Doreen King
Aspects of Haiku
The Haiku Condition
Traditionally, Japanese haiku includes an element of nature. I am an urban writer. My environment is an urban one and as an urban being, born in London, the city is my natural environment. Call it senryu if you like; what’s in a name. What could be more boring than the standard haiku formula of point something out, say what is happening, transpose the phrases. Then state the weather/name a flower/name some natural phenomenon, while avoiding all ‘-ing’s’, any past tense, and including, if possible, reference to cherry blossom, lanterns, lotus, bamboo and so on...
frog takes the plunge
it jumps
out of the pond
I don’t write Japanese haiku. My writing is British. I live now and what I write is an expression of my experience in this world, and not the past. It is good that the British Haiku Society is able to have such interesting debates about what a haiku is. Such debates are particularly fruitful when there are differing points of view to consider. Some argue that sequences should not be narrative, that the haiku should be understated, that imagination should not be used and so on. It is good that there are opposing points of view!
surrounded by cherry blossom
your words
tinged with pink
Page(s) 17
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