about this book

from the introduction

What this little book has to offer is:
for the beginner— a creative primer along with brief mention of technical aspects of haiku.

for the intermediate— a refresher, along with specific haiku guidelines geared toward the process of writing and understanding haiku.

for the advanced— a fuller approach to the haiku process or haiku way of being.

For any level, this book offers (as far as I know) the only transliteration of the actual meaning of “haiku” as derived (albeit with some interpretation) from the original Chinese and modern Japanese kanji pictographs (‘picture-symbols’) or ideograms (ideas expressed with ‘picture-symbols’).

Even if you don’t write poetry, by reading this book you will connect with the haiku consciousness which is really just another way of observing and experiencing the world.

Remember that, appreciation of the haiku art-form, as well as being able to write quality haiku, requires being in the moment. How does one keep alert and in the moment when doing any task over and over? The title of a book by Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, gives one of the best answers I know of. As a beginner in anything, one pays special attention to learning. And so it is with life and haiku, for although one may have tons of experience, a certain amount of “beginner’s mind” keeps one alert and responsive to the ‘now.’
   *

purpose
Along with encouraging the simple enjoyment of haiku.. this book is aimed at providing potential short-cuts to the understanding and writing of haiku. By short-cuts, I mean that one does not have to read every book on haiku before being able to write them well (though a bit of technical knowledge and insight helps). Although short-cuts can be helpful, one must also be careful not to overlook the essences and techniques that also assist haiku writing. The “short-cut” (which may take time to get to) is the ‘state of being’ from which most haiku inspirations occur. Editing and polishing ‘the poem’ is typically a second phase.

This book has some technical information yet is primarily focused on the creative process. I try not to memorize specific ‘how-to’ techniques so as to cultivate more of the ‘original voice’ or “beginner’s mind” and so allow the experience to ‘speak through me.’ For example, one can go looking for haiku contrast in nature: the huge cloud / the tiny bug... but I find these attempts to have a bit more forced or intellectual taste, whereas if I were to spontaneously see a huge cloud and tiny bug somehow connected there would be more ‘realism’ in the haiku.

You can memorize techniques and yet not walk around trying too hard to fit the haiku experience and subsequent poem into a category. After the purity of the intitial impulse of the haiku moment occurs, you can apply some of the techniques to see if they help the haiku take shape.

Try various methods and see. Without forcing numerous ‘prescriptions’ you may write fewer haiku at first, but you will be cultivating a haiku-awareness that will change your perceptions and help you to write more and better quality haiku in the long run.

The topic of applying the haiku experience to more imaginative and longer poems is dealt with toward the end of this book.

   one breaths of haiku are...
   heightened or subtle moments of awareness;
   word-pictures;
   poetic-short-speak;
   AHA! revelation;
   AHH-ness;
   significant moment;
   ‘nothing special’ moment;
   humorous or quirky phrase;
   bird-sounds;
   mantra;
   poetic riddles;
   simple communications;
   a deep breath of fresh air;
   something to Be With and Contemplate
   the Experience and ‘Teaching’ of the poem;
   an impersonal phrase, sentence, or verse;
   ‘a way or voice through a tangle’..
   expressed through the shortest of poetic forms
   a gift from Japan..
   haiku
   “...in a haiku moment of one breath-length,
   there is only the resolution.”
   -- Kenneth Yasuda
   The Japanese Haiku, p.61

Part 1 - Structure and Technique
cultural overview
Haiku are poetic-literary expressions from a culture that values humility, precision, and a connection with the true nature of being (or Spirit) through daily ritual. Although not limited to Zen, haiku is considered one of many Zen Arts. Others are: Tea ceremonies cha-no-yu “the art of tea,” and chado “the way of tea”; kodo (incense ceremony); Zen rock gardens; feng shui “wind-water” (the art of placement and natural energy flow); ikebana “the art of flower arranging”; shakuhachi, the hollow, Zen flute; sumi-e painting and brush calligraphy; kendo “the way of the sword”; the classic Noh Theater; and the martial arts of which tai chi chuan (Chinese) is the most peaceful— all forms whose ‘products’ are visibly sparse, yet whose inner workings are quite vast.

Many of these Arts (along with Zen koans or Master- pupil interchanges) are classified by some as belonging to the Rinzai school of Zen which aims toward ‘sudden recognition or enlightenment,’ as compared with the Soto school whose aim is a gradual moving toward such a state of awareness, or more like ‘there is no where to get to’ Buddhist approach. Both of these qualities are apparent with haiku.

   "Big place this world,"
   he said, "yet look closely—
   thin skein through all."
   *

   at the birdbath
   a bee takes a tiny,
   tiny sip
   *

   the brightest thing
   on this grey rainy day
   yellow taxi!
   *

   going nowhere
   pigeons preen, above
   a gas station
   *

   over 6 billion
   on earth -- how could you not be
   a people person?
   *

all the sunflowers
   bowing to the earth
   autumn rain
   *

   rainy afternoon
   coffee lingers in the pot,
   maybe snow soon…
   *

   wind swept the morning,
   stars sparked the evening sky--
   anything but boring
   *

   Pigeons flying
   up the avenue--
   rush-hour traffic
   *

A Haiku Sequence by Cliff Bleidner

   Middlegrounds

   in my mid fifties
   all my favorite books
   falling apart

   in my mid forties
   climbing the stairs
   slower and slower

   in my mid thirties
   very drunk
   and very fearful

   in my mid twenties
   I eat my dinner
   then my dessert
   in my mid teens
   I break my mother’s grasp
   for the last time

   at five years old
   I discover the 19th street schoolyard
   “EUREKA!”

   4½ months in the womb
   too dark
   to see my face

(There’s a Zen koan that asks: “What was your face before you were born?” This might be understood as before being in the womb. Whatever the case, this last stanza adds a wonderful balance to the previous stanza and the poem as a whole.)