HAIKU~

 Some kind of Japanese poetry.
That's all I knew about Haiku, until one of the Thursday night meetings of the Aurora Artists Guild.  That night the demonstration was presented by a watercolor artist who used Haiku together with his painting.
He described the form and showed us many examples of his owns poems; then we were challenged to create our own Haiku using paintings he had brought along as inspiration. 
And that was the beginning.

I wrote my first Haiku after a visit to the Denver Botanical Gardens.  I remember the day vividly.  It was August, 1997.  I expected to see the water gardens filled with beautiful waterlilies; an international water gardening conference was to begin that week.   What I saw instead was devastating.  There had been a hailstorm the preceding day and the entire garden was destroyed....my Haiku:                                       

Where is the color?
Sorrowful shredded lovelies
tears of sadness well.

According to Wikipedia, HIAKU is a form of Japanese poetry. It embodies an essence of inspiration received through physical senses; linked poetry that values the genuineness of expression of feelings according to the nature of the mind.  Traditional haiku consist of 17 on, in three phrases of 5, 7, and 5 on respectively. Although the word "on" is often translated as "syllable", in fact one on is counted for a short syllable, an additional one for an elongated vowel, diphthong, or doubled consonant, and one more for an "n" at the end of a syllable. Thus, the word "haibun", though counted as two syllables in English, is counted as four on in Japanese (ha-i-bu-n)

In English, Haiku is usually created using of one or more of the following:

• Use of three (or fewer) lines of 17 or fewer syllables;

• Use of a season word (kigo);

• Use of a "cut word" sometimes indicated by a punctuation mark to contrast and compare, implicitly, two events, images, or situations.

English haiku do not adhere to the strict syllable count found in Japanese haiku and the typical length of haiku appearing in the main English-language journals is 10–14 syllables. Some haiku poets are concerned with their haiku being expressed in one breath and the extent to which their haiku focus on "showing" as opposed to "telling". This is the genius of haiku using an economy of words to paint a multi-tiered painting, without "telling all". 

As Matsuo Bashō , a 17th century Japanese poet, put it;

"The haiku that reveals seventy to eighty percent of its subject is good.

Those that reveal fifty to sixty percent, we never tire of."

When writing Haiku, I use the 17 syllable, 5-7-5 form.  I am usually inspired by a particular event, a beautiful scene or strong felt emotion.   Here is a sampling of my Haiku.

April explosion
Suffocating darkness
Our Gulf is dying.
                                                6/24/10  (BP Gulf oil spill)

A Jacaranda
Paints the tropical landscape

Passionate purple.
4/03

Through billowing clouds

God rays shine upon the sea

There dwells perfect peace.

11.1.07






A wise little boy

Gave me pink flowers~Always

a good idea.

July,2007

Words without substance
Promising an empty hope
The worst cruelty.
~0707

A day with beauty
Astounds, inspires, uplifts, calms
Heals a troubled soul.
3.10.08

Truth and purpose
Seem lost in a haystack
Can the lost be found?

Drained of desire
Moving through each day empty
Refill the glass, please.
Jan 2010

Late afternoon rain
Leaves a colored arc, straddling clouds
Beautiful rainbow

8.13.09

Black seed and millet

Offered in Copper and Glass

Red Cardinals feast

        1/18/09 (first bird at our new feeder)

Happy Bride and Groom

Showered with pastel petals

Lovely beach wedding.

9.25.09

Back stratched, tummy full

Naptime on the window sill

such a happy cat.

                                                             9.9.09

Budding seaoats sway

Dunes capped with a golden glow

Nature’s perfect art.

6.8.2003

 

       
Stunning white beauty

Captures attention with her

Alluring fragrance

           2003 (Sierra Blanca, our first orchid)

 

 

      Two kindred spirits

Loving each other in the

Time and space they share.

  2002

These are only about a third of the Haiku that I have written. 
If you would like to know more about Haiku check out the references below.

http://www.ahapoetry.com/haiartjr.htm    Jane Reichhold ~Haiku Techniques
http://simplyhaiku.com/   Simply Haiku: Quarterly Journal of Japanese Short Form Poetry