I had completely forgotten these ran at Splice Today way back when.
________
Drat. I have no pants.
The days are cold; the nights, cold.
Here I sit. Help me.
The morning stretches
Like a woozy cat retching
On the alarm clock.
Who hates me? The Web
Will not tell me. Damn broken
Blog counter. Refresh.
Pouring flaming dung
On Legos is sad. Why won’t
You stop, drop, or roll?
“Knock, knock.” “Who’s there?” “In-
terrupting Spider-Man.” “In-
terrupting Spi-“ “Thwip!”
Isn’t Twitter a perfect medium for Haiku?
You know those aren’t haiku, right?
Well; they’re 5/7/5. That’s how the form usually works in English.
Well
They’re five-seven-five.
That’s how the form usual-
-ly works in English.
The syllable pattern isn’t the only attribute that distinguishes the form.
It is in an English language context.
?
Really?
Pretty much. I’ve had it taught/discussed that way in quite a few contexts.
What other characteristics were you thinking of?
I’ve even had it taught without the syllables; as just short three line poems….
Yes I believe there are “free” haiku which do not follow a rigid syllable pattern, but I thought they always took nature as their subject and contained a reference to the season. I guess you’re telling me that the English-language “haiku” is a totally different poetic form that happens to have the same name?
I think Matt is right. However, in in addition to the “nature/seasonal” focus, I would say that an even more important common feature of English haiku is formal — the cut or caesura, both to break the poem and link two distinct moments, images, or feelings. (Think Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro.”)
Regardless, it’s rarely just syllabic.
Oh, I disagree. You often see non-nature/season haikus in English. They’re all over the place.
But Matt…yes, haiku in English are only very distantly related to Japanese haiku, as far as I can tell. Which makes sense, given the differences in syllable structure.
I guess I can’t argue with “They’re all over the place.”
Damn right.
http://www.kbeamer.com/spam_haiku.html