Ligo Haibun Challenge – South America

I try to capture the beauty of the historical falls in my tiny camera. Many others are engaged in the same pursuit, some better than the others. A few visitors are lost in each other while others try to rekindle their lost romance. I spot a couple of birds, chasing each other near the falls. I could not name those birds, but they are blessed with red, blue and black colours. They chase each other amongst the crowds, move close to the falls and finally disappear into Iguazu.

Serene surface..

soft squeak

lost in unrelenting water

This was written for the Ligo Haibun Challenge

Ligo Haibun Challenge – Picture Week

Hi Friends,

Welcome to the Ligo Haibun Challenge. We have a surprise for you this week. Esenga blogging at Ese’s Voice has agreed to be our fourth host. Do please welcome Ese.

The first photo for this week’s challenge belongs to Pirate and the second one has been taken by Penny. So, sharpen your ideas and get started:)

Or

And add your haibun to the Inlinkz collection

Good luck and welcome Ese:)

Ligo Haibun Challenge – Word Prompt

Hi Friends,

This is the week for special and Honourable mentions. Writers who have put in a lot of hard work and have been consistent in their quality and participation have been included below as special mentions.

Anja: Intense, personal and powerful! That is Anja’s writing for you. Noteworthy and emotional is her latest piece, ‘You will not steal my moments’.

Alastair: Alastair has put in a great deal of effort on the Ligo Haibun Challenge. He has brought a different style here and his narrative needs to be mentioned for its originality. Do check out his piece on ‘Copper and Steel’, written on September 16^th.

Freya: Freya has written a deep personal experience this week. Also, don’t miss her lovely philosophical take on Pirate’s picture in ‘Random Beauty’. It is unique and refreshing.

Summerstommy: Summerstommy, a regular contributor, writes in a simple yet effective manner. One of his most gripping pieces this month is his take on Khalil Gibran’s quote.

Now let us move over to the honourable mentions.

Peripatetic Eric: It is always a delight to read Peripatetic Eric’s work, with his compelling imageries, which propel you from the chair to the place he describes. Do read his haibun on paradise or the latest piece on Tagore’s quote.

Anelephant: From a child’s point to an adult’s conflicting emotions, Anelephant takes you into right into their minds. In the link here is his take on how love can turn a rock into ice.

Sunshine: Sunshine is sunny and bright as the name suggests, but could also be philosophical, perceptive and intense. For instance, take a look at her haibun on Rumi’s quote.

Twoscamps: Here is a writer who travels a lot and brings to you the exact flavour of her destination. Check her vivid haibun under the title, ‘Bridge to Nowhere’. Read twice the haiku towards the end.

Below are the word prompts this week.

Fascination

or

Torture

And after completion, please add them to the InLinkz below. Good luck!

The Girl and Her Brother – Ligo Haibun Challenge

The wind wailed; as if it sensed some disaster we overlooked. Before I could grasp its significance, the dark clouds stormed into prominence and the rain poured, forming a muddy puddle near the pavement. There were no pedestrians in sight; only vehicles. As the rain gathered momentum, I saw a girl in early teens walking with a smaller child, probably her younger brother. They did not wear a raincoat and carried no umbrella as the fierce rain soaked their uniforms. They stood near the muddy pavement. The girl, in a desperate bid to shield her little brother, held her school bag over his head. When it did not work, she hugged him close, attempting to cover a part of him, while the rain drenched her completely. Passing vehicles soaked her mercilessly with mud.

Drenched nest

heavy torrents

melt into drops

This was written for the Ligo Haibun Challenge, inspired by the quote by E.E. Cummings, ‘The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful.’

I have tried to explore humanity in a rainy city. Now would you like to write a narrative, which displays admiration, nostalgia or desire for the muddy earth. This quote has a lot of scope, does it not? Take your time to go through the challenge and other contributions. Start with a small stanza or two followed by a haiku. It is a learning exercise and fun; we will grow with time and practice. Do try this out. Good luck.

Ligo Haibun Challenge – Choose Your Quote

Last week’s pathway took us to new roads and unknown destinations and we also had a white rose to fire our imagination:) Now it is quotes’ time. So, check below for choices and add your contribution to the link collection below.

