It has been my pleasure recently to have been introduced to the enchanting form of poetry known as haiku. Only 3 lines long, the lines are formed of 5, 7 and 5 syllables (although this does vary), haiku form very compact little treasures of poetic delight. Almost like a photographic snapshot of a moment the drama of which is tightly packed into a mere 17 syllables. This is a very zen approach to poetry and one which I enjoy both reading and attempting to craft.
The zen-nature of the form is also about the state of mind we need to be in when writing a haiku. We are trying to capture a small moment, a scene, a frame or two in cinematic terms and of course an image can be dense with content and meaning, both obvious and hidden. To then transcribe such a scene we need metaphorically to practically embody the camera
and all the equipment needed to manifest a silver print (the type of photograph that is first taken on film, then processed to produced negatives of the image which are then exposed through a photographic enlarger onto photographic paper for just the right amount of time and then chemically induced to birth the image we saw originally through the lens). We need to be acutely aware of when such a moment has been caught on the film of our retina. We then need to "develop" the film by carefully processing the various aspects of the image, digesting the flavour of it and then issuing forth our attempt at conveying the true colour, form and meaning of it with a light touch rather akin to the delicate way that dew rests on rose petals. All this requires great clarity delicacy and free flowing apparent effortlessness. We need to enter the moment we are trying to capture and really let it speak to us so that we can step back out and offer out that moment of magic to others by writing and sharing the haiku.
I have been fortunate in that I have of late been exchanging haiku with a seasoned practitioner of the form and so have been able to sample its delights from a master. It is often by understanding how something works that we are able to produce our own versions is it not?
Joyfully, I have been reminded of this wonderful form at the creative writing class I am attending at Birkbeck with performance poet/ tutor, Anthony Joseph, and it is my pleasure to be asked to create four to five haiku over the next couple of weeks.
So without further ado, here are my latest.
Four legged redness
crosses tarmacked median,
startled in my eyes
Bath water blanket
so neatly encapsulates
traveller's return
Wet platform tactics
eyes darting, spashes abound
so oblivious
(c) Narayani L Guibarra 2010
The zen-nature of the form is also about the state of mind we need to be in when writing a haiku. We are trying to capture a small moment, a scene, a frame or two in cinematic terms and of course an image can be dense with content and meaning, both obvious and hidden. To then transcribe such a scene we need metaphorically to practically embody the camera
and all the equipment needed to manifest a silver print (the type of photograph that is first taken on film, then processed to produced negatives of the image which are then exposed through a photographic enlarger onto photographic paper for just the right amount of time and then chemically induced to birth the image we saw originally through the lens). We need to be acutely aware of when such a moment has been caught on the film of our retina. We then need to "develop" the film by carefully processing the various aspects of the image, digesting the flavour of it and then issuing forth our attempt at conveying the true colour, form and meaning of it with a light touch rather akin to the delicate way that dew rests on rose petals. All this requires great clarity delicacy and free flowing apparent effortlessness. We need to enter the moment we are trying to capture and really let it speak to us so that we can step back out and offer out that moment of magic to others by writing and sharing the haiku.I have been fortunate in that I have of late been exchanging haiku with a seasoned practitioner of the form and so have been able to sample its delights from a master. It is often by understanding how something works that we are able to produce our own versions is it not?
Joyfully, I have been reminded of this wonderful form at the creative writing class I am attending at Birkbeck with performance poet/ tutor, Anthony Joseph, and it is my pleasure to be asked to create four to five haiku over the next couple of weeks.
So without further ado, here are my latest.
Four legged redness
crosses tarmacked median,
startled in my eyes
Bath water blanket
so neatly encapsulates
traveller's return
Wet platform tactics
eyes darting, spashes abound
so oblivious
(c) Narayani L Guibarra 2010
