Message from kspachuk

[Anonymous]

I have attached a handout have used in teaching haiku. I believe that haiku in English should be even briefer than usually defined, more like 3-5-3 syllable count is better and more similar to Japanese type.

In the attached handout you will find haiku by Basho, Etheridge Knight, Octavio Paz, Kerouac, Antonio Machado, and Ezra Pound. I wanted a multicultural perspective on haiku and a diversity of types. If you are interested in more information on haiku please read my review of the book The Haiku Handbook on this forum

Below are listed the concepts and definitions that I appropriated from the handbook.

Japanese Ideas & Concepts

1. Enryo—the technique of polite obedience or acquiescence to hide inner fury
2. Ganbaru—to do one’s best
3. Bushido—“way of the warrior,” is a code of conduct and ethics of the samurai which includes being frugal and loyal, mastery of martial arts and honor unto death.
4. Aware—(touchingness) moving, stirring, the kind of the thing that evokes an emotional response
5. Sabi (patina, loneliness) beauty with a sense of loneliness in time, akin to, but deeper than, nostalgia
6. Wabi—(loneliness, poverty) beauty with a sense of asceticism; austere beauty
7. Yugen—(mystery) elegance, mystery, depth, obscure, dark beauty only partially perceived not fully felt.
8. Haiku—a brief poem, seasonal & often with nature as a subject, consisting 5-7-5or of 5 syllables in the 1st line, 7 syllables in the 2nd line, and 5 syllables in the 3rd and last line, though it maybe briefer in English.