The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough – Rabindranath Tagore

or

The world is mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful  – E.E. Cummings

Ligo Haibun Challenge

Thank you for your wonderful contribution last week. We will abandon apathy and hold paradise for the future:) Jumping to this week’s challenge, we have two choices below. The first photo has been taken by Pirate and the second is from my collection. Feel free to share your ideas on word prompt, quotes or photos. We welcome your contributions.

 

After the haibun is done, include it in the link collection below:

Ligo Haibun Challenge – Share Your Powerful Feelings

This week we saw many emotional haibun inspired by the quotes; ranging from life in the desert, celebration of life, fantasy, love and compassion. Thank you, friends! Now, we have a couple of word prompts for you to try this week.

Apathy

or

Paradise

What does the word ‘paradise’ mean to you? Can you find it on earth?

Alternatively, share with us your idea of listlessness. Your own, imagined apathy or your ideas of it. And after you are done, add your haibun to link below.

Ligo Haibun Challenge – Life

This week we have two quotes for the Ligo Haibun Challenge. I chose the one by Rumi.

“Not only the thirsty seek the water, the water as well seeks the thirsty.”

As the fisherman’s daughter moves the net, a captured fish wakes to the sound of waves crashing near the hut. It struggles for breath and the waves roar at lives stolen from its bosom. Fish desires sea and the water longs for its missing children among millions. The struggling creature reminds the girl of her baby brother who took his last breath the previous week. She picks the fish and runs towards the sea.

Water boils

as deep sea fish

pleads for a drop

Ligo Haibun Challenge – Persian Songs

Last week we received haibun with writers putting themselves in the shoes of animals. Some were philosophical, others were emotional, some added fantasy and humour. Thank you for all these wonderful work. Here we compete with our previous haibun, rather than other writers, trying to make our piece better and different from our previous ones.

This week, we embark on a journey to the mysterious Persia. Apart from the romance and mystique, these sufi philosophers also looked at life and world with depth. Here are a couple of quotes from them to start this week’s haibun:)

If your heart is a volcano, how shall you expect flowers to bloom? – Khalil Gibran

or

Not only the thirsty seek the water, the water as well seeks the thirsty.  – Rumi

We, Penny, Pirate and I thank you once again for all the meaningful haibun. Add your work to the link below and also do not forget to check out the haibun by other writers:)

The honorable mentions for August are as follows:

Twoscamps: As the writer travels, you willingly join her on the various journeys. Such is the strength of description in these haibun that you will find yourself moving with the words. While all the haibun here need a special mention, do take a look at one called ‘illusion’.

Peripatetic Eric: Depth and ease with which the words flow are the hallmarks of this writer.  His various haibun touch a chord in the reader, but the one titled, ‘Oblivion’ needs to be mentioned.

Reading Pleasure: Celestine’s haibun are emotional, passionate and always come from the heart. The haiku towards the end of her narrative is compelling and captivating. Check out her latest haibun for this.

Aesop Clerk: If you want philosophical writing with insightful knowledge of history, read Aesop Clerk’s haibun. Faith and facts are always analyzed in his haibun and the conclusions are summed up in a unique manner. For example, go through his haiku on ‘Liberation’ drafted in the first week of August.

 Jules: Jules makes her point clearly and stresses her ideas with more than a haiku. Realism and a simple, but highly effective writing are her trademarks. Her haibun, ‘Aglow’, written on August 1, illustrates these points.

The three of us thank you all for taking part. Hope you will continue to inspire and entertain us with more haibun in the days to come.

Ligo Haibun Challenge – The Sage

I heard a screeching noise and saw the creature for the first time. It looked like a goat, but was something different. Later, I learnt that he was a Llama. After eating the grass, he looked at me. It was a contemplative look, as though he saw something that others had missed. It was a look that animals did not give humans. It was as though he knew everything that was going on.

Later, the shepherd drove him away and the Llama threw a resigned look. I thought of him as a sage. The Llama presented an odd picture, trotting amongst regular sheep. ‘The sage’ came everyday and probed my cottage, conveying different thoughts, till the shepherd spotted and whisked him away.

Eternal prejudice

supreme intelligence

locked inside a four-legged genius

The above was written for the Ligo Haibun Challenge. This week we have photos of the Llama and the penguin. Take part and share your haibun with us.