Posted for Mid-Week Motif at Poet’s United – Midweek Motif, prompt: River. Excellent prompts are gifted each week here. http://poetryblogroll.blogspot.com/2015/11/poets-united-midweek-motif-river.html Also posted for d’Verse Poets Open Link Night. Open Link Night is where we get to post a new poem in any style/form/subject we choose. Always an interesting array of poems submitted. Come and check out both websites for excellent reading and hopefully, to submit one of your own poems! Both are friendly and supportive communities – no snobs!!!! Huge grin. Try it, you might like it. I am submitting a haiku this week. The word amanogawa is the Japanese word for the Milky Way and means: river of heaven or, celestial river. It is one of the seasonal words for autumn. Traditional Haiku reflect the changing seasons and have kigo – seasonal word in the first line reflecting the when of the haiku. This explanation is longer than the poem!!!
amanogawa
shines in the darkness – light flows
around star islands.
free public domain image
kanzen sakura 
Nov 12, 2015 @ 15:35:48
I remember the wonderful way you can write haiku on the milky way.. I have almost never been fortunate enough to see such starry skies… star islands.. a wonderful thought
Nov 12, 2015 @ 15:47:59
Thank you. I love the sky at night. I can just imagine how those stars would work on you! As much as I love the blue skies of day, I think the black sky full of stars moves my heart even more.
Nov 12, 2015 @ 15:39:56
Gorgeous Haiku Toni 🙂
Nov 13, 2015 @ 00:37:45
Thank you!
Nov 12, 2015 @ 16:20:03
So incredibly beautiful my friend. I love the images from your Haiku. 🙂
Nov 13, 2015 @ 00:37:18
Thank you. How are you doing?
Nov 13, 2015 @ 11:36:32
I’m doing excellent my friend. Busy, busy, working, and doing lots and lots writings.:)
How are you doing?
Nov 13, 2015 @ 11:43:38
Glad to hear this! Busy as well writing. Melancholy…had to put my cat down so mourning. Have written in that way. Work helps! So good to see you at d’Verse!
Nov 13, 2015 @ 14:49:39
awww…I’m so sorry to hear about your cat. 😦
Yes, thank you. I decided I’m only going to d’Verse if there’s a free for all.
Nov 13, 2015 @ 15:09:59
Good. Ha! Free for all, I like that. Then join the free for all and come out swinging!
Nov 13, 2015 @ 15:11:59
When is the next free for all? Is it every Thursdays? or twice of every Thursdays?
Nov 13, 2015 @ 15:15:02
Usually every other Thursday. You can check out my page, or Bjorn’s, or Glenn’s. If he posts a Blackthorne, it’s free for all.
Nov 13, 2015 @ 15:18:13
Excellent. I will keep an eye out for the free for all post. 🙂
Nov 16, 2015 @ 00:04:34
🙂
Nov 12, 2015 @ 16:20:48
Wow, I didn’t know this word – in Bengali, there exists a similar word for our galaxy.
Nov 13, 2015 @ 00:36:56
It always amazes me how many words in various languages are similar. Just like all the various festivals of light in the different cultures/religions.
Nov 12, 2015 @ 16:43:33
River of the night sky, so ethereal & lovely, & stars like Hemingway’s islands in the stream; rocking the river prompt cosmically. Wondrous sharing.
Nov 13, 2015 @ 00:35:57
And you nailed it. the islands in the stream was what came to my mind except they became islands of stars…Thank you.
Nov 12, 2015 @ 17:07:28
What a lovely haiku. It really does give insight into the appearance of the Milky Way.
Nov 12, 2015 @ 17:27:45
Love the image of “star islands”
Nov 13, 2015 @ 00:32:50
So do I! 🙂
Nov 12, 2015 @ 18:02:54
Lovely. it’s always a gift to look up and see the stars so clearly.
Nov 13, 2015 @ 00:31:07
It truly is. We are cloudy tonight but last night was crystal clear!
Nov 12, 2015 @ 18:02:56
I think the night sky moves my heart more too. After all, it is the moon and the stars that lovers gaze upon…you don’t much hear about them gazing up at the blue sky together. Love your haiku of the river of stars…just gorgeous.
Nov 13, 2015 @ 00:30:34
You are totally correct!! and thank you.
Nov 12, 2015 @ 18:07:48
Just gorgeous. I love how you incorporate Japanese words and phrases into your poetry, and how meaningful it becomes thanks to your explanations. Always a joy to read your work, sister.
Nov 13, 2015 @ 00:30:00
It really is hybrid but it does follow the rules and respects the form. Thank you so much Triplet Sis!
Nov 12, 2015 @ 18:36:53
Your way with words is magical and I like the wonderful sound of the Milky Way in Japanese.
Nov 13, 2015 @ 00:28:59
It really does roll off the tongue. Thank you so very much.
Nov 12, 2015 @ 18:43:53
I learned something new today, thank you ~ Love that capture of celestial stars and heaven ~
Nov 13, 2015 @ 00:28:26
Thank you. It is a truly lovely word in so many senses of the word.
Nov 13, 2015 @ 00:34:46
It’s funny how the appearance seems depending on the “view” – spiral, river like, like a flattened “Saturn” with the ball in the middle and then the “rings” on the sides….at night, I so enjoy seeing it rising, falling, lengthening….just like an earth river.
Nov 12, 2015 @ 20:40:01
What a beautiful word…it has a glow all on its own!
Nov 13, 2015 @ 00:27:44
Yes it truly does.
Nov 12, 2015 @ 23:01:55
I love the imagery you have used here – light flowing around star islands is a wonderful description.
Nov 13, 2015 @ 00:27:26
Thank you. It’s how I perceive when I look up in the sky at the Milky Way.
Nov 14, 2015 @ 16:05:38
How wonderful – you must live with very clear skies.
Nov 16, 2015 @ 00:01:54
Many nights, the skies are very clear.
Nov 13, 2015 @ 02:01:22
Lovely. I am putting ‘river of heaven’ in my haiku notebook.
Nov 16, 2015 @ 00:11:01
That is so very nice! it is one of my favorite kigo.
Nov 13, 2015 @ 04:14:01
Seldom have I seen such clear skies, but I love the idea of star islands…
Nov 13, 2015 @ 09:51:18
Appreciation of the night skies can be such a fascination! Nicely Toni!
Hank
Nov 14, 2015 @ 08:01:44
I like the way you have interpreted “river.”
Nov 16, 2015 @ 00:02:10
Thank you.
Nov 15, 2015 @ 15:30:25
“amanogawa
shines in the darkness”
I like the sounds of these words together as well as the image they invoke. Lovely.
Nov 15, 2015 @ 18:26:28
Thank you. They are a nice sound!
Nov 15, 2015 @ 23:28:02
Beautiful haiku. And I, for one, always love your intros and explanations. Peace, Linda
Nov 16, 2015 @ 00:00:50
Thank you Linda! I am most appreciative.