Drops of poetic essence

Haiku

I have always been fascinated by brevity - how does one convey clarity of expression using the least number of words? Anyone can convey depths of emotions using a multitude of elaborate descriptions. But describing a poignant emotion extremely briefly - that is a true art! Remember the exercises in precis-writing that we did in English class in school? We had to summarize accurately yet as briefly as possible the substance or gist of ideas contained in a text. What if the same concept were to be applied to poetry? Wouldn't it be unusual? That is precisely what 'Haiku' is.

In Japanese, 'hai' means unusual and 'ku' means verse. So  'Haiku' literally means unusual verse. They have been called 'little drops of poetic essence' or evocative snapshots constructed of words or transcendent images. Haiku is a form of short poetry popularized by 17th century Japanese poets Matsuo Basho and Ueshima Onitsura. This poetic form was later adopted in English by poets such as Ezra Pound. Recently I read a beautiful collection of haiku in English, but more about that later. Today's post will showcase some of my favorite haiku.

Soundlessly they go,
the herons passing by:
arrows of snow
filling the sky.

- Yamazaki Sokan


Life: a solitary butterfly
swaying unsteadily
on a slender stalk of grass,
nothing more. But so exquisite!

- Nishiyama Soin

Overdressed
for my thatched hut:
a peony blossoms.

- Kobayashi Issa


An empty road
lonelier than abandonment:
this autumn evening.

- Matsuo Basho

The frozen moon,
the frozen lake:
two oval mirrors
reflecting each other.

- Matsuo Basho


Fever-felled mid-path
my dreams resurrect, to trek
through a hollow land

- Matsuo Basho

All translations by Michael R. Burch

Coming to modern times, copied below are some sublime examples of contemporary haiku in English by poet Tyler Knott Gregson from his book, 'All the Words are Yours'. This gem of a book has now rekindled my love for this form of unusual verse:

You, the fierce and wild,
the bravery buried deep,
the scream to the wind.
 ..................................................

Let it all crumble
let all you shouldn't carry
burn beneath your feet.

 The pieces you lack
are waiting inside of me
to find you again.
................................................

Your soul knew my soul
long before we needed skin
to spend a life in.

Lay down your roots now
let them wrap tight around mine
sink deep in the soil.

.......................................

The shadow of us
the remnants of who we were
fade now in the light.