Image by Wolfgang Eckert from Pixabay
Sandstone groans, winter
frosts exhale shivers in stone.
Life and death balances.
As this is the start of a new week, I wanted to change up the theme of the next seven days of Haiku to reflect a more traditional style. When I looked at this picture I was struck by the feeling of loneliness that the castle on the mount exudes. While writing the Haiku, these thoughts evolved into an exercise in capturing that insubstantial feeling you get when the winter is blowing cold and buildings are creaking in the frost. There is a kind of expectation during the winter, a yearning for the spring melt and a melancholy brought about by the seasonal cycle of life and death. These were my thoughts and feelings while writing this poem. I hope that this Haiku reflected the traditional Japanese feel for what makes the form great:
Haiku poetry traditionally discusses abstract subjects or those from the natural world, including seasons, months, animals, and even the smallest elements of nature, down to a blade of grass or a drop of dew. While a haiku does not have to cover natural subjects anymore, it is most often used as a celebration of nature.
The Academy of American Poets asserts, "As the form evolved, many of the rules - including the 5-7-5 practice - have routinely been broken. However, the philosophy of haiku has been preserved: the focus on a brief moment in time; a use of provocative, colorful images; an ability to be read in one breath; and a sense of sudden enlightenment and illumination."
Reference from - Rules for Writing Haiku
This is day fifteenth of my month long challenge - from the 06th of August until the 06th of September - to post a daily Haiku on steem. Each week will have a different theme based on picture prompts from either Pixabay.com or Unsplash.com. This week's broad theme is traditional haiku, as explained above.
I have created a new tag #monthofhaiku. If anyone wants to replicate the challenge please feel free, I will check the tag occasionally and try to curate the better Haiku. However, this is not meant to be a challenge to the writers' community. I have an extremely busy month ahead, and I started this as a personal challenge so that I didn't drift away from posting on steem. Please, forgive me if I'm slow to respond to comments or am not around on discord, I have had to reassess my priorities over the last few weeks.
The picture used in this post is creative commons, linked below pic. If you have enjoyed this Haiku, please check out my homepage 
