World Haiku Series 2022 Congratulations! Pravat Kumar Padhy and Aditri Mishra

祝句

Congratulatory Haiku

Four haiga published in the Contemporary Haibun Online, Issue 18.3, 2022 and the photos of Pravat Kumar Padhy and Aditri Mishra were submitted to the World Haiku Series as congratulatory works of haiku.

Haiga:

Haiku: Pravat Kumar Padhy

Art: Aditri Mishra (5-yr old)

a gentle pause…

the morning clouds

yet to sail

穏やかな一時停止

朝の雲

まだ航海しない内

***

stepping out…

the world looks

so colourful

踏み出す

世界が見える

とてもカラフル に

***

watchful …

the way of making

a rainbow

用心深い

作り方

虹の

***

Friendship Day–

I garner warmth

to share

友情の日

暖かさを得る

分かち合うための

***

About the Poet and Artist

Pravat Kumar Padhy is a mainstream poet and writer of Japanese short forms of poetry. His haiga have been published in Haigaonline, DailyHaiga, World Haiku Association, Under the Basho, NHK World, and Cattails, among others, and he received an honorable mention in the Seventh Setouchi-Matsuyama International Photo-Haiku Contest. His haiku are showcased at Mann Library, Cornell University. USA. Pravat’s haiku and tanka have been featured in the “Viewing Stone Association of North America” (VSANA).

He is a panel judge for The Haiku Foundation’s 2022 Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems and is on the editorial board of Under the Basho.

Aditri Mishra, 5 years old, the granddaughter of Pravat Kumar Padhy, loves dancing and painting. She received awards for her mathematical skills. Her painting has also been featured in DailyHaiga. The haiga by Pravat and Aditri has been selected for inclusion in the CHO Haibun Anthology, to be published by the Red Moon Press, 2023.

Commentary by Ron C. Moss, Haiga Editor, Contemporary Haibun Online Journal, Issue 18.3, 2022

We all seek that beginner’s or child-like mind, especially when we create, and this father-granddaughter team has found it. I was enchanted by this collaboration from the first moment I viewed their haiga.

I love the elephant family in watchful. The colours and shapes have been handled with such joy, we can only smile looking at them. The haiku beautifully captures the humour and love of wondrous things. What can be more magical than making a rainbow?

stepping out draws us into a world full of colour—the big, bright yellow bird blasts off in a fun-filled scene, dominating trees and grasses of green. The art and haiku balance well, and the placement and rendering of all the elements are excellent.

The wooly sheep in a gentle pause are drawn in a free-flowing way, and each one has its own character. The association of the clouds and the fluffy sheep all work together with the haiku—as the poet suggests, we could all float away in such a lovely scene.

Every time I look at Friendship Day I see different things. The artist has a achieved a lovely sense of space, with many fine points of detail. Once again, the poet grandfather has merged into his granddaughter’s world, and we are the richer for it. May there be many Friendship Days filled with such colour and obvious joy.