Haiku-Poetry of the Past & Future

First, for all of those who are sitting there trying to remember some obscure English class in your past, when you vaguely recall some droning teachers explanation of What is a haiku?, here it is in a nutshell.

A haiku is a traditional Japanese poem, made up of three lines. It doesnt have to rhyme (most dont), but it does have a very specific amount of syllables, and they are arranged as follows. 1st line -5syl./ 2nd line -7syl./ 3rd line -5syl., for a total of 17 syllables. Thats it, those are the basic rules.

I say traditional, but actually haikus are a spin-off of an ancient form of poetry (were talking thousands of years), that was a much longer epic type of poem. Modern haikus, only started showing up as a new form of poetry in the 1890s. (This style is barely a 100 years old.) As far as poetry standards go, this is the new pup on the block.

Now according to tradition, most early haikus focused their subject matter on Nature. (Lots of ponds, and frogs, and dragonflies, Oh my!) That makes sense, since Nature had always been the basic theme for the longer poems. They would compare their lives to Nature, because that was the most powerful thing surrounding their world.

However, this is where the newer haikus are starting to branch away from their beginnings. Our world/lives are made up of much different parameters, and haikus are slowly reflecting that change. This is a good thing! Its necessary to evolve with the world around you, because poetry should always be a reflection of life, with all its myriad faces.

Our modern world is fast and full of multi-tasking days. Im not sure most of us could find the time to sit down and read a long poem, even if we wanted to. (This doesnt mean we shouldnt sit down and ponder life every so often, but I fear its becoming a forgotten art.)

Haikus step into this need very nicely. Its basic structure requires the author to get to the point fairly quickly. I like to explain haikus like this. Its like painting a mural size concept, on a postcard. You take a larger idea, emotion, comment on life, and you find a way to convey this picture using only 3 lines & 17 syllables. If you do it properly, you can create multi-level pictures/meanings, just by which words you choose to use.

Modern haikus should reflect thoughts and feelings of life, without compromising the depth of those subjects in the name of brevity. Its actually a remarkably flexible form of poetry, considering its basic restraints.

You can choose to humorously comment on the cart traffic in your local grocery store, or seriously ask Whats it all about?, using the same format. Its all in how you approach it. (Hint: Get a good dictionary!) Your life words are already out there for the picking, you just need to find the right ones. Hmmmm!

Lifes words are out there

For the picking, you just need

To find the ripe ones.

See what I mean? Think Ill call it Harvest Time.

About The Author:

B. MacNichol is the award winning, premier poet of the frameable greeting card line - N OTHER WORDS, whose background includes Senior Engineering, Master Drafting, Journeyman Blacksmithing, and Farriery (horseshoeing). While spending her formative years in Missouri, she currently resides in the mountains of North Georgia, and is pursuing a professional writing career. To view additional samples of her work, please link to http://www.notherwords.com

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