Sometime in the coming month of December I will speak about poems and haikus at an evening for poets and other word artists in Hoogezand. Readers of the BD may hereby take part in my contribution. For what it’s worth, an introduction first:
A 1)
Of twee (2)
Or even three (3)
Syllables! (4)
Do not form a poem (5)
Not even half way! (6)
They don’t form a haiku either! (7)
That’s a short Japanese poem (8)
Short, to the point and full of expression (9)
For a haiku, syllables count (10)
Divided into three lines: five – seven – five (11)
The subject is of course very important (12)
Usually that is nature, all around us (13)
A haiku should touch the heart directly, without explanation (14)
Haiku that need explanation are worthless haiku (15)
But nowadays the rules seem to have relaxed a bit (16)
That may be because Jan and everyone is involved in haiku (17)
No one seems to stick to the original idea anymore (17)
The result is sprawl and a flood of nonsensical haiku (16)
I don’t mind as long as it pleases the writer(15)
And the writer doesn’t bother the audience with it (14)
Putting syllables in three lines is simple (13)
It’s a matter of counting to seventeen (12)
Eleven words on five lines form an elf (11)
Regardless of the number of syllables! (10)
That clearly gives more freedom (9)
True haiku are very rare (8)
Just like good poems! (7)
A poem is concise (6)
Short and expressive (5)
Short and concise (4)
Expressive! (3)Catchy! (2)
Dank… !
I once gave a bundle of haikus to my love. There is only one copy of that bundle. The last of the hundred haiku isn’t actually a real haiku (because it’s not about nature):
seventeen hundred
syllables, and still
so little said.
Today I wrote this – not very original – haiku:
Falling colors.
Torn leaves.
winter is approaching.
To seriously finish this contribution in the BD, a poem in haiku form:
Long nights.
Dark days before Christmas
It’s still too hot!
The baby Jesus.
Three wise men from the east.
Who cares about that?
You have been warned
Blame someone else.
Set yourself free.
xenophobia.
Loss of purchasing power… terrible
Crisis upon crisis
The climate is warming.
There is no escaping it.
Do we all die?
A new humanity.
At peace with nature?
Your grandchildren?
Dharmapelgrim