Thursday, November 16, 2006

HAIKU?

Haiku.

I've heard about it recently. It's a Japanese form of poetry. Having lunch at my desk today, I browsed Haiku on the internet and found samples and a set of rules tied to it, and believe me, they are intimidating, especially for someone who never studied poetry or writing. This is what I learned while having my very exciting cottage cheese lunch.


Haiku poems consist of three lines (or units), each having a number of syllables - 5 syllables, over 7 syllables, over 5 syllables. Total: 17 syllables. That's not enough! The poem must include a kigo, a word connecting to or relating to a season, i.e. "snowy" as in Winter. Each unit must also compliment the others and there are other rules I just flat out ignored. There are many definitions of Haiku poems for different languages and this is the one I tripped over.


A photo I previously posted came into mind and I thought about it. Then, I reached for a piece of paper and pen and scratched away. By the time I finished my delicious lunch, I rewrote what I came up with and slipped it into my handbag.


Here is my feeble attempt at Haiku. I'm one syllable short. Oh, well. I'll give it another try one day.



Chill descends deeply

Koi succumb to the nature

Drenched in slumber.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Better those koi were drenched in slumber than the tornados that ripped through your state today. I was thinking about you and worrying! Glad to see you were learning about Japanese poerty instead of weather issues. Having survived a tornado as a child I always worry about green skies and freight trains where there are no tracks. Stay safe, my friend.

Mary said...

Jane - I slept through some bad stuff. Didn't hear a thing but woke up to chairs blown over on the deck and my pooper scooper was found about 20 feet away from where I keep it. We are all OK! Tornados touched down about 20 miles northwest of us.

LauraHinNJ said...

Wasn't that fun?

;-)

I had no idea there were rules beyond the syllable thing and that the poem should be about some aspect of nature. Guess I've got some reading to do!

I asked some girls at work to write haikus for me today - it was pretty interesting to see the way each of them did it. Some were done in a minute, others spent what seemed like hours worrying over every sound.

I was going to write that Renga poem last night about my fish also - they make good subjects.

Like your poem, by the way!

Mary said...

Laura - it was fun once I had a subject! There are various ways to write Haiku. I loved what you did in the office. I can't even imagine what the people in my office would come up with...they are mostly men law enforcers. HA!

Susan Gets Native said...

Works for me, Mary!

Anonymous said...

I don't think I would call it feeble. I love the phrase "drenched in slumber".