Local poet's peace haiku goes on display at Japanese shrine

Wednesday 09 November 2022

A local poet’s haiku promoting peace through a tranquil deer scene has been selected to go on display at a shrine in Kyoto.

Trude Foster’s verse forms part of the Kyoto Haiku Project.

The initiative was originally launched to create an international anthology of poems reflecting on life during the pandemic, following the traditional Japanese haiku format of three lines with a 5-7-5 syllable pattern. 

However, its mission has since broadened to focus on spreading “love and hope to those in Ukraine, Russia and everyone suffering conflicts worldwide” under the banner of ‘Haiku for Peace’.

Pictured: Trude Foster, whose Haiku will be on display at a Shrine in Kyoto until January. 

A specialist in ‘micro-poetry’, who previously exhibited her own short poems and haikus at the Arts Centre earlier this year, Trude Foster enthusiastically took up the challenge.

Her love of poetry goes back many years. When asked when she started to write poetry, she replied: "I don't remember a time when I didn't". 

As far as she is aware, she wrote her first poem aged just five, and her first haiku when she was seven, after being taught the form at school. She has continued to write voraciously ever since, aiming to write at least one poem a day. 

She described the process of writing a haiku as a bit like "a crossword puzzle", with the challenge being to convey maximum meaning with a limited number of syllables.

As Trude put it, "brevity is the art of it", with the balance to be struck between "simplicity, but still getting your message across."  

As such, when she saw the Kyoto Haiku Project, she thought she would try her hand, penning a tranquil verse about "thirsty Roe deer" in the morning.

She submitted her haiku and after six months of waiting received an email telling her she had been successful.

Pictured: Trude Foster's Haiku, which is currently on display in Kyoto. 

As well as being displayed on the project's website, Trude's poem has now been placed inside a shrine in the city of Kyoto and will be there for viewing until January.

Unfortunately, Trude won’t be able to make a trip to see her haiku in person - but she does have another writing venture to keep her busy.

Also a published novelist under the pen name Betty Valentine, Trude is currently in the process of writing her fourth novel.

Entitled '1958', her latest novel follows a “stuttering and henpecked” husband who regularly escapes to his garden shed to write and escape. She is hoping it will be out in April next year. 

To find out more about the Kyoto Haiku Project, or even to submit your own a 'Haiku for peace', click HERE.