It's the ultimate editor's blue-pencil job: paring down your dreams, thoughts, inspirations, message, and intentions into that oh-so-regimented haiku format (and today's Wordcount Blogathon theme). Yep, 5-7-5 pattern, no deviations (but no rhyme-requirements either).
'T ain't easy, but as an antidote to our these-days tendency toward logorrhea (and blogorrhea), the disciplines of haiku can make us slow down, refocus, edit our writing, pare it down to the essentials.
Zen Ties is the second of John Muth's books [YouTube book trailer] about a Zen master panda living in a regular American neighborhood [publisher site] - this time Koo, his haiku-speaking nephew, comes to visit:
Tea was very good
My cup holds emptiness now
Where should I put it?
There can also be a humorous side to haiku's rigor, as shown by Guyku: a Year of Haiku for Boys, by Bob Raczka and Peter H. Reynolds [review] [publisher site], which features this summer-related guyku:
Lying on the lawn,
we study the blackboard sky,
connecting the dots.
The GiggleIT Project is a free international online writing project for students, and it includes haiku as one of its 2011 competitions. Once their teacher or librarian registers a class/group, then students' creative writing and artwork can be showcased to a world audience. I should know, since I'm the GiggleIT publicity chair!
Voices of children,
All colors and all ages,
Lift us with laughter.
**kmm
Haiku is a very versatile form. For instance, your nephew and his battle buddies wrote some pretty good Army haiku during Basic. :-)
ReplyDeleteEspecially love the connect the dots one. Thanks for sharing.
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