Contents:

New:

H.F. Noyes: The Vanishing Act in Haiku

D. Anakiev: Unknown Mind in Haiku

John Martone: The Way of Poetry

===

D. Anakiev, R. Gilbert: Yakushima Declaration

Jim Kacian: Soft Cheese

Jim Kacian: State of the Art

David G Lanoue: Not Your Ordinary Saint

Interview with David Lanoue

Itô Yûki: New Rising Haiku

H. F. Noyes: The Haiku Moment

===

Geert Verbeke: Reflections

H. F. Noyes: Favourite Haiku

Margaret Chula: Poetry and Harmony in a Bowl of Tea

Lee Gurga: Juxtaposition

Mohammed Fakhruddin: Land and Sea...

Richard Powell: Still in the Stream

Richard Powell: Wabi What?

Lee Gurga: Toward an Aestetic...

Bruce Ross: Sincerity and the Future of Haiku

Interview with David Lanoue

Interview with Max Verhart

===

Aleksandar Ševo: Our Daily Haiku

Anita Virgil: A Prize Poem

Dragan J. Ristić: Haiku: East and West

Jim Kacian: Speech on Haiku in the Balkans

H. F. Noyes: Silence and Outreach in Haiku

H. F. Noyes: A Favourite Haiku

Susumu Takiguchi: Can the Spirit of Haiku be Translated?

Saša Važić: Roads and Side-Roads

Jim Kacian: What Do Editors Really Want?

Interview with an'ya

Interview with Dimitar Anakiev

Interview with Robert Wilson

 

James W. Hackett, USA

 

"HAIKU" AND "HAIKU POETRY"

The single term "haiku" has become so dominant and widespread it has virtually subsumed the use of haiku’s traditional designation as poetry.

Among the most sad and palpable consequences of using only the single term "haiku" is that it may invite not only good, bad, and ugly haiku, but often includes a banal, amorphous mélange: much of it antithetical to haiku's aesthetic and naturalist traditions.

I believe time has shown the terms "haiku" and "haiku poetry" are in dire need of re-evaluation and possibly redefinition. Significant differences in value, meaning, and intent have been ignored too often, resulting in the disparate, vulgar misuse of the genre.

Public recognition of the genre's dissolution is long overdue, and I believe some resolution deserves to be made. The terms "haiku" and "haiku poetry" bear upon the very definition, usage, quality, content, and indeed even the possible fate of haiku poetry in English. As these terms have come to be used, they often do not mean or even refer to the same thing, and are at times completely antithetical.

For an appropriate usage of the term "haiku poetry" (or "poem") I believe there are several characteristics that have traditionally distinguished haiku as "poetry."

– Certainly one traditional criterion for "haiku poetry" has been its dedicated focus upon "Greater Nature" that refers to the Far Eastern and current ecological view of life on Earth.

– Another salient characteristic of ‘haiku poetry’ is its depiction of nature's "suchness", or "is-ness" – as manifest in life's eternal present.

– And I agree with Basho that a haiku poem should be "selfless", a term known in Zen as muga. That is, to see things with God’s identifying eye. (The quintessence of "That Art Thou".)

– Moreover I believe haiku poetry should be written in at least a measured use of English syntax, wherein discretion, clarity and naturalness should govern any use of ellipsis (word deletion).

– Certainly the hallmark of a poem is some emotive quality: the subtle suggestion of some feeling distinguishes a haiku poem.

One or several of the above characteristics of haiku poems are absent in many so-called ‘haiku.’ Most often there are marked differences as well in the form and style of ‘haiku’ presentation that tends to make the latter amorphous or even unintelligible.

A haiku poem in English should reflect at least a quasi-English syntax so that a sense of naturalness is retained. To completely dismiss the syntax of our own great language seems a suspect and fatuous act, one that both R. H. Blyth and Harold G. Henderson would also condemn.

To this poet such fundamental differences between some so-called "haiku" and "haiku poetry" beg the questions of how and why haiku creation became so disparate since the 1970s. The advent of minimalism (and with it, obscurantism) seems to have been the principal cause for haiku's aesthetic anarchy.

And most importantly, to what end such dissolution means to the spirit and future of haiku poetry – questions which are generally ignored.

For as it is, I believe haiku's distinctive spirit is imperiled by shallow indifference and a limited understanding of the traditional values of haiku poetry.

Though the single term "haiku" can include some very worthy verses, the exoteric vulgarizing of the title ‘haiku’ has made it a catch-all term: one that is so all-inclusive it is virtually meaningless. And worse yet, misleading — as it ranges in content from true experiential haiku moments, to many forgettable "so what?" verses, and all the way down to obscure word puzzles, cyber-concoctions, salacious puns, to crass commercial ploys.

Moreover the rank license now evident in some so-called "haiku" obviously has led would-be writers with little skill (and even less understanding of the genre) to write virtually anything under the aegis of "haiku". This seems largely responsible for the aesthetic anarchy in some haiku creation, wherein an "anything goes" attitude prevails.

Doubtless the common term " haiku" is likely to always be with us. But "haiku" per se should not be assumed to mean the same as " haiku poetry". Indeed there can be (and often is) literally a world of difference between these terms; they are not, nor should they be understood as necessarily synonymous.

So on behalf of haiku's traditional spirit and the many gifted haiku poets around the world, I propose a resumption of the title "haiku poetry" be used when referring to literate verses that manifest writing skill, and some emotive suggestion.

Finally, I believe any bone of contention regarding haiku labeling may be laid to rest by the following query: Can one even imagine depriving Basho and the other great haijin of the wreath of honor which the terms "poet" and "poetry" confer?

 


First published in Hermitage: A Haiku Journal, Ion Codrescu, Constanta, Romania (2006)

Reprinted by the author’s permission

 

 

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1