Rad Haiku

I have no haiku to post today, but I wanted to talk some about gendai haiku. In Japanese gendai means modern. In fact, contemporary Japanese haiku is less tradition-bound and more innovative than Amercan haiku. By that I mean gendai haiku incorporates surrealism, symbolism, urbanism and many other tenets we deny as really being part of haiku.  Where do I stand on this issue? Flexibility and free-thinking matter. As Virginia Woolf once said the world changed for good during WW 1--all the arts no longer tried to duplicate reality but used different methods to stretch, bend, and cause us to examine the world in a radically new way.

Here's what haiku writer,  Richard Gilbert, who lives and teaches in Japan, said about gendai haiku:

“During the war, over 40 New Rising Haiku poets were persecuted; they were imprisoned and tortured, and some died in prison. … [The director of a haiku society associated with the government stated:] ‘I will not allow haiku even from the most honorable person, from left-wing, or progressive, or anti-war, groups to exist. If such people are found in the haiku world, we had better persecute them, and they should be punished. [B]y the 1920s … the ‘New Rising Haiku movement’ (shinkô haiku undô) wished to compose haiku on new subjects, and utilize techniques and topics related to contemporary social life. These poets frequently wrote haiku without kigo (muki-teki haiku), and explored non-traditional subjects, such as social inequity, utilizing avant‑garde styles including surrealism, etc. …

(Kigo are words that point to a particular season, to set the poem during a certain part of the natural cycle of life and change. Examples include, mist, frost, frogs, wisteria, cicada, etc.)

Wow, to persecute and punish haiku writers? For having a rabbit leap over the moon? On the plus side, it's wonderful that words have power.

As British politician Pearl Strachan said, "Handle them carefully, for words have more power than atom bombs."

If you're curious about gendai haiku, check out this link. If you follow the link under each author, you will find some selected haiku that has been translated into English. Here's the link: http://gendaihaiku.com/