Last month, we talked about "What is haiku" and when and where it originated. This month, let us dive a bit deeper. The current official definition given by the Haiku Society of America in 2004 is:
"A haiku is a short poem that uses imagistic language to convey the essence of an experience of nature or the season intuitively linked to the human condition.” So, what is this form, practiced for hundreds of years, and giving promise of hundreds more, in dozens of lands and languages around the world? Jim Kacian, a celebrated haiku poet and the President of The Haiku Foundation has written a haiku primer, "How to Haiku". I have found this book very useful in my haiku journey, and with his kind permission, I am sharing some excerpts from his book. So to begin, let us say a haiku is. . . a brief poem . . .There are two parts to this opening phrase—let’s look at them in order: “brief ”: nothing characterizes haiku, at least superficially, so much as this point: haiku the shortest poems in the world. How brief is brief? All have two images laid out over two or three lines, and vary between 6 and 15 syllables, with the average being around 12. Haiku usually are somewhere close to these numbers; we might think of 17 syllables as an upper limit, only occasionally approached in writing English language haiku. And then: “poem.” A haiku is a poem, which means it is a literary work using metrical, rhythmical and other poetical means to achieve an aesthetic point or moment. When published, it is a public sharing, and subject to the same kind of scrutiny, criticism, and appreciation that other art forms are. Throughout history, haiku have been used in many ways: meditation-- thinking about mindfulness I pee on my shoe Michael Ketchek therapy-- after chemo only wanting to read seed catalogs Pamela Miller Ness journal-- the village at dawn; a bird’s song is part of the silence Larry Gates memoir-- dad’s wake the weight of my new shoes R. A. Stefanac teaching-- while she counts syllables, the haiku slips away Mildred Rose farewell-- skipping stones talking of people no longer here Jack Barry to name but a few, and it succeeds in each of these contexts. But only when considered as poetry, as literature, does haiku realize its highest potential and fullest range. Only at this point does haiku become what poetry must be for all poets: a way of life. Of course, there is more to consider in how haiku realizes itself as poetry: and we will examine issues of form, content, language and qualities best served by the haiku form. But it is important to establish that we mean to consider haiku first and foremost as literature. Everything else will devolve from this principle point.. . . which records an experience . . .Haiku always begin with an experience. This experience can take many forms: it can be something actually witnessed or participated in-- garden work-- talking to each other back to back Dimitar Anakiev or something from memory-- wind against my pantleg-- cat gone for years Edward Beatty even something imaginary-- pulling light from the other world . . . the Milky Way Yatsuka Ishihara Throughout the history of haiku, the first of these kinds of experience has been preferred by poets, editors, and readers, and because of this haiku is often referred to as the poetry of the real. Many of the most revered and quoted haiku have been of this sort. But memory and imagination are powerful providers of experience, too, and many poems fulminated from them achieve a resonance within us since they reach the truth of a situation and of a feeling. Walking with you again in the snow . . . only my footprints Frances Bradford Neighbors While experience, of whatever sort, is primary to the creation of haiku, it is the radical step of recording the experience which opens it from a private experience into a work of art. Moments of insight are usually actual rather than verbal, so the act of “translating” the moment into words is the artistic leap, the act in which the catalog of “what’s happening right here, right now” is selected, organized, alchemized into poetry.. . . of a moment of revelation . . .What moments are so compelling that they are worth this exacting artistic treatment? It is not enough that the moment be beautiful, or touching, or closely observed, although all of these are elements that the best haiku evince. Haiku are about something more than the things: they are about those moments when we see the world clearly, as it is, and not as we have become habituated to see it. not seeing the room is white until that red apple Anita Virgil insight may be profound-- trembling as the grape next to it is plucked Dhugal Lindsay it may be slight-- In