theory
How to write haiku – or rather how to construct it? It seems quite easy but the devil’s in the detail; in details or in rules – unexpectedly numerous - which must be followed to create this modest poetry.
• Three lines, 17 syllables, composed in 5-7-5 rhythm.
• Kigo – a word, an expression indicating season of the year in a more or less direct way, e.g. ‘chill off the river’ (probably autumn), ‘Christmas Eve’, ‘August in garden’.
• Kireji – cut , transition of thought from one image to another. Usually after first or second line (//).
quiet May evening //
sandal buckle muddles up
crickets’ tune in grass
at daybreak returns
the salvaged shape of the sun //
the ice-cold ocean
• Nature – the main subject of poetic interests of a haijin – a haiku writer. Haiku is full of sunshine, leaves, frogs croaking, crickets and forget-me-nots.
• Simplicity – of form and content. Haiku does not like sophisticated metaphores. It shows the world just the way it is and emphasizes the beauty of seemingly insignificant things.
• Impersonality. Haiku writer is absent in his poetry and personal pronouns are inadvisable.
• The present. Haiku does not like past or future tense – it focuses on here and now.
• Space. Haiku does not describe subject directly or completely. It gives the reader freedom of thought and invites to co-creating its meaning along with the author.
Haiku is just like a flash of insight, a stop, a draft, a challenge… And beyond all that, it is a good exercise for a chatterbox.