Today, the Haiku. This Japanese form of poetry is suprisingly hard. The idea is to make sense in just 17 syllables, and create a poem of no more than three lines that can be read in a single breath. Learn more here.
And here's a master of the form, John Cooper Clarke:
TO-CON-VEY ONE'S MOOD
IN SEV-EN-TEEN SYLL-ABLE-S
IS VE-RY DIF-FIC
© JOHN COOPER CLARKE
And a big up to Carol Ann Duffy who's just won the TS Eliot poetry prize. I'm not aware that she has yet attempted a Haiku.
I am not averse to a little poetry
21 comments:
dear beep
you make me think poetry
unwittingly unknowingly
word verifications get me down
I wish I could stand up
again
maybe I should follow the link
and learn
how to do this properly
on the A34
the son and his travel - safe journey
you both
what a coincidence, I was reading Carol Ann to one of my children only last night, at bedtime; and no, that's not an attempt at haiku!
WHERE ARE EVERYONE ELSE'S HAIKUs??
oops, sorry, didn't mean to shout, Caps Lock on by mistake
feeling very lonely on the 'daring to publish my haikus front': the above are all haikus - yes, honest, they are seventeen sylables and three lines as requested; small poems on a blog type level. . .
well, this blog ;-)
feeling very exposed now and may have to crawl back into my shell
feeling overexposed
she crawled back into her shell
so long, fare well
(over-exposed is a commentary on photography, another art form found on this blog; your glorious photo is not, though)
give 'em a break! It's harder than it looks. Just 'cos you can do it doesn't mean everyone can.
hang on a minute. . .
it's not hard, it's soft
like the weather today
what's it like, where you live?
A haiku is a hard poem
for a writer
in the winter time
Did I mention, they are also, traditionally, supposed to be reflective of or mention a season?
it's not hard, it's soft, or both
like a good chocolate truffle
yum-yum
seasons? now he tells me. . .
mine are reflective, they are reflecting what I'm thinking
aren't they?
what do you mean 'reflective'?
Grey and clou-dy,
soul-ess and see-dy, damp and dry
on this wed-nes-day
winter to spring, a strange time of year
make resolutions,
then break them
don't you pronounce wednesday
whens-day?
I do. . .
It doesn't stop there. I believe that a classical Haiku is 5-7-5.
But now we are going beyond the outer fringes of my feeble knowledge.
It seems to have tapped into a well (ha ha) of creative thoughts that spring (ha ha, well/spring, geddit?) forth and flow (ha) from yuo in an endless stream (h).
Personally, I prefer a bit of doggerel.
Something witha n ice rhyme
I gotta go, this is dissin' my
house work spring
cleaning schedule, bye
(rhymes and I got a season in there) (and reflection on my life)
Good point (about teaching)
see ya
There you go. I even managed to get the seasoon in!
Words written in black
fence the screened brightness into
a new winter post
I prefer the rule that says you don't have to do the 5-7-5 thing with English.
This is one I prepared earlier!
Power cut
moon shadow tree on unmarked snow~
silence
I absolutely love applying haiku to the modern world. There was a competition a while ago for a Haiku Windows error messages: here are the winners. Some of them are almost existential in their bleakness.
Windows XP crashed
I am the blue screen of death
No-one hears you scream
Three things are certain:
Death, taxes, and lost data.
Guess which has occurred
South Park had some as well (look away now if easily offended):
Fatass Cartman was
not on the school bus today.
What a big, fat turd.
When you rub your dick,
you might find a discharge that
winds up on the floor.
Oh well, it made me laugh.
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