Haiku 1-2

This probably should've been the first lesson, it's about the structure/form. But the first lesson had an essential and simple message: Show, don't tell. I briefly mentioned the 5-7-5 form, now more on that.

http://www.haiku.insouthsea.co.uk/form.htm

"In Japanese haiku have seventeen onji, or syllables, in groups of five, seven and five.

The line-lengths of five and seven onji are deeply rooted rhythmic units in Japanese, and have the highly memorable qualities of an English rhymed couplet. Slogans, advertising headlines, proverbs, witty sayings and all forms of traditional poetry are composed in these rhythmic units.

Original haiku in English have also followed one of these two policies. "Strict form" haiku are written in 5-7-5 syllables, and the master of this approach is James Kirkup:

The pond's dark waters -
only stepping stones covered
with the first snowfall

Haiku can have the main subject at the beginning, in the middle or at the end. It is commonest, however, to set the scene with the first line or two (the Where and the When), and then give the subject (the What)."

I went to DC few months back and inevitably had to visit the White house. I heared an old lovely black man playing a familiar jazz tune that I couldn't pin. I passed by and joined the crowds taking pictures and fussing about Obama and the inaguration. All the while, I was torturing my brain trying to remember what tune it was. Did I hear it on the radio? A jazz record? On the internet? In a jazz bar? I decided to go back and ask the man, but alas, he was gone.

Few days ago it hit me. It turns out I heared it in an episode of King of the Hill being played by Chuck Mangione, few googles later, I pinned the tune as 'Feels so good', the part that got me starts at 0:30 and repeats throughout.

Dark, White House
Memories, uncapturable
Feels so good!

Haiku 1-1

F***, I had all these little Haiku lessons well-summarised in few pieces of paper but I lost them, just like I lost countless writing material. Blogging will be the best way to document them, and I hope I don't lose them.

http://www.haiku.insouthsea.co.uk/teachshow_s1.htm

"Poetry works through images, not explanations.

An image brings some scene, object or observation alive, and presents it to your imagination, so that you can picture it, or feel as though you experience it.

Show, don’t tell"

Searching, seething, F***

Pieces of paper, window

Now, papers in vault

Did I show or tell? I think I did both. I managed to keep the 5-7-5 syllabus format though, good start.

Irrational Allure

Indeed, an irrational allure
In the guts burning
A torture, pleasuring to endure
In your bed turning

Indeed, a fatal attraction
A scented path to death
Fear to courage is a fraction
Dare not take a breath

Indeed, a sweet sensation
Verily, resistance proof
Or, choose your destination
Stand still, jump off the roof

Stale life is really worth living
Nothing it gives, and it keeps on giving

Picture courtesty of flickr

Some...

Somewhere in that special place
Where reality and dream intertwine
I could’ve sworn I saw her face
Feeling, touching and rubbing mine

Sometime in that special day
Where fact and fantasy are the same
I could’ve sworn she came my way
Her footsteps echoing my name

Somehow in that special state
Where truth and falsehood unite
I could’ve sworn she was the fate
Like a shy sun at the end of night

Somewhere, sometime and somehow
The future triumphed over the past and now

Picture courtesy of flickr