I told Ms. Boss the other I was doing to start a podcast. “It’s going to be on haiku,” I said. She smiled in reply, but not a smile that said “that’s a great idea”, it was more of a “what in the what are you thinking?” To her immense credit, she did not say anything bad about this… plan. In fact, she told me the exact thing that I needed to hear: “If you’re going to do this, you need to do your research.” I started doing so immediately.
I had no idea, but there’s a Haiku Society of America. As soon as they process my application, I’ll be a member. It’s not Wednesday, but here’s the link: https://www.hsa-haiku.org/
Here’s another something I had no idea about – most modern English haiku do not have a 5-7-5 syllable pattern. Most of them actually have less than seventeen syllables, sometimes significantly less. It’s more about putting you in a certain frame of mind with a minimal amount of words than any pattern. So given this revelation, what do I do? I’ve enjoyed the act of wrangling my thoughts into a 5-7-5, but I’ve left lots of great four and six syllable phrases on the cutting room floor because it isn’t haiku. Now, however, I’m being told it would have been perfectly okay to use them. I look at it this way – using a 5-7-5 forces me to meditate on my words so that I bring the truest expression of what I’m trying to say, so I will continue to use that form. That being said, if I create a phrase that does not conform that I believe will rock you to your core, I won’t be afraid to use it. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
I’ve also learned that there is something in haiku called ‘haibun’. Haibun is a combination of prose or something ‘prose-like’ with a haiku. The two parts exist to compliment one another to immerse the reader in the experience the author is trying to create with the haiku portion. I already laid Haibun 1 on you a few days ago. It’ll take some time to get my legs underneath me to repeat that feat, but you will see it again.
Yes, dear reader, the amount of haiku has increased in this space. That’s where my head is now. I want to present my thoughts in the most concise way possible and express myself somehow every day. Will the amount of Random Semicoherent Thoughts decrease as a result? They most certainly will. I must go where my life wills me to go and long form writing just isn’t where I’m headed at the moment. Maybe one of these days…
grey hair falling
not a younger man
but a different one