Haiku

The Haiku shown here are (thus far) all gleaned from the Wall. Steve Donohue has promised to write twelve haiku as his hobby for Winter Camp XXII

As a poetic form, the Haiku is very difficult. Its origins are Japanese and the variations between Japanese and English make it difficult to translate most Haiku. It is generally held that most Westerners do not really grasp the Haiku

This is probably because the Haiku evolved over time and some of the rules of their making changed. Initially, a Haiku was part of a larger form called a Tanka; later it was used as the introduction to a Renga, a series of poems.

There are several rules for Haiku, not all of which are necessarily followed by all authors (or even agreed upon by all experts)

• Three lines long and the lines have a pattern of either 5-7-5 or 5-7-7 syllables
• Should contain a seasonal word (this stems from their Renga origins, when the Haiku would tell when the Renga that followed was written
• Should be tied to the natural world
• Usually, the first two lines present images which are not connected until the third line reveals them
• In some forms, the first line is expected to be an active image, the second a passive one

As you will note in the following examples, we haven't always played by all these rules in each Haiku. As with any communicative art form, the masters say that you can break the rules, but only once you know them.

Sticks and stones are thrown,
breaking electronic bones,
lost in cyberspace.
     • Ron Donohue

Hate, thick spring fog,
Blind, thoughtless, emotionless,
Not open minded
     • Ron Donohue

dumb, blind amoeba
wind whipping cold and bitter
Big Bro likes to talk
     • Steve Donohue

Gear piled to the sky,
Cheerful spirit of summer
Oakley is in camp
     • Steve Donohue

Worker bees queenless,
hours spent with no direction
Goons at Clearwater
     • Steve Donohue

endless darkened stream
minutiae of demented minds
Steve's phone at Coughlin
     • Steve Donohue

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