Haiku
When in doubt, write haiku.
When I was in the Translation Workshop, this dude was translating haiku, and in workshopping with him, I learned that haiku does not actually have to follow the 5-7-5 syllable pattern. That’s just something that’s caught on in the west, apparently. A Japanese haiku is just a very short poem that is meant to capture a moment.
That said, half the fun of writing haiku is the 5-7-5 thing, and I don’t speak Japanese anyway, so I think I’ll go western-style here.
I smell Cheerios.
My blood sugar grows lower,
jealous of that food.
Old coffee in my
neglected old coffee mug
cultivated fur.
Iggy Pop: so thin!
Iggy Pop: he rocks me hard!
Cooler than talent.
Eating cheese taco
URGENT! My lungs are failing!
Igloo needs a fan.
Are you familiar with the book A Chime of Windbells? It’s one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever held. It may be out of print now.
Nope, never heard of it. What is it?
It’s a hard-cover, cloth-bound volume of Japanese haiku in English translation. The haiku are arranged thematically by season, and there are examples from all the “biggies,” Basho included. The poetry aside, the book itself is a wonderful work of art. It feels so good in your hand; it’s the kind of thing you could envision an exile packing as one of his few permitted valuables as he’s sent away.