white cherry petals . . .
her family gathers in spirit
for the wedding
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Saturday, March 10, 2012
She's Going To Do It!
About 18 months ago, my little sister asked me if I knew of a haiku about family to go with the tattoo she was planning to get done. The tattoo (her first) is a representation of our family in the form of seven birds. See my first post about it here, and then come back. I'll wait :)
Well, we never got far with this at the time. I suggested one of my haiku, which I'd originally written for Cameron when we were dating, and thought it could encompass what she was after:
thinking of you...
the light
on a paua shell
This under seven birds would be like thinking of our family, and the paua shell set the scene firmly in New Zealand and at the beach, one of my sister's favourite places.
After getting her tattoo (sorry I don't have a picture) she continued to carry around this haiku in her wallet, pulling it out every now and then to read and ponder. She liked it a lot. Meanwhile, as time went on, I forgot about the whole thing.
Until a couple of weekends ago, when she texted me asking if I'd write a haiku about our family for her tattoo: she is getting some little birdie additions done (to symbolise our two nephews and niece) and, as she's about to go and live overseas, thought it a great time to finally get a haiku inked.
So, I came up with this:
family gathering
the many sounds
of laughter
It came to me quite quickly once I got the first line. It took a few slight changes to get here, and after sitting with it for two days (I couldn't rush something that someone was going to get tattooed on them!) I texted it to her...
She really liked it! She had something in her head about being together and laughter, though she hadn't given me any clues at the time about where she'd wanted it to go. However, she wasn't sure about having the word 'family' in the haiku, and suggested a change to 'gathered together'. And funnily enough, the word 'together' keep popping in my head over the weekend but I couldn't see how to use it. It was great to hear we were on the same page, so to speak.
So, she is booked in to get this haiku tattooed soon:
gathered together
the many sounds
of laughter
I just can't get over how cool this is! I'll definitely get a photo to share when it's done. Stay tuned :)
Well, we never got far with this at the time. I suggested one of my haiku, which I'd originally written for Cameron when we were dating, and thought it could encompass what she was after:
thinking of you...
the light
on a paua shell
This under seven birds would be like thinking of our family, and the paua shell set the scene firmly in New Zealand and at the beach, one of my sister's favourite places.
After getting her tattoo (sorry I don't have a picture) she continued to carry around this haiku in her wallet, pulling it out every now and then to read and ponder. She liked it a lot. Meanwhile, as time went on, I forgot about the whole thing.
Until a couple of weekends ago, when she texted me asking if I'd write a haiku about our family for her tattoo: she is getting some little birdie additions done (to symbolise our two nephews and niece) and, as she's about to go and live overseas, thought it a great time to finally get a haiku inked.
So, I came up with this:
family gathering
the many sounds
of laughter
It came to me quite quickly once I got the first line. It took a few slight changes to get here, and after sitting with it for two days (I couldn't rush something that someone was going to get tattooed on them!) I texted it to her...
She really liked it! She had something in her head about being together and laughter, though she hadn't given me any clues at the time about where she'd wanted it to go. However, she wasn't sure about having the word 'family' in the haiku, and suggested a change to 'gathered together'. And funnily enough, the word 'together' keep popping in my head over the weekend but I couldn't see how to use it. It was great to hear we were on the same page, so to speak.
So, she is booked in to get this haiku tattooed soon:
gathered together
the many sounds
of laughter
I just can't get over how cool this is! I'll definitely get a photo to share when it's done. Stay tuned :)
Friday, October 1, 2010
Haiku Tattoo Anyone?
I imagine that the haiku masters never thought their poems would be inked into someone's skin. I feel it would be an honour: the ultimate contemporary haiga, perhaps? Definitely as good as having your haiku carved into a boulder on the Katikati Haiku Pathway . Both as permanent as permanent can be in this world.
I got onto the topic of haiku as tattoo when my little sister asked if I knew of one around the theme of family that might work with the tattoo she is about to get: seven birds in flight, which symbolise the members of our family. A quick Google search revealed that people were indeed being inked with haiku, in traditional Japanese Calligraphy .
I'm excited that my sibling would think to include a haiku in her first tattoo, and happy that I have brought haiku into the lives of all my family members. I hope they are richer for the experience. I look forward to talking with my sister this weekend about how we can express her thoughts about our family through haiku.
I got onto the topic of haiku as tattoo when my little sister asked if I knew of one around the theme of family that might work with the tattoo she is about to get: seven birds in flight, which symbolise the members of our family. A quick Google search revealed that people were indeed being inked with haiku, in traditional Japanese Calligraphy .
I'm excited that my sibling would think to include a haiku in her first tattoo, and happy that I have brought haiku into the lives of all my family members. I hope they are richer for the experience. I look forward to talking with my sister this weekend about how we can express her thoughts about our family through haiku.
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