Poetry

Poetry

Introduction. I write some odd, little forms of poetry, mostly haiku and tanka. I'll say a few words about these and related forms, and give some examples from my own work. Don't pay too much attention to the comments -- there are wiser commentators -- or for that matter, to the poems -- there are better poets. Just enjoy.

Haiku. Haiku come to us from the Japanese. The thing most people know about haiku, namely, that it's 5-7-5, is false. Maybe it's the nuns.

nuns having taught her
haiku are 5-7-5
she views mine askance

That was written after my wife. Oddly enough, it is 5-7-5. English-language haiku tend to be written in three lines with a short-long-short pattern and consisting of at most seventeen syllables. Still, there is a lot of variation as even a cursory examination of the literature will reveal. Haiku do not legitimately have titles -- either a title is redundant or it is an attempt to smuggle extra information into this very succint form. You refer to a haiku by its first line, for example, the first haiku in this section is called "nuns having taught her."

Traditionally, haiku have to do with nature.

bridge traffic stalled ... a gull flies in place against the wind	my walk ends ... a thin line of moon hinting at the rest
new fallen snow ... blackbird upon blackbird leaving the tree	on the mouse pad by my computer ... tiny droppings

Some haiku include season words, that is, words or phrases that suggest the season -- summer, fall, winter, spring -- of the haiku. For example,

christmas eve
pretending sleep
pretending ... sleep

is a winter haiku. Some people make a distinction between haiku and senryu where haiku are nature-oriented and senryu are people-oriented. On such an account, these might be considered senryu.

anniversary dinner ... aging most gracefully the wine	between soft breasts thrusting my wrinkled dollar bill
urging the sweet young poetess ... submit	how rustic! she says as she snaps string beans and sips her martini

The line between nature-oriented and people-oriented strikes me as a tough one to draw. I just call these haiku.

Tanka. Tanka also come to us from the Japanese. Tanka are typically written in five lines with a short-long-short-long-long pattern and consisting of at most thirty-one syllables. Love is a common topic in tanka.

looking at the photograph I think what a fox ... to think of thinking that of grandma	the fierce din of pots and pans banging in the kitchen ... I was unfaithful in her dream
in response to mom's demand eat something green grandma nudges the pickles toward me	she knees me in the crotch oh so gently this comely topless table dancer

Michael Dylan Welch wrote "A Favorite Tanka" column on my "this credit card" here.

Eyeku. Marlene Mountain calls these "unaloud haiku."

Haiku sequence. A haiku sequence is pretty much what you would expect, that is, a sequence of haiku or haiku-like verses together forming a larger poem.

Anna

arm over my side
hand curled around
my penis

sleep
quieting all
but the want

your fierce joy
concealing
jealousy

when I pack
kneeling you offer
pink lips and tongue

laughing
racing beside me
to the bus station

your sweet revenge
leaving me
gasping

Haibun. Haibun is part pose, part poetry. The poetry is typically haiku.

Bob

Bob was a friend. A life-long friend to my wife. Sometimes they joked that she followed him. First from Bay City to Detroit and later to California. Bob found a home everywhere but finally in the gay community of San Francisco. There were visits back and forth through the years and more so toward the end. Visits to the hospital, visits to say goodbye. Every time he would recover. Every time but one. When he was gone we gathered at his home. Filling plastic bags with unwanted, unneeded clothing to be given away.

lightening the way
to a goodwill store ...
red feather boa

Renga.Renga and variations are collaborative poems with two or more authors. Authors write haiku or haiku-like verses in turn. In the following example, Carlos' verses are in italic.

Motown, a linked poem by Zane Parks and Carlos Colón
December 27, 1996 - January 26, 1997

motown    champagne and gunshots    ring in the new year
g  n  i  k  l  a  w  n  o  o  m
abdicating    the man formerly known as king    leaves the building
demolition crew    the shine on their new wrecking ball
sunken galleon    golden glint of doubloons    in the shark's eye
de-barnacled    my ship of state

off the skyscraper    a helium balloon    with a poem attached
gently rolling up    the burst condom
love shack    nowhere in the blueprints    room for a baby
drag queen leers    passing construction workers
mending the tinman's    brand-new broken heart    rosie the riveter
stranded on the roof    searching for a rainbow

Links. There is much material on haiku and related topics on the web -- some good, some bad, and some indifferent. A couple of excellent sites are the Haiku Society of America and Jane Reichhold's "Aha! Poetry." Both offer numerous links beyond.

Books. These are some books to check out.

· The Haiku Anthology, third edition, edited by Cor Van Den Heuvel, W.W. Norton & Co., 2000.

· Haiku Moment: An Anthology of Contemporary North American Haiku, edited by Bruce Ross, Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1993.

· The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, and Issa, edited by Robert Hass, Ecco Press, 1995.

· The Haiku Seasons: Poetry of the Natural World, by William Higginson, Kodansha International, 1997.

· Wind Five Folded: An Anthology of English-Language Tanka, edited by Jane and Werner Reichhold, Aha Books, 1994.

Acknowledgements. "nuns having taught her," "new fallen snow," "anniversary dinner," Parnassus Literary Journal; "bridge traffic stalled", Amber; "my walk ends," "on the mouse pad," Modern Haiku; "christmas eve," "between soft breasts," "beyond mountain," Raw Nervz; "urging the sweet," "how rustic! she says," "in response," Brussels Sprout; "not knowing," Canadian Writer's Journal; "filling station," "the fierce din," Woodnotes; "looking at," Tanka Splendor 1996; "she knees me in the crotch," Five Lines Down; "her blue-veined hand," "barstool," Lynx; "Anna," Cicada; "Bob," contemporary haibun online; "Motown," Mirrors.

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