WORKSHOP FOR BREVITY IN ANCIENT FORMS

Old poetic forms can help us structure our thoughts in compelling ways.

Andrew Fassett kicked off the fall with a workshop on Haiku and Haibun poetry at North Eastern Crossing in Boston. These short and direct forms demand economy of words and particular focus on what matters most to constructing an idea, an emotion or a narrative.

A haiku is often presented as three lines of 5 syllables, 7 syllables and 5 syllables again. These poems appear in many forms, generally around 17 syllables total, but like any poetic form rigidity in style can sometimes trump up the emotion or idea being conveyed.

The essence of haiku is in its “cut” juxtaposition of two common place objects or occurrences. The number of syllables is not as important as the parallel ideas. Traditionally haiku is printed as a single vertical line in Japanese.

A haiku can be a single line in English too, as long as it contrasts two or three different ideas.

Matsuo Basho – A haiku (unknown date)

枯枝に烏のとまりけり秋の暮

On a withered branch
A crow has stopped
Autumn evening

Issa:

遠山や目玉に写るとんぼかな

Distant mountains
Reflected in the eyes
Of a dragonfly

Basho:

古池や
蛙飛び込む水の音

Old pond
Frog jumps in, sound of water