Haiku Thread

winter solstice
thumbing through an old book
for a new recipe

bisepost wrote:

i'm sorry... bibliobella, i do like your poetry... something calming about it, but haiku's follow syllabolic form (5-7-5)

(lame) example:

mike, jeff, eddie, stone
matt cameron and boom gaspar
six magical men

The following I posted on the sky i scrape. The first part is a little high-and-mighty, but the second part is more subdued. I love haiku.

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If you are interested in haiku let me tell you a little about it. It is not 5-7-5 syllables. It is an intense moment wrapped up in a seasonal reference so that the recipient can understand it. It is given as a gift. It can be 9 syllables 12 syllables 15 syllables, in fact 17 syllables in the English language is too long. It can be 1 line 2 lines or 3 lines, but I rarely find a good 1 line English language haiku. It is beautiful in it's simplicity. Many books about haiku mention wabi and/or sabi and other Japanese terms for finding the beauty in lonliness or emptiness because without attachment then something can be truly understood for what it is. It is a moment. There usually isn't "ing" phrases. Good haiku do not have dashes. Haiku started as the first part of a game that linked poems together. It was called Hokku at that time if I'm spelling that correctly and usually was complimentary to the host. Linked haiku are called Renga. The next person responds to poem that was just written, not one written a long time ago. Here's one I wrote this morning

autumn morning bolts awake
metro train

The seasonal reference is autumn morning, of course, and metro trains are loud so there is the intense moment of waking from rest which can have it's lonliness about it. There's seasonal almanacs specifically for haiku. I think they are called saijaki. Every two weeks has a different set of seasonal references.

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I'll back away from my elitist tone. If you want to find out about haiku just look out your window, or go outside. Write two poems. One in 12-15 syllables in 1, 2 or 3 lines. The other in 17 syllables 5-7-5. Look at what is over one hundred feet away and what is within 5 feet. Write about what you see or hear or feel or sense. Do you find a difference in the meaning of the poems? Which do you like better?

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So, for today, in response to your particular name string

autumn fog
leaves of different colors
fire in headlights

autumn warmth
a crossing guard smiles
as children pass

morning fog
broken by sunsplash
runner's high

autumn clouds
move before the sun
waves