This new blog takes its name from a definition of haiku, which is a "form of Japanese lyric verse that encapsulates a single impression of a natural object or scene, within a particular season. The form of the haiku is 17 syllables arranged in three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables."*
Haiku can also be considered as, "The best haiku capture human perception—moments of being alive conveyed through sensory images. They do not explain nor describe nor provide philosophical or political commentary. Haiku are gifts of the here and now, deliberately incomplete so that the reader can enter into the haiku moment to open the gift and experience the feelings and insights of that moment for his or her self."
It is not our intention or purpose to define the form for anybody who contributes here. Definitions by their nature limit or set boundaries around terms. We include them in this creative dialog as a a point of departure rather than a limitation. Discussing form and its nature and purpose are simply parts of creativity.
One Single Impression is what we create whenever we write any kind of poem, however we vary theme and form, whatever we write about. We are sharing ourselves, beginning a thought that invites others to share the experience. We fully respect each contributor as a sensitive human being and a writer.
We are picking up where One Deep Breath is leaving off after this week. For the past year and a half many poets who blog have derived inspiration