Haiku Reading

One benefit of the Internet revolution is that I have been discovery many articles about haiku online during this year of haiku education. Today, I’ve been reading one with the lovely title “Haiku as Poetic Spell” written by New Zealander, Martin Lucas.

Lucas takes a rather critical look at contemporary haiku calling it too conformist and too strict with pattern. He's not really complaining about the overused 5-7-5 syllabic formula but railing against the constant use of seasonal words and the fact that many modern haiku use juxtaposition to contrast different images in a much too predictable way. Lucas finds that these techniques used too often create a body of haiku that although individually well-written, can become bland and yes, boring.

One way to correct this, he suggests, is with the placement of “pauses and stresses,” making them vary “considerably from poem to poem." The ingredients for a great haiku, Lucas believes are, “Words that chime; words that beat; words that flow. And once you've truly heard it (this kind of haiku), you won't forget it, because the words have power. They are not dead and scribbled on a page, they are spoken like a charm; and they aren't read, they're heard.”

I love his summary of what he desires from haiku: "something primitive; something rare; something essential…They begin and end each reader's unique reflection.”

Now that’s haiku to strive for.