“neko no koi,” Cats in Love, #haiku, #haiga, #NaPoWritMo

Posted byColleen M. ChesebroPosted inNaPoWritMoTags:, , , , , , , ,

First I’ll give you the haiku. The kigo is “cats in love” (neko no koi) which signifies spring.

cats in love—
howls under the moon
rite of spring

©2021 Colleen M. Chesebro

Let’s talk about haiga poetry. This is poetry that combines three forms: imagery, photographs or original art, and calligraphy. If you use a photo and add your haiku or senryu to it, it then becomes a haiga, subject to the rules of that form.

Haiga is written in the short-long-short syllable form or for my poetry challenge, the 5-7-5 form.

The most important part of a haiga… The image cannot complete the haiku or senryu. If you need the photo to get your message across, you’ve failed with your poem.

Remember, take the first and second lines of your haiku or senryu. Do they make sense? Then, take the second and third lines of your haiku or senryu. Do they add another layer of meaning to your poem? That is the juxtaposition you need to make your poem memorable.

Line one and two:

cats in love—howls under the moon

Line two and three:

howls under the moon, rite of spring

Each section of the haiku shares a different layer of meaning. Tell me, who hasn’t wanted to howl under the spring moon?

Now, let’s choose a photo and add our haiku:

Image by Susan Cipriano from Pixabay

The photo for this haiga gives us a glimpse of the moon along with a view of bare trees, signifying spring. You don’t need the photo, to understand the haiku. All the photo does is enhance the magic of the moon in springtime. Can you hear the cats howling?

Speaking of cats… the countdown has begun! On Monday, six-month-old Chloe, and four-month-old Sophie will become part of our family. They are a bonded pair we found at the Constellation Cat Cafe. We can’t wait to bring them home. ❤

Published by Colleen M. Chesebro

An avid reader, Colleen M. Chesebro rekindled her love of writing poetry after years spent working in the accounting industry. These days, she loves crafting syllabic poetry, flash fiction, and creative fiction and nonfiction. In addition to poetry books, Chesebro’s publishing career includes participation in various anthologies featuring short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. She’s an avid supporter of her writing community on Word Craft Poetry.com by organizing and sponsoring a weekly syllabic poetry challenge, called #TankaTuesday, where participants experiment with traditional and current forms of Japanese and American syllabic poetry. Chesebro is an assistant editor of The Congress of the Rough Writers Flash Fiction Anthology & Gitty Up Press, a micro-press founded by Charli Mills and Carrot Ranch. In January 2022, Colleen founded Unicorn Cats Publishing Services to assist poets and authors in creating eBooks and print books for publication. In addition, she creates affordable book covers for Kindle and print books. Chesebro lives in the house of her dreams in mid-Michigan surrounded by the Great Lakes with her husband and two (unicorn) cats, Chloe & Sophie.

20 thoughts on ““neko no koi,” Cats in Love, #haiku, #haiga, #NaPoWritMo”

  2. Lovely poem (though not so much the real life howling).😀
    Are you doing the NaPoWriMo prompts at all? I liked today’s, but I didn’t get to it (yet). I’m making a list though of prompts I like.
    Congratulations on the cats!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Thanks, Merril. I haven’t been following the prompts… I wanted to start a poem a day practice so that has been my main goal. I suppose I should check out the prompts. LOL! 😀 We’re so excited about the new kitties. After re-homing Freyja in Arizona, I didn’t know if we would go there again. We decided life’s too short to live without cats. LOL!

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Oh my goodness! We’re so excited. After having to rehome Freyja in Arizona, I didn’t know if we would do this again… but these girls needed us. I can’t wait to share photos on Monday. ❤

      Liked by 1 person

    1. OMG, Willow. They’re so sweet. Very loving and socialized. That’s so important. Chloe is gray and white. Sophie is a tortoiseshell, just like my beloved Molly was. We’re so excited. 🥰🐈‍⬛🐈❤️

      Liked by 1 person

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