retreat

hilltop
a monk empties his thoughts
into the rising sun
--Adjei Agyei-Baah (Ghana)

Adjei's haiku opens with a command to our attention. One word, forms the voice of this poet into grabbing our attention.
"What is it about the hilltop Adjei"? is it the shape of it, is it verdant, is it parched due to scorching hot weather? All these ideas come to play in our minds, at the sound of the poet's voice.
His haiku continues as revelation his phrase, the interest of his haiku’s fragment.

So, it’s about a monk, Okay. And even though he gives us this bit of info in his haiku phrase, he cleverly applies the Japanese aesthetic of 'ma' where enough space is left in his telling of the tale for us to still wander in our minds filling in blanks.
This monk of Adjei's, he could be on the hilltop, or standing looking at the hilltop, or even be withdrawn in his private reading space, looking at a picture of a hilltop.

What we know for sure is he, the monk, awed by the spectacle directs his thoughts to no one else but the rising sun. A lovely setting of the monk's aloneness and his commune with nature. Be he, just absorbed in reverie, or creating alone-space in a crowd.

Thank you Adjei for an awesome haiku in this the 2017 anniversary of Caribbean Kigo Kukai
Well Done
gillena cox, Founder coordinator – Caribbean Kigo Kukai


Revisit
Results of the kukai
The kukai prompt was retreat