Monday, December 14, 2009

Haiku

wings give stories flight
eyes possess a secret dawn
beak holds sacred truths



This is my own haiku poem that I have created. A haiku poem is simple, yet beautiful, coming from the Japanese culture. Haiku's usually have three lines, the first line having 5 syllables, second 7, and the third 5. Most Haiku's have images from nature, but can really be about anything that holds meaning for the writer. For me, haiku's are like riddles and pieces of wisdom, that can be discovered, by reading carefully between the lines.


Here are examples of Haiku's from the past and our modern time, I would like to share with you viewers. The first two are from Masaoko Shiki who was a poet born in 1867 in Japan. He suffered with tuberculosis throughout his life; I believe his illness caused him to stop and experience the beauty we ignore in our surroundings, from being so "Busy," and thinking we don't have enough time. Shiki wrote haiku's including those written in several journals that were eventually published after his death in 1902. What made him famous was the fact that he was considered a "radical," while other writers were writing free verse poems, Shiki decided to stick to the rules of Haiku: three lines, to create his art, that is now widely used today.



For love and hate
I swat a fly and offer
it to an ant

A mountain Village
under the piled up snow
the sound of water



The second poet whose work I would like to present is Gerald Vizenor. Vizenor is a poet,fiction, and shot story writer born in 1934on the, coming from from a Chippewa/Swedish background. He used his experience of being bi-racial, the struggles of his youth, and his search of identity in his writing. He came across the Haiku by joining the army and serving three years in Japan, creating haikus to express what he had seen. This evolved into Vizenor publishing books of haiku poetry such as: Empty Swings and Slight Abrasions.



Sudden rain
Scarecrows share an umbrella
bingo night


November Storm
hearts painted on bridge
crossed out


What is so amazing about Vizenor is that he creates his own pattern for his Haiku's. The first poem has the pattern:3/7/3 syllables while the other has:2/5/2.

I write Haiku's to challenge myself by trying to create a message with only a few lines and images. It's not as easy as it seems, you have to make a beat, a flowing rhythm like a song. I dare anyone to write a haiku, it will open your mind to new ideas about the world around you.




For more info about Masaoko Shiki check out:


http://haiku.ccehime-u.ac.jp/~shiki/sm/smhtml">a> and www.quotesofpoems.com

Gerald Vizenor:

www.people.mnhs.org/authors/biog_detail.cfm?PersonID=Vize363 ">

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