Haiku Friday
I’ve been working on a haiku about these seedpods but I don’t quite have it.
Want to give it a try?
Every so often, I set aside a day, or a few, to write haiku. I love that they require me to slow down and attend to the world around me. Haiku are about our immediate experience of the physical world. They are different from so many other forms because they don’t generally use rhyme or metaphor or other poetic tools. The writer is not supposed to interpret the experience for the reader—just transport the reader, so the reader can have the experience too. In a way the writer is supposed to make herself invisible. But, not really. The writer is, of course, present in the moment she chooses to share and in the way she constructs the experience for the reader. I’m not even sure it’s quite correct to say haiku doesn’t use metaphor—sometimes the metaphor seems to lie in the unstated connection between the two parts of the poem and sometimes the whole poem feels like a metaphor.
My very favorite aspect of haiku is the inference. The reader must infer the meaning, which the writer does not state. It is the unsaid that I find endlessly intriguing.
Today I thought I would share some of haiku of mine that have been published recently. Another nice thing about writing haiku is that there are a handful of journals that accept and publish them regularly, so haiku poets have opportunities to share. I highly recommend all of these publications for reading and for submitting. The Heron’s Nest and A Hundred Gourds are available on-line. Frogpond and Acorn are gorgeous, paper journals.
icicles…
keeping time
until the end
The Heron’s Nest, Vol. XVI: No. 1, March 2014
snow field
the earth marked
by fallen angels
Frogpond, Vol. 36:3, Autumn 2013
Third Place, Harold G Henderson Memorial Award, Haiku Society of America
measuring
the length
of my solitude
inchworm
A Hundred Gourds, Vol 3:2, March 2014
sending ripples
through the clouds…
water strider
Acorn, Fall 2013
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Oh, those icicles! Lovely. I took a haiku workshop last weekend and learned a lot! Thanks for sharing.
These are great, Liz!
Gorgeous poems! I especially enjoyed the image of the water strider in the clouds. Thanks also for the publication links!
Wonderful haikus, and great description of what a haiku is and isn’t (I’ve been playing with some–you’ve made me realize that I’m not leaving enough for the reader to infer. That’s a challenge.) Love your icicles.
Ok, here is my try–
on the tree branch
dead seed pods
bursting with joy
Looks like we both had haiku on our minds for today, Liz! These are really nice – especially ‘snow field…’ I agree with you that it’s “the unsaid that I find endlessly intriguing.”
Lovely. I especially love the inchworm. Thanks for sharing these.
Except for one, I read these in your journals, too. Congratulations again, Liz. I liked hearing your words about haikus too, and the ideas for publication. My favorite still in that which ends with inchworm-love it!
I had haiku on my mind this week, too. But after reading your description of the form, I wonder if I have too much metaphor. I love the image of a snow field full of fallen angels. Thanks for sharing!
What a wonderful practice to treat yourself to a day (or a few) of slowing down to write haiku! It’s sad that I find slowing down so difficult. You really did such a beautiful job with these, Liz. My favorite is “snow field.”
Wow to that one about the inchworm….Whew! And I like joyacey’s seed pod try! Good thought. Love haiku. So simple but so agonizingly laborious to make come out well.
Wonderful haiku, Liz! I love this one best:
“sending ripples
through the clouds…
water strider”
Perfect imagery. And thank you for sharing the publications that accept haiku. I will look into these. = )
Late to this party but of course I LOVE it and your thoughts and poems. Congratulations on the recent publications and recognitions! (I’m in ATL for the national quarterly HSA meeting as I write this!) :0)