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SIX BLACKBIRDS
Copyright © 2020 by Dan Lukiv. Except for non-commercial use in the classroom, no part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted in any form or through any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without written consent from the author.
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Haiku: perhaps that word brings to your attention a concise form of poetry, one that many call imagistic, with line one of 5 syllables, line two of 7, and line three again of 5 (Wakan, 2020). You may say that every word must count; that often an image of permanence and one transitory are linked for an evocative effect; that the present tense is essential; that a seasonal word grounds the poem in time; and that the words show, in images, but do not tell the reader how to feel. Such a traditional view, however, is often replaced by innovations that push the boundaries that define haiku today.
Rengé, editor of Haiku Headlines, "prefers 5/7/5 syllabic discipline, but accepts irregular haiku...which display pivotal imagery and contrast" (Haiku Headlines, 2020, p. 160). Actually, "many modern Japanese haiku...do not include a seasonal word, and many vary from the 5-7-5 onji [Japanese syllables] that are traditionally required" (Wakan, 2020, p. 57). Robert Spiess, editor of Modern Haiku, requests work that displays "traditional aesthetics of the haiku genre" (Modern Haiku, 2020, p. 238), but allows for haiku that are "innovative as to subject matter, mode of approach or angle of perception, and form of expression" (p. 238). Does this mean "anything goes"?
In terms of fine modern haiku, no. Slovenia's Dimitar Anakiev (2020, >From Movement to Literature) speaks about fine haiku as moments of "depth and purity" (p. 8). He describes elements of haiku as "precision of imagery and delineation; unity of form and content; juxtaposition of and resonance between images; visual and aural polish" (p. 9). The USA's Jim Kacian (2020, Tapping the Common Well) says "it takes a very great artist to be deep and simple at the same time" (pp. 16-17).
We might think of haiku as "poetry of suggestion, of understatement" (Virgil, 2020, Introduction), as poetry of "moments of special awareness that...make one feel the wonder of the ordinary seen anew" (Introduction), as poetry of essence that establishes "a delicate mood, a deep emotion by new associations of images" (Introduction). Although the haiku poet doesn't generally tell the reader what emotion to feel, he provides "his reader just enough of a glimpse of a reality to allow the reader to experience the emotion it engendered in [himself]" (Introduction).
You're welcome to apply all I've said and reported about haiku to a related form called senryu. Some people like to argue about what makes a haiku versus what makes a senryu. "You could say," according to Naomi Wakan, "that senryu make you laugh at human foolishness, and haiku make you ponder or wonder" (2020, p. 62). Others have their own distinctions: "Senryu are usually humorous or satirical....Unlike haiku, senryu do employ poetic devices such a simile, metaphor, personification" (Virgil, 2020, Introduction). For me: Haiku, which may use literary devices (Ament, 2020) such as simile, metaphor, and onomatopoeia,
· refer exclusively to nature,
· often contain concrete imagery that appeals to the senses, and
· fill two or three lines;
· 5/7/5 would describe maximum syllabic line-lengths.
Also for me: Senryu are "haiku" that refer to people.
I hope you enjoy the haiku and senryu that make this collection, which I call Six Blackbirds. If you have any comments about my work, by all means contact me at [email protected].
A Note for Teachers
Students may have fun finding out which poems are haiku as opposed to senryu, according to my definition, or another. They may enjoy finding literary devices used (see, e.g., Ament, 2020), or enjoy placing the poems in categories; for example, winter versus spring versus summer versus autumn, humorous versus serious, sad versus happy, traditional versus modern, or satirical versus sober. They may wish to line up those philosophical. They may wish to make up their own categories. In the end, I hope the students' reading of the poems enriches their lives and encourages them to author their own moments.
*
Poplars
Leafless at sunrise--
Skeletons.
*
Lake ice gone--
Already ducks swim
In the green waves.
*
My 13-year-old
Says in "Fam'ly Life" she learned
Hair grows on gentiles.
*
As I study hard
And sip coffee, a bird's song
Slips through the window.
*
Mother! Mother! Tears!--
Waving to me as I turn
To board the airplane.
*
A horse lying
In the meadow. Dead?...No, it
Switches its tail.
*
A black cat sits
Amongst the dandelions,
Switching its tail.
*
Transmission lines
Humming above the pasture
And cows.
*
A kangaroo and
A radio telescope--
Frozen in silence.
*
Sun-fired,
These pollen-speckled
Leaves glow.
*
Pollen, lime-coloured
In the dust of the puddle
Gone dry.
*
In black soil,
A row of marigolds,
Silently yellow.
*
At midnight,
This bluish sky holds
A sliver of moon.
*
An egg,
Held in darkness,
This moon.
*
As my rock skips
Across the quiet lake,
I feel happy.
*
Midnight puddle
Reflects neon red;
So bloody.
*
Black clouds,
In the moonlit sky--
Great amoebas.