the wake of a gliding swan ducks rocking Gustave Keyser but once we have had it, we cannot ever see the world in quite the same way again.. . . into the nature of the world . . .But this is not to say that haiku is merely close observation. Neither is it simply the statement of discovered significance. Haiku is the poetry we make of our experiences of significance and close observation. The revelation that is inherent in haiku is tied closely to the way we regard the world. It is alternately dependent upon the newness of our observation as if we are seeing something for the first time, but at the same time, it hinges upon our feeling that once seen, we know this observation to be true, as though we’ve known it before and all along. So a sense of familiarity is critical to our sense of revelation: revelation, and therefore haiku, is not novelty, but renewal. Summer night: we turn out all the lights to hear the rain Peggy Willis Lyles This insight may relate to the natural world-- Canada Geese suddenly from the heart the field takes wing James Tipton One of the reasons for this is that the natural world is the common ground between all poets and readers of haiku. There is virtually no one who has not experienced a wide array of natural phenomena and stood in awe of its incidents and effects. This common ground helps situate the poem, and therefore the poet and the reader, quickly and usefully in much haiku. Our attention, therefore, may be given to the rest of the experience; and, at the same time, the background of the natural phenomenon serves to broaden our response to the experience, giving us a natural sounding board for our feelings and responses. Or again, it may take a more human face-- second husband painting the fence the same green Carol Montgomery However, while haiku may explore interior space, they are not by nature personal. Haiku are not poems we write about ourselves, not another form of confessional poetry; in fact, they are moments when the poet loses his own self-consciousness because of an identification with his subject-- yellow daffodil look for something very blue to wear David Cobb Haiku attempt to objectify reality, and look outward upon it, rather than inward.. . . in an effort to share it with others . . .The result of writing poems in this objective way is a body of work that other poets, and other readers, operating from the same assumptions, may share directly, as though it was each person’s original experience. By sharing our work, we connect with a group of like-minded people who are likely to appreciate what we have experienced and how we have presented. But more than this, we contribute to an ongoing body of literature that seeks to explore the whole of this objective reality, from its shiniest surfaces-- Spring. The child sharpens the green pencil Elena Manta Ciubotariu to its most obscure recesses-- snowstorm outside inside the bloody rain of the month Kaye E. Bache As the body of poetry grows, so too does our picture of the world, and not merely by the accumulation of facts. Instead, we have the means to see directly into the nature of reality, untinged by personal considerations, moment to moment. Haiku create a reality. Like all good art, they persuade. In the sense that our map of the cosmos changed by reading and entering haiku—that is, in the sense that haiku have power—they have, they are, reality. Lee Gurga, in Haiku: A Poet’s Guide writes, “haiku is created from two ingredients: an experience and an expression of that experience in words after it has passed through the poet’s heart.” Warm regards, -Neena Singh India
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Haiku is considered the shortest non-rhyming Japanese poetry form written in three lines, in 5-7-5 format, with 17 syllables in English, and the poem is primarily related to nature including human nature. But more formally the schema is widely practiced as short/long/short (s/l/s) form in English haiku, writing instead of strictly following the syllable count. Haiku is a Japanese art form of poetry having a long and rich history of more than 400 years. The word ‘haiku’ is derived from ‘hokku’ which means starting verse or the opening stanza. Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) was the pioneer of writing classical ‘hokku’ and he rendered aesthetic values to the verse writing with brilliant poetic spells. He pioneered masterpieces of haikai including related genres and assimilated commonness and human aspects into the genres. Later, Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902) christened “hokku” to “haiku” (hai means amusement and ku means verse) at the end of the nineteenth century.
