Bad haiku

[Julie]

I'm not an expert on haiku. Frankly, they are one of my least favorite forms.

But if you are going to write them, read about what they are first.

Just as sonnets are not "fourteen line poems," haiku are not "three line poems in pidgin English."

Here is one link to a discussion of what makes haiku haiku. There should be at least some evidence that you are familiar with these ideas before you even THINK of posting haiku:
http://www.nhi.clara.net/gepm002.htm

A list of haiku links:
http://www.nhi.clara.net/hklinks.htm

Bad advice about haiku is proliferating on the forums. If you know enough to be dangerous, go learn more. Misinformation is worse than none.

Julie

[This message has been edited by Julie (edited 03-28-2001).]

[jae]

i suggest everyone read & read, thousands and thousands, of haiku before attempting to write them. because they are seemingly simple, too many think they are easy things to write -- the result is disastrous, some to the point of being offensive with the pidgin english used.

it is simple ignorance, is all.

read read read & read. memorize favorites. read more. write letters to moderns asking for chaps. read more. find different master's translations of a few that hit that spot on you that feels bottomless, compare them. read more. then maybe read some more. read longer japanese poetry. read Basho's travel journals. Issa's too. read chinese poetry. read up on buddhism. watch birds. walk in the woods. spend time alone. read haiku. smile at senryu.

start with the masters. --

"Haiku" four volumes -- R. H. Blyth

"History of Haiku" two volumes -- R. H. Blyth

and, to a lesser extent, Haas or Hammill as translators.

then the moderns --

get a good anthology: the Haiku Anthology, Haiku World, Haiku Moment, the Red Moon Anthology.

bad haiku makes Issa's sparrow distant and weepy.

[This message has been edited by jae (edited 03-29-2001).]