*
In this green sea
Of pain, death is yet better
Than the start*.
*Ecclesiastes 7:1 (New World Translation).
*
In the clear lake,
A trout slides into my view--
Then it's gone.
*
Burnt orange--
The lake almost
Morning coffee.
*
Weed killer--
The smell reminds me
Of death.
*
The nurse sighs--
She wakes the old woman
For her sleeping pill.
*
A great dark cloud
Trailing tentacles of rain--
Air-born man-of-war.
*
A butterfly
On the hot asphalt,
Dying.
*
Wind!--
Our little pruned tree
Snaps!
*
Hot night-wind pulls
My hair as I close my eyes
In joy.
*
Six blackbirds
Riding on a horses back--
Hanging on.
*
I nearly step
On a little bee--
I feel good.
*
Peonies--
Their fragrance, larger than me,
Reminds me of Mom.
*
Man with crooked legs:
His wife loads up the camper,
Then folds up the stairs.
*
Birds singing--
Why do I think of
Childhood?
*
This lake
Twinkling silver as I
Quietly read.
*
A whole rainbow
In this hot August sky--
Crickets are silent.
*
The farmer, after
Checking on the cows,
Sits down to breakfast.
*
At the campsite,
Bushes at night smell like
Cat pee.
*
Hummingbird,
>From 60* to 0
In a blink.
*60 mph
*
The moon--
The lesser luminary*--
Soil 1/2 glass.
*Genesis 1:16 (New World Translation)
*
Green valley--
Morning smell of
Pulp mills.
*
Black trees,
Against an orange sunset,
Swaying.
*
I dreamed the local
SPCA lies between
Chinese restaurants.
*
The only window
Left in the cabin glows
Red in this sunset.
*
The old man
On a bench at the park--
Not swinging.
*
A single cloud,
Curled like a great shrimp--
Pink in the sky.
*
Twilight--
A black snake-cloud between
Purplish skies.
*
As I read, and my
Wife plays the piano,
The world is perfect.
*
The low sun--
A great salmon egg
Aflame.
*
Five cows
Walking in line--
Cars fly by.
*
Log house
In a green meadow--
Roof rotting off.
*
The train
Snaking along the river
Gone dry.
*
Spanish Banks*--
Some people look white
And awkward.
*A beach in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
*
Freighters
Empty and anchored--
A speedboat whirs past.
*
A dog
Chasing a seagull--
A crab scurrying.
*
The tanned lady
Rolls over, then closes
Her eyes.
*
The tide is far out--
One man stands in tree shade,
Watching.
*
Overdressed tourists,
Quick-paced at the beach. One says,
"Where's some bloody shade?"
*
At the mall, a man
In an electric wheelchair
Looks tired.
*
A lone bat
Darting between trees--
Gone.
*
The lady
Reading the newspaper--
Looking horrified.
*
A girl has safety
Pins--the kind you use for
Diapers--in her ears.
*
A pretty girl
With a belly button ring--
Fear in her eyes.
*
A dewy spider web
Between two lines of
Barbed wire.
*
A sleek quarterhorse,
Alone in a pasture.
*
A dead bird,
Alongside the highway--
Feet up.
*
Forest fire smoke has
Drifted into our valley--
The sun glows red.
*
Forest fire smoke:
Lake-fog makes the
Old man cough.
*
Blonde grass has
Escaped the forest fire--
Tall in the breeze.
*
Matchstick trees
Line the highway--remnants
Of the big fire.
*
The soldier
Dead in his foxhole, still
Clutching his rifle.
*
Chickadees and
Nuthatches--pals at
The feeder.
*
The nuthatch
Walks straight up the tree,
Then straight down.
References
Anakiev, D. (2020). From movement to literature. In D. Anakiev & J. Kacian (Eds.),
Knots: the anthology of southeastern European haiku poetry (pp. 7-14).
Tolmin, Slovenia: Prijatelj Haiku Press.
Ament, E. (2020). A glossary of rhetorical terms with examples. Retrieved August
28, 2020 from the University of Kentucky, Department of Modern &
Classical Languages, Literatures, & Cultures Web site:
www.uky.edu/ArtsSciences/Classics/rhetoric.html
Haiku Headlines. (2020). 2020 poet's market. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest
Books.
Kacian, J. (2020). Tapping the common well. In D. Anakiev & J. Kacian (Eds.),
Knots: the anthology of southeastern European haiku poetry (pp. 15-18).
Tolmin, Slovenia: Prijatelj Haiku Press.
Modern Haiku. (2020). 2020 poet's market. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest
Books.
New world translation of the Holy scriptures. (2020). Brooklyn, NY: Watchtower
Bible and Tract Society of New York.
Virgil, A. (2020). One potato, two potato, etc. Forest, VA: Peaks Press.
Wakan, N. (2020). Haiku: One breath poetry. Torrance, CA: Heian International.
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