Haiku is written in the present tense, in ordinary language, and works particularly well when two different images are used to spark off each other. Haiku comprises an expression of the wonder of Nature, the seasonal changes, a love for life, and at times, deep thoughts. The inner world of the poet observes the external world, and from this keenness, a haiku is born and is expressed in three brief lines. Haiku don’t tell or even describe anything. They allow the reader to enter the poem in their own way. Subtly, the writer dares the reader to enter and discover the truth. These Zen moments can be therapeutic since they exercise both the right and the left side of the brain. Traditionally, haiku are rooted in natural history and the seasons, and make us co-conspirators with wildlife, as nature half-writes the haiku before we’ve even put pen to paper. Students are taught the following definition of haiku: “A 3-line poem related to nature including human nature, adhering to a 5-7-5 syllable formula.” Haiku consists of 17 ‘on’ or ‘morae’ (sound units) written in Japanese in a vertical single line (top to bottom) with no spacing. There is no concept of syllables in the Japanese language. The 17 (5-7-5) sound-unit or phonetic unit ('on' or 'morae') is roughly equivalent to 11-12 syllables in English and is composed in a short-long-short line pattern (all in lower case). Yet, more than a formula, composing haiku is a path— a way of observing life and catching the ephemeral with brevity. It does not “tell” but "shows,” and captures a moment in time. Haiku poems are generally about nature and are written with a seasonal reference ('kigo' word). Haiku is sometimes called “one-breath poetry,” which means that it can be recited between the in-breath and the out-breath. That is just how short a poem it really is! A haiku has two parts or two images, in the form of a ‘fragment’ (Line 1) and ‘phrase’ (Lines 2 and 3), (the lines of phrase and fragment can also be reversed), and they juxtapose each other either as an association or a contrast. The art of juxtaposition is an exploration of reasoning and a poetic logic that resides in one’s imagination. Between fragment and phrase, there lies a surrealistic silence in the form of pause – “kireji”, or cutting word. In English, it is denoted by punctuation and one can put “dash” or “ellipsis” to separate the two distinct images and to provide structural support for haiku. If the poet thinks that the expression is explicit for the reader to understand the images without difficulty, the natural pause itself takes care of the cutting word. The “Kireji”, in its sublime form, sparks the juxtaposition or disjunction of the two images (syntactic pivot) facilitating a “leap”. Haiku is not a sentence divided into three short lines, hence there is no capital letter or full stop in haiku writing, and there is no title of the haiku. Additionally, the two images should not reflect simple cause and effect. Minimum use of adjectives, articles, gerunds, refraining from the use of simile, metaphor (with exception of implied poetic predicament), adverbs, verbs, and conditional clauses are some of the essential characteristics of writing haiku. In general, the haiku should not be personified. “The manifestation of awareness, freshness, poetic truth and honesty is the lighthouse of the haiku spirit” as advocated by Pravat Kumar Padhy, my mentor and a celebrated haiku poet. A haiku reflects simplicity and honesty in expression without any artificiality, complexity, or pretense. Robert Spiess says, “A haiku lets things become what they are”. The poetic sincerity, as aspired by Basho, is the cornerstone of haiku writings. There has to be a soul, freshness, and honesty in it to radiate its brilliance. W. Hackett says, ‘Lifefulness, not beauty, is the real quality of haiku’. Japanese poetry has become a much-loved art in the literary world. We will explore this poetic art and its aesthetics, we will journey together and discover the haiku spirit of the four masters of haiku poets from Japan: Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), Yosa Busan (1716-1783), Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827) and Mosaoka Shiki (1867-1902). Their work is still the model for traditional haiku writing today and has inspired haiku poets over the years. Here are some classical haiku by the four Masters: old pond a frog jumps into the sound of water -Basho (Translated by Jane Reichhold) The sea darkens and a wild duck's call is faintly white -Basho (Tr. Makoto Ueda) On a bare branch – A crow is perched Autumn evening -Basho (Translated by Ueda) Evening wind: water laps the heron's legs. -Buson (Tr. Robert Hass) The cool of morning -- Separating from the bell, The voice of the bell. -Buson (Tr. Donald Keene) Do not tread on the grass Where fireflies glowed Last night -Issa (Tr. Asataro Miyamori) O snail Climb Mount Fuji, But slowly, slowly! -Issa (Tr. R H Blyth) A carp leaps up crinkling the autumn moonlight -Shiki (Tr. Burton Watson) I'm trying to sleep! Please swat the flies lightly -Shiki (Tr. Michael R. Burch) We hope this short introduction will motivate you to read more about haiku and also inspire you to pen some haiku. (Earlier published as "Haiku Blossoms #1 in Rhyvers) |