Haiku of the Week

This blog has not exactly featured poetry previously. In fact, almost the only references have likely been to my song cycle Songs From the Poets when I have put up the occasional clip. I do have some history as a published poet, starting when I was seventeen. But it is something I have not done for a long, long time. Recently, reading over an old journal, I discovered a poem I wrote around 1990 and it was actually pretty decent. Since then I have started writing haiku. This is a pretty good collection if you want to read some traditional haiku:

For those unfamiliar with the form, a haiku is a traditional Japanese poem of only three lines. Typically there are five syllables in the first line, seven in the second and five again in the third line. Most classical haiku date from the 17th to 19th centuries. Japanese and English have rather different semantic densities so the haiku often have a different number of syllables in translation.

There are two elements that are often found in haiku, though these should not be thought of as strict rules. The first is the season word. Most haiku reveal the season, often with a single word. Example:

first snowfall…

scarcely enough to cover

the dogshit

--Issa (1763-1827)

Kern, Adam L.. The Penguin Book of Haiku (Penguin Classics) (p. 109). Penguin Books Ltd. Kindle Edition. 

Another typical element is the "cutting" word which divides the haiku into two parts. Think of it as a twist in the meaning or a surprising comparison. The last line of the haiku quoted above, for example, creates an entirely new context for the first two lines. Another frequent element in haiku is a natural setting with mention of blossoms, or frogs, or weather, or mountains.

Here are two of my recent haiku:

Autumn sounds: birds on roof

They know where they are going

Not sure that we do.

____________

One way the iPad

Cannot rival a book:

Swatting flies!

_________

I hope you enjoy these microscopic poems!