We have a community of writers, poets, and thinkers. It is time to continue to push our walks into poetry.
Learning Event 8 Challenge
Robert Hass not only writes poetry but he also dedicates time as an avid translator. For this learning event we want to celebrate Hass’s love for the Haiku by writing twaiku . Simply a Haiku on Twitter (or other short poem…we hate rules in #walkmyword).
When discussing Haiku’s in his book of translated work, “The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, and Issa” Hass described the role language. Hass said, “the spirit of haiku required that the language be kept plain. ”
He then went on to quote Basho “’The function of Haik[u] is to rectify common speech. It also demanded accurate and original images, drawn mostly from common life .”
These are some Haiku’s translated by Hass:
Climb Mount Fuji,
O snail,
but slowly, slowly.Matsuo Basho
Even in Kyoto —
hearing the cuckoo’s cry —
I long for Kyoto.Basho
Napped half the day;
no one
punished me!Kobaayashi Issa
Mosquito at my ear–
does it think
I’m deaf?Issa
New Year’s morning–
everything is in blossom!
I feel about average.Issa
Even with insects–
some can sing,
some can’t.Issa
For you fleas too
the nights must be long,
they must be lonely.Issa
The snow is melting
and the village is flooded
with children.Issa
Don’t kill that fly!
Look–it’s wringing its hands,
wringing its feet.Issa
Don’t worry, spiders,
I keep house
casually.Issa
Hell:
Bright autumn moon;
pond snails crying
in the saucepan.Issa
Your task
- Share a walk this world capturing some element of your natural world.
- In the same tweet as the photo write a short poem or haiku.
- Try to capture the imagery in simple words
haiku
While the form of Haiku does not translate perfectly to the way we stress syllables in English the general acceptable practice for English based Haiku’s is the 5/7/5 syllable count.
Another type of short poem you could try is the “Elfje” form shared by @dogtrax who got the form from
@mdvfunes It’s called “Elfje”. “Elf” is 11. The addition “je” means little. So little eleven. It’s common in Dutch to make words ‘little’.
An Elfje contains 11 eleven words total. 1 word in first line , 2 words in second, followed by, 3, 4, 1 words per line.
Whatever learning path you choose try to say everything about your walk in the most simple, yet richest language possible.
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