111] 2.  Some Thoughts for Rethinking Haiku

Jane Reichhold (Reprinted from Mirrors, Summer 1989)

[ With Narayanan Raghunathan's Responses ]

In place of the traditional article on how-to-write haiku, here are some questions. This is not a pop-psych test or a challenge to your values. One wonders sometimes about the wonder.

the old think-tank
another idea jumps into
a sound mind

Should there be a better term for poetry written in English that is the result of admiration and emulation of haiku?

#No .

Is the so-called "haiku moment" any different from the seconds of inspiration that occur with other works of art?

#Not necessarily .

It is traditional that a break occurs between the two phrases of a haiku; either after the first line or after the second. Do you miss this in haiku that read as a run-on sentence?

#Not always but sometimes Yes.

And haiku one-liners; how do you feel when you read them?

#A little irritated I suppose or rather uneasy. Maybe I must extend my reading style to include these haiku one liners too. 

What about those where a break happens at the end of each line? Or the phrase breaks are mid-line?

#I find it acceptable! I have written Haiku in all these types.

Do you feel haiku need punctuation? If so, where and how much?

#Essentially punctuated. I use "~" for the kireji [ this can be displaced with a "-" in most cases where a compound word is not involved. ] and rarely a ","comma for a small pause. I use "-" to make compound words sometimes. 

While reading haiku can you see a link between the images in each one? Are there two "poles", pulling your mind in opposite directions before the "snap" of the spark that joins dissimilar things?

#Yes most often! 

What makes a haiku different from other three-line short poems?

#Very difficult question! I really don't know! 

Do you miss a reference to nature or is that less important than the way the linkage works?

#Less Important though very significant. I think reference to nature is very essential when possible. 

Do days go by when you are too busy to write haiku until a pressing deadline forces you to look! and there they are haiku all around you?

#Yes ! Haiku Comes to the Haijin! 

How often have you thought of a good haiku and neglected to write it down?

#A few times. 

Do you miss the time you are not open, searching for the crack in the reality of this world where you can slip in to find haiku?

#No ~ I sometimes become too isolated and immune even to Haiku. But I think it is natural that some days you write more, some days you write less, some days you write none at all. 

What activities bring you into a state of awareness where haiku occur?

#Perpetual Prayer Dhyaanam Mantram and relating to the Enveloping Infinitudes of Cosmoses around me. 

Would you like to spend more of your day in that consciousness?

#I always tend to aspire and move towards that consciousness.

I look at the Cosmos as My Intrinsic Personal Projection My Infinite Temple Of Light. I started writing Haiku after many years of my astral meanderings into meta-physical cosmoses as a declared lunatic.

What can be changed to accomplish this?

#I can move into the Himalayas and take on long pilgrim journeys perhaps!

 

 





Please login to post comment.