Most of us learned all we know about haiku in an English class as children. What endeared it to many of us was that there was less work involved in writing a haiku than even a limerick, let alone a page of iambic pentameter. All we had to do was come up with 17 syllables about nature in a 5-7-5 pattern. Then it was on to fish sticks and cole slaw at lunch.
How little we understood haiku. And lunch.
Eight years ago, the Japanese haiku community asked the rest of the world to give up on the 17-syllable rule.
This was the Matsuyama Declaration. It explained the roots of haiku, how it came to leave Japan to be embraced worldwide, and how it has been butchered worldwide. The declaration says:
The 5-7-5 rhythm is unique to the Japanese language, and even if other languages were to use this rhythm, it is obvious that it would not guarantee the same effect…. Therefore, when haiku spreads to the rest of the world, it is important to treat it as a short-formed poem and to take methods suitable to each language. For a poem to be recognized worldwide as haiku, it must be short-formed and have an essential spirit of haiku.
Here are a couple of examples I’ve written. First, the traditional 17-syllable format, then a more modern version that more fully speaks to the spirit of haiku.
the bitter wind blows
and draws on the brick chimney
this Easter morning– – –
bitter north wind
draws on the chimney
Easter morning
Or even:
Easter morning
bitter north wind
draws on the chimney
The latter is better because it more firmly divides the haiku into two parts. I’ll write more about that later.
For those of you who care about such things, I’ve had haiku published in Mayfly and Modern Haiku. One each. On my first try [pats self on head]. I realize, of course, I’m no Michael Dylan Welch, but I was inordinately pleased.
I spent 15 years writing headlines for newspapers (more if you count the student newspaper at the university). An editor must correctly sum up the story in only a few words, in a certain font at a certain size, without stealing any of the words from the reporter’s lead – in less than a minute because deadline’s fast approaching.
Haiku is almost second nature after that kind of practice.
Interesting. Now I know a little more about haiku writing.