2012 Update – a special Haikumages post-per-day project is now in progress, coming to a close on 12/31/2012… It began at the urging of WordPress themselves in December 2011; Haikumages accepted their challenge to post once-per-day for all of 2012! Not a bad idea, but I was afraid it would not possible to write something worthwhile every, single day… But I committed, and jumped in–it’s been a beautiful, creative exercise, an emotional outlet, and a great deal of fun, connecting me to many new people around the globe along the way.
The real problem with posting daily ended up not being whether I could write enough haiku/senyru, or take enough pictures–I do both constantly (just ask my kids), every day. But with life’s distractions and demands, I often can not find the time to sit, pull the words and images together, post here, and out to all the other social sites… So, I tend to go on periodic posting binges, when time permits, catching up with missed days, posting 5-10 days worth in one day. On this blog, they all appear organized, dated one-per-day, in chronological order, but that’s an illusion!
At this point, I’ve got nearly 400 unpublished haiku/senyru written/waiting, gigabytes of images/photographs, and life presents me with new subjects, observations, events and feelings to write about and capture daily… So, I am thinking I should continue doing the post-per-day blog of haiku/senyru in 2013! Let me know if you agree!
Going forward in 2013: after playing around in 2010-2011, then getting serious and posting daily in 2012, my writing changing (improving?) over time, I have the desire to revisit and study more deeply the haiku/senyru written by the masters (ancient Japan and contemporary English), to re-infuse classic elements, and experimenting with them, as well as free-form and alternative syllable structures…
Thanks for travelling with me for a little while on this road… 
- The Haikook
- – - – - / – - – - – - – / – - – - - – - – / – - – - – / – - -
Haikumages are original words, pixels, images, haiku and senryū musings, from my twisted brain, blurry eyes and bleeding heart. See additional “definitions” below or click here to open a PDF document with more details, or visit the “Forms and Syllables” page for more information about haiku, senryū, forms, and syllables.
Disclaimer: many of the haiku here are not in the traditional form and are missing one or more of the classic elements (seasonal note, cutting word, etc.). Some are in the traditional form, but the rest have been subjected to my daft, deft, deep, daring manipulations, with liberal amounts of artistic license, wordplay, humor and punning (often called the lowest form of humor). No offense is meant to any haiku or senryū purist who stumbles across this blog…
Invitation: please do not comment only to complain that my haiku or senryū is non-traditional, broken, depraved, misfit prose, or that I am a poseur–it may be, I am, and I already know it! However, please, please COMMENT away, if you are a lover of words, language, poetry, photography, imagery, beauty and silliness in all its forms. If you are such a person, I invite and welcome your meaningful, thoughtful commentary, and look forward to exchanging words with you…
Haikumages in a book? One day there will be one or more books of original haiku, senryū and images by Russ Murray, under the name of Haikumages, or some other equally unintelligible pseudonym. Check our Facebook “Book” page for details, and updates…
Contact: find other ways to socialize and get in touch with Haikumages on the Contact page.
Enjoy!
- The Haikook (Russ Murray)
- – - – - / – - – - – - – / – - – - - – - – / – - – - – / – - -
Definitions:
hai·ku [noun \’hī-(,)kü\] [plural: haiku] An unrhymed verse form of Japanese origin having three lines containing usually five, seven, and five syllables respectively (senryū is similar, but more ironic/satirical, with less emphasis on nature/season).
i·mage [noun \’i-mij\] [plural: images] A visual representation of something: as (1) a likeness of an object produced on a photographic material (2) a picture produced on an electronic display (as a television or computer screen).
hai·ku·mage: [noun \’hī-(,)kü-mij\] [plural: haikumages] An inspiring and/or provocative combination of a haiku (or senryū) with an image, carefully selected to be greater than the sum of its parts.
hai·ku·mag·es: [plural noun \’hī-(,)kü-mij-ez\] Haiku + Images by Russ Murray.
- – - – - / – - – - – - – / – - – - - – - – / – - – - – / – - -
- – - – - / – - – - – - – / – - – - - – - – / – - – - – / – - -
