Five Seven Five

Simplicity is very important in life. Or at least it should be. We all know this, but often find ourselves in complex situations, tanglements of our own creation. Yea, sometimes this is necessary (in terms of experience) but in most times, its not. A colour is usually black or its white. An answer is either yes or its no. Something is either right or its wrong. You either do something, or you dont. Cold hard beautiful reality - very simple.

Haiku, one of my favourite forms of poetry, is no different. In fact, Haiku embodies this very ideal - simplicity - to evoke emotions and imagery, that longer, more complex poems usually fail to do. Haiku is a form of poetry which is derived almost completely from Japanese culture. The word itself is a combination of two words, hokku (the oldest type of Japanese simple prose) and haikai (which translates directly as verses). The shape and wording structure of haiku is the strongest reinforcement of simplicity. It relies on syllables, or sounds, with a five syllable first line, a seven syllable second line and a five syllable third line (5 - 7 - 5). In this very basic unrhyming format (using only simple words and grammer), Haiku sets out to paint a mental picture of colour and sadness, through beauty, with its feature (particularly older Japanese haiku) being the appearance of a kigo, or season word - to gain the connection to the physical world, through the metaphysical. The typical themes of haiku are nature, feeling (usually emotive) and melancholy.

Older japanese haiku is dominated by one man above all others. He is Basho, a poet from the 17th century whose name is as recongisable to followers of haiku, and DT Suzuki, or Alan Watts is to Zen. Basho was the master of brief but perfectly clear haiku. He had the rare ablity to create atmosphere, usually through the aforementioned sadness and melancholy, and that ablity still resonates today, with his popularity still huge in Japan.

An example or two will show this..

Winter garden,
the moon thinned to a thread,
insects singing.

[Softer, gentler, and more graceful, Basho touches on the peaceful aspects on his existance her]

Ah morning glory -
even you
have let me down

[Perfect, perfect haiku ... sad, melanholic, required no image but building such defined emotion]

Haiku has evolved somewhat since Basho's days. The form began to extend out of Japan and before long, had seduced Europeans and Americans with its simplicity and flow. The famous Zen writer RH Blyth was responsible for much of this spread, yet its was the Beat Generation (typically) of the 40s and 50s that discovered the form in its own right, and evolved in ways that the older poets could not have dreamed of. The champion of this, ah sundown soul, ah angel-headed hipster, ah minute mute man, was Jack Kerouac.

Jack was a keen admirer of Zen and Buddhism and it was his interest in this that led him to haiku. Yet, as he always tended to, Jack wanted to adapt the form to make it more real to him, more rich, more American. In developing his own style which he began to describe as American Haiku, Jack injected a sadness and melancholy that even the old master Basho would have been proud of. The haiku, which he also described as Dharma Pops, or Blues verse, abandoned Bashos format of form, kigo (very often), and even the centuries old 5-7-5.

That said, take it away Dulouz...

"I don't think American Haikus should worry about syllables because American speech is something again...bursting to pop"

Chief Crazy Horse
looks tearfully north
The first snow flurries

[My favourite amongst Jack's Dharma Pops - oh so sad, oh so clear - and with a strong nod to changing beauty of nature]

Evening coming -
the office girl
Unloosing her scarf.

[Jacks typical American form, strongly western but painting such a vivid, and again sad, image]

Snap your finger
stop the world -
rain falls harder.

[Jack gets sly here, tipping his hat to his Zen followings, building a strong metaphysical picture, with little connection at all to historical haiku form]

Note that, Jack wrote much empty verse in his haiku, i admit, when bitter, and cheap wine drunk, it was shotgun verse, he surely knew it, but his best haiku are worthy of the heights occupied by the Basho, and the old masters.

In recent years, modern haiku has evolved more. The American form has gained the fullest momentum, while the older, more natural form has lost ground. The form is seperating itself further from the true haikai, creating a more bastard form of verse, but one that still packs a punch. Ah so, Alexis Rotella , and thank you Wikipedia...

Just friends:
he watches my gauze dress
blowing on the line.

[A real diamond in the rough. The emotion, misguided love, is strong and sad here]

The internet too has spawned a whole new sub-form to haiku. Usually less educated, but enthusastic, you can find the odd diamond in the rough. An example by Harriot West...

reaching where
the hose won’t
— summer rain

[simple, descriptive, excellent!]

Haiku is one of the oldest forms of poetry, though as we have discovered it is one that is in a constant state of evolution. I think Basho would grin at the newest form, its simplicity, and while not fully understanding their form, he would certainly appriceate their energy. I'd suspect Jack would be less positive, but, hell, he was a hard man to deal with.