Many of us are familiar with Haiku, the Japanese poetry that has a set style
of 3 lines, usually (though not always) 5 sylables, 7 sylables, 5 sylables.
One of the most famous Haiku poems is by Basho, and goes as follows:
 
       furu-ike ya
       kawazu tobi-komu
       mizu no oto
 
If you believe some translators, this haiku reads:
 
       Breaking the silence
       Of an ancient pond
       A frog jumped into water -
       A deep resonance.
 
             (Penguin edition of Basho)
 
But I prefer the direct translation:
 
       Old pond
       Frog jumps in
       Sound of water.
 
             ("On the narrow road", Lesley Downer, Summit Books)
 
The best thing about Haiku, to me, is that anyone can use it to be a poet
and to share thoughts, images, sounds, feelings.  There is a social aspect
to Haiku, called "Linked Verse."  Typically, four friends would sit together,
perhaps while drinking, and compose a long poem, usually on a single subject.

The friends would each compose 9 Haiku, discussing them, correcting each other,
improving on the work, and link them together with 2 additional lines of
seven sylables each, between the individual Haiku.  So, a linked verse
is, most often, 36 Haiku linked together.
 
We aren't four people, but we are together.  And, while we have many diverse
interests, Grex brings us together.  We can easily write Haiku together,
and create a linked verse about Grex.  It can be a nice way to share 
thoughts about logging on here.
 
I'll start with one or two Haiku:
 
     Creativity -
     Do your ascii smiles and smirks
     hide your violence?


     Always, busy lines.
     I enjoy logging on here
     If I can get through.
 
See, their pretty easy to make.  You try one.  Go ahead.

65 responses total.

Lazy summer days
Remembering the coolness of spring
Autumn closing in.

Glowing amber screen
Like warm fires of years gone by
Fights deepening cold.

re 1,2: Beautiful!  
 
re 0:  If I were to work to improve my first Haiku, I would change the
last line to read, "hide a violence."  That would make it less antagonistic.

This is now Item 5 in writing and Item 15 in arts.

New to conference
I try to make a poem
Alas, a failure

Freedom's hot voice here
Torch consuming oppression
I bask in its light.

I often wonder
is it hard, this poetry?
or am I just soft?

The day is young,
Soft light on still waters
Touches my heart.

Late at night I write
Whence comes the inspiration?
Heavy, tired eyes and mind.

 Watching _Gamera_,
 A really awful movie.
 Why do I do this?

morning comes, still dark
hands move slow across the keys
eyes crying for sleep

early morn alone.
is there anyone out there ?
no response. good night.

 Clowns raining down.
 Beware the smell of greasepaint.
 Danger, clown puddles!

Sunlight on the floor
The house is strangely silent
Secrets in the walls

 pain in my neck 
 how nice to see you again
 tickling my temples
 rousing my stomach for war

Oh shit!  I've barely
Started and already I'm
Flat out of sylla

[Or something like that.  Forgot where I read this, but it
gave me a giggle.]

Hey md, lets try to have at least one conference with out all of
this swearing.  

And so I write, I
Look for truth; finding none, I
Write another line.

No reality
There either, And so I sit
And think about my words.

Still no truth, no great
Revelations; Empty mind,
Empty thoughts, full soul.

Why is it that when
you read many haikus, they
start to sound the same?

Haiku is pattern
Words, pattern create context
Pattern same, text not.

It is like the sea
Which shimmers perpetually
But always changes
(I pronounce perpetually w/four syllables.  Make it perpetual if you like).

Quitting Smoking Now
Greatly Reduces Seri
ous Risks to Your Health

In the beginning
God created the Heavens
and the earth...so there.

The earth was without
form; a void...and darkness moved
upon the deep's face.

And the spirit of
God was moving over the
face of the waters.

And God said "Let there
be light" and there was light and
God saw it was good.

Haiku lurks inside
the least haiku-like places
Waiting for release.

Respond or pass? En-
ter your response: Type "." to
exit or ":help"

(this counts "." and the : in :help as 1 syllable ea.)

How do you say ":"? I would say "colon", which makes six syllables...

If you say ":"
Six syllables are made but
":" makes it just five.
(colon/dots)

fine, call it dot and,
colon if you so desire.
I don't give a damn.

The last response and I'm
Rolling on the floor laughing
That was a good one

Oops, six syllables
were in the first line above
And now I'm ashamed

Don't be upset.
Four syllables in my first line.
sorry
Why should i worry?

I think this format
Is frustratingly strict and
Arbitrary too.

My butt itches bad
I tried putting rash cream on
With no good results.

        Look, Children,
          hail-stones!
            Let's rush out!
-Basho

From _Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets
      on the Verge of Death_

Now it reveals its hidden side
and now the other-thus it falls
an autumn leaf
   - Ryokan. Died 1831 at the age of 74

A parting gift to my body:
just when it wishes,
I'll breath my last
   - Ensei. Died 1725 at the age of 69

Empty-handed I entered the world
Barefoot I leave it.
My coming, my going-
Two simple happenings
That got entangled.
   - Kozan Ichikyo. Died 1360 at the age of 77

I raise the mirror of my life
Up to my face: sixty years.
With a swing I smash the reflection-
The world as usual
All in its place.
   - Taigen Sofu. Died 1555 at the age of 60

My favorite:

My whole life long I've sharpened 
  my sword
And now, face to face with death
I unsheath it, and lo-
The blade is broken-
Alas!
   - Diarin Soto. Died 1568 at the age of 89

i always thought it was 5 syllables, 3 syllables, 5 syllables ... that is the
way i found it in an encyclopedia... so here is mine: THE FLOWER The flower
starts to bloom In the spring To show God's great work.

(in the first line, "flower" is pronounced as one syllable)
<comments welcome>

Generally, a total of seventeen syllables is used, usually in three lines.
Standard is 5 - 7 - 5, but standard is also in an eastern language with
pictograms which do not translate directly into English, so there is a fair
amount of flexibility in the structure.

Why do people keep making a big deal about writing system when the
spoken system is what's relevant?

Chinese does not have a different structure from English because of its
writing system.  It has a different writing system because it has a
different structure (at least, primarily).  That's an oversimplification
of things, but there it is anyway.

I wasn't giving credit for the differences to the writing system.  I was merely
basing my point on the fact that the sharing of poetry in our culture is based
more on the written form than the spoken, regardless of the fact that it's the
other way around in the history of Ha
iku

Sorry.  gut reaction point.  :)  Ignore 36.

how d'ya get flower into 1 syllable?
flowr, I guess, but that's kinda hard to say...

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss