Why Do Haiku? by Steve Haiku Structure
PostscriptI’m flattered, of course, to have a poem written about me, or in reference to me. The follow-up blog posting clarifies that the author did in fact learn something from my essay, in contrast to the examples of titled and syllabic verses presented here. I should add, too, that by saying haiku need not be 5-7-5 syllables in English, that is emphatically not advocating for less strictness in haiku. Quite the opposite. Counting syllables, if one is so inclined, is the most trivial discipline haiku has to offer, and I make the case in “Why ‘No 5-7-5’” and “Becoming a Haiku Poet” that 5-7-5 is an urban myth for haiku in English. So when Steve says “Rules need not be so strict, read / Michael Dylan Welch,” he (temporarily) missed the point that I’m trying to put aside haiku’s most trivial possible “discipline” in favour of much harder disciplines. Counting syllables is actually the easiest rule one can choose to follow in haiku—assuming, of course, that it wasn’t inaccurate in English. By being mistaught in schools that way for so many decades, millions of school kids, who are now adults, have not been made aware of the greater disciplines of season word, juxtaposition, objectivity, allusion, and other targets. My gratitude to Steve for saying “Michael Dylan Welch’s link to ‘Becoming a Haiku Poet’ beautifully distinguishes between what I wrote about—three lines of 17 syllables—and haiku.”—25
April 2015
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