HAIKU – 272 words
Haiku poems originated in Japan over a thousand years ago,
and remain a perennially popular medium of written expression for poTets and
everyday peepholes of all nations and ages.
The poem as a standard (there are variations) consists of seventeen
syllables – always arranged in three line totaling seventeen syllables: five on
the first line; seven on the second line; five on the third line.
The haiku typically describe a scene in nature, and allow
the writer freedom withing the form to express himself creatively in bringing
the emotions to his reader in a subtle way which he experienced while writing
or actually living the haiku moment himself. He may choose an experience that
insured him in the Great Outdoors and his challenge is to reduce it to
seventeen syllables in three lines.
Most Haiku avoid what I call “sentimentalism”,
“editorializing”, or ‘’passing judgment’’ on the creatures, objects or
happenings described in the scene. Thus, a writer may express sentiment by
simply avoiding descriptive words like adverbs and adjectives, per
se, and thereby allow his readers the free reign of their own
imaginations.
Think of your favorite coloring book. Its simple black lines
on white paper evoke feelings without color, and urge you to fill in the scene
your own way.
By keeping in the simple, yet profound format of
five-seven-five, the haiku creator joins his peers in fulfilling creative
outlets in simple, yet profound ways. It is a fascinating art form.
Here is a haiku from my neighborhood yesterday on the way to
work and school with my wife:
Dark
frosty morning
On our street a deer a car
Narrowly
missing
EDIT – 96 words
A haiku is a kind of Japanese nature poem in seventeen
syllables on three lines:
Five-seven-five. The poet intends to express himself
minimally and without judgment, thereby allowing his audience to supply the
passion in the reading. Most Haiku thus avoid sentiment or editorializing.
Think of a haiku as a page from a coloring book you love.
The artist supplies an outline; you fill it in with your own colors and styles.
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