Intro Post: The Art of Brevity

[jjhunter]

jjhunter here: I'm succumbing to temptation and Hosting this week on a subject near and dear to my heart: very short poems, here defined as poems of ten lines or fewer. (For more about me, please see my intro post from the first time I Hosted at poetree.) I plan to primarily post my own poems as springboards for broader discussion on all brevity has to offer.

what I can say in
5-7-5: everything
or one thing concise.

To get us started, please share one or more of your favorite haikus in the comments. What makes such haiku work for you?

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Poll #11878 Kudos?

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 4

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I would like to leave kudos on this post

View Answers

Yes
4 (100.0%)

Comments

[untonuggan]

But I can't think of just ooooooooooooooooone. Or even think of one of the top of my head right now! Maybe later?

[gramina]

From a while back --

Earth cool under feet --
Light soft, green, leaf-shadowed -- oh!
Wisconsin cornfields!

[alee_grrl]

My favorite haiku (of the ones I have written) is technically not a haiku but a related form known as a haikai (5-7-5; 7-7). It is my zombie haikai, jokeingly entitled "Braaaiiiinnnnssss (a law school haikai".

Print swirls across blank
page, energy and knowledge
seep out as you type;

eyes glaze over. Yes, zombie
brief eats your brains as you type.

Okay...

[ysabetwordsmith]

My favorite is Basho's frog haiku. I tend to prefer this translation:

The old pond;
A frog jumps in —
The sound of the water.

Translated by R.H. Blyth

Also, for short-short poetry, I highly recommend the Dwarf Stars Award. The 2011 voting anthology has just been compiled and will be mailed to Science Fiction Poetry Association members shortly.

Re: Okay...

[primeideal]

Ooh, SF haiku! I love the last one in an anthology of short SF from a while ago:

When Proxima sets
What constellation do they
Dream around our sun?

[marina-bonomi.livejournal.com]

Mine is the first haiku I ever read, in seventh grade. I didn't know the form even existed and it opened a new world to me. It is Chiyo-ni's 'morning glory' poem:

The morning glory!
It has taken the well bucket
I must ask elsewhere for water.