Haiku. At first glance, this poetic form looks simple enough that any child could work within its rules. On closer inspection, however, not so easy after all. Let’s start with the requirement that a haiku must be a three-ling poem, with each line having respectively 5/7/5 sound bites, i.e., syllables, totaling 17. This rule is rarely broken; if it is, traditionally, the poem isn’t a haiku. To the contrary, modern Japanese haiku sometimes isn’t confined to the 17-syllable form including nature as part of the poem is not required.
Haiku employ no metaphors or similes; thus, they are straightforward. Images of nature and the seasons are very common, and the haiku frequently emphasizes simplicity, intensity, and directness of expression.
With all that said, perhaps the haiku form may be more difficult. Here are three I offer for your consideration.
#1
Follow paper rules,
ends unknown, shredded windblown
feathers without birds
#2
Determined striving
Blue robins’ eggs hatch without
Determination
#3
No laws bind the dead
Who better to pole rivers
in darkness? Breath done
Background
Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694) is perhaps the best known poet specializing in haiku which in his time began to appear as an independent poem. It was also incorporated in haibun, a combination of prose and hokku, and haiga, a combination of painting and hokku. In the late 19th century, Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) renamed the standalone hokku to haiku.
Exploration 1: Consider the image of nature in each haiku. Decide how each haiku’s meaning would change without the nature image.
Exploration 2: In the second haiku, why do you think both “determined” and “determination” appear in the first and last lines?
Exploration 3: In the first haiku, what is the meaning of the implied comparison of “paper rules” and “feathers without birds”?
* Japanese haiku are normally written in one line, while English language haiku are traditionally separated into three lines. In Japanese, nouns do not have different singular and plural forms, so "haiku" is used as both a singular and plural noun in English as well.
Your Monday Poet - Jack Pine Savage
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