A calling for something like Haiku
Lockdown continues. The weather remains upbeat. The psychological impact on yours truly is that I find myself yearning for the great outdoors. Hitting the roads and cycling every few days is not the same as getting out into the countryside, surveying wide vistas and enjoying clear head-space.
I remain grateful for the extra time spent with my son, the joyful master of distraction that he is. It’s just I feel a pull to get outdoors in a way which I never felt in the pre-virus days.
While on the one hand I have very little to complain about, on the other I am missing the freedoms that perhaps I took for granted just a few months ago. However, the purpose of my writing today is not to wallow. I wanted to share a newfound pleasure.
What pleasure?
To deal with the almost listless energy I have found it helpful to focus on creative outputs. I’ve been drawn towards short-form poems, in particular the Haiku.
It is such a subtle yet deep and thoughtful concept. Basically, it is a form of three-line poetry, usually beautifully descriptive and evoking nature or the natural order of things. The first line has five syllables, the second seven, and the third five again, and the idea is that the Haiku can be read all in one breath.
The origins can be traced back as far as the 9th century and like many art forms it has waxed and waned in popularity as different cultures appropriated it. For some, a haiku is considered to be more than mere poetry. It represents a way of looking at the physical world and seeing something deeper.
What’s so high-minded about it?
The three lines are intended to convey two images, or notions which are somehow complementary but also at odds with each other. This juxtaposition represents a continuation of ‘sense’ but a ‘cut’ of experience.
Michael Dylan Welch, a Poetry Professor, states that the Haiku “gains its energy by the intuitive or emotional leap that occurs in the space between the poem’s two parts, in the gap of what’s deliberately left out. …The art of haiku lies in creating exactly that gap, in leaving something out, and in dwelling in the cut that divides the haiku into its two energizing parts.”
I have had a go at writing some Haiku. The ‘cut’ is more obvious in some than others – like anything this requires practice. Overall, I found the conjuring up of a Haiku is just the right balance between creative force and logical puzzle.
Spring
The green buds grow now
Bursting forth from healthy stems
Rich in life and verve
Blossom
Pink and white and cream
Blooming and cheery petals
Drop gracefully down
Precipitation
Falling and falling
Like a shimmering curtain
Rain refreshes all
Sunlight
Uplifting golden white
Radiant warm rays soften
The tense moods below
Darkening
Outside the light fades
As the evening beckons
Like a warm embrace
If you feel at all inspired, and wish to have a go, check out Your Dictionary. The site has far more context and information as well as a guide for beginning to write Haiku.