I start today with a poem, a Haiku.
Northbound pelicans
Where do they gather and land?
Always, my heart!
I thought I would give some examples of Haiku Poems and invite you to consider writing one. Haiku writing is a form of meditation. I have included some information about writing them and some examples to let you see how powerful they are. I invite you to write one and send it to me in the "comments" section. I will publish the entries in my next blog (with or without your name...). I think you will find it a calming exercise. I particularly like the one that starts...."O snail..."(I just heard that sometimes the comment button doesn't work. I will try to get that fixed, but you can email me the Haiku to bmwmft@aol.com....)
Haiku poems date from 9th century Japan to the present day. Haiku is more than a type of poem; it is a way of looking at the physical world and seeing something deeper, like the very nature of existence.
History and Structure of Haiku Poems
A haiku poem consists of three lines, with the first and last line having 5 moras, and the middle line having 7. A mora is a sound unit, much like a syllable, but is not identical to it. Since the moras do not translate well into English, it has been adapted and syllables are used as moras.
Haiku started out as a popular activity during the 9th to 12th centuries in Japan called “tanka.” It was a progressive poem, where one person would write the first three lines with a 5-7-5 structure, and the next person would add to it a section with a 7-7 structure. The chain would continue in this fashion.
The first verse was called a “hokku” and set the mood for the rest of the verses. Sometimes there were hundreds of verses and authors of the “hokku” were often admired for their skill. In the 19th century, the “hokku” took on a life of its own and began to be written and read as an individual poem. The word “haiku” is derived from “hokku.”
The three masters of “hokku” from the 17th century were Basho, Issa, and Buson. Their work is still the model of haiku writing today. They were poets who wandered the countryside, experiencing life and observing nature, and spent years perfecting their craft.
Haiku Poems From the Masters
A review of haiku poems is an excellent way to become familiar with this form of poetry. Remember that in translation, the moras won’t be the same as syllables. In Japanese, there are 5 moras in the first and third line, and 7 in the second, following the 5-7-5 structure of haiku.
Basho Matsuo
Here are three examples of the haiku of Basho Matsuo, the first great poet of haiku in the 1600s:
An old silent pond...
A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again.
Autumn moonlight—
a worm digs silently
into the chestnut.
Lightning flash—
what I thought were faces
are plumes of pampas grass.
Yosa Buson
Three examples of the haiku of Yosa Buson from the late 1700s are offered here:
A summer river being crossed
how pleasing
with sandals in my hands!
Light of the moon
Moves west, flowers' shadows
Creep eastward.
In the moonlight,
The color and scent of the wisteria
Seems far away.
Kobayaski Issa
Here are three haiku from Kobayashi Issa, a haiku master poet from the late 1700s and early 1800s:
O snail
Climb Mount Fuji,
But slowly, slowly!
Trusting the Buddha, good and bad,
I bid farewell
To the departing year.
Everything I touch
with tenderness, alas,
pricks like a bramble.
Natsume Soseki
Natsume Soseki lived from 1867 - 1916. He was a novelist and master of the haiku. Here are a couple of examples of his poems:
Over the wintry
forest, winds howl in rage
with no leaves to blow.
The crow has flown away:
swaying in the evening sun,
a leafless tree.
Recent Poems
Whitecaps on the bay:
A broken signboard banging
In the April wind. - Richard Wright
ground squirrel
balancing its tomato
on the garden fence - Don Eulert
Remember, haiku is more than a type of poem; it is a way of looking at the very nature of existence.
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