as) who asked him to read
Our prophet couldn’t and didn’t take heed
The angel embraced him and then asked him later
Read, Read in the name of the Creator
Who created man from a drop of blood
Our prophet couldn’t read but at that time he could
Our prophet rushed to the path straight ahead
He heard a voice from the heavens which said
Muhammed(saws) truly you are the messenger of God
Muhammed (saws) was scared and thought this quite odd
‘Praise be to God’ his wife said instead
”I know you’ve been chosen as God’s messenger’ she said
And thus Khadija (ra) became the first woman of islam
And over the next 23 years came the revelation, the Quran
He preached to all people, every creed, every race
Yet so many hardships he had to face
There were fears for his life, then the hijrah took place
He entered Medina, by the Almighty’s grace
He was greeted by the Ansaris who were not like the others
they treated the muhajirs like their very own brothers
Then came the battles, fought face to face
Then the conquest of Mecca, Muhammed (saws)’s birthplace
An Nasr was revealed, it’s message was clear
Muhammed (saws) knew that his time was near
Everyone gathered to hear his last speech
little did they know how far Allah’s message would reach
Muhammed (saws) gave us the miracle, the Quran
And now a 1/4 of the world follow Islam
He is our role-model, the best of mankind
And has left the Quran and his Sunnah behind
Read the Quran as much as you can
The words of Allah(swt) for the guidance of man
And follow our prophet’s sunnah, when eating and dressing
And send him salutations and many a blessing
He came to mankind to show us the way
And Insha-Allah, we’ll meet him, we’ll meet him one day
Hi!