Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Haiku

While my cat Gergiev lazes about, having her ghost plants blog for her while the wrongs of the world go undiscussed, her human companion composes poetry dedicated to last Saturday night.

Taco Cabana
At the end of winter with
Badminton and rum

9 Comments:

Blogger Daniel said...

Jenianyblocks
Pecans in her shuttlecocks
British when she talks.

2/21/2007 8:16 AM  
Blogger Mary Flannery-Scientist said...

Haiku don't rhyme--duh
You should take freshman English
All over again

2/21/2007 6:53 PM  
Blogger Daniel said...

I think you are wrong
There is no edict that states
"Haiku cannot rhyme".

2/21/2007 10:29 PM  
Blogger Jeni said...

Haikus need not rhyme
But should mention a season
To be most proper.

2/22/2007 12:32 PM  
Blogger Daniel said...

Are rhymes forbidden?
If my aesthetic words rhyme,
Then rhyme so they shall.

2/22/2007 1:11 PM  
Blogger Mary Flannery-Scientist said...

English is my turf.
You go cure cancer and AIDS.
I'll do the poems.

2/22/2007 3:52 PM  
Blogger Jeni said...

Dear Mad Scientist
Rhymes are not forbidden so
No longer despair.

2/22/2007 9:13 PM  
Blogger Pierre - A Cat From France said...

A traditional haiku is 5, 7, 5. In Japanese Haiku means "sound", which is the equivalent of a phonetic unit, but not identical to the English syllable.

The Japanese haiku does not follow the pattern 5 syllables/7 syllables/5 syllables, but the pattern 5 moras/7 moras/5 moras. A mora is a unit of sound.

Rhyme is not a problem.
A haiku contains a special season word, or a reference to the natural world.

Haiku combines two (sometimes three) different phrases, and a grammatical break at the end of either the first five or second seven morae.

Japanese haiku is usually a single line. English haiku is usually broken into three lines.

The three basic English Haiku practices:

1. Use of three (or fewer) lines of no more than 17 syllables in total.

2. Metrical feet rather than syllables. The three lines are thus: 2, 3, and 2 metrical feet (a pause after the second or fifth).

3. Use of a rhetorical break in the flow of sound in the middle of a line of verse to implicitly contrast and compare two events or situations.

2/23/2007 8:34 AM  
Blogger W said...

Office Haiku by James Rogauskas

2/23/2007 8:44 AM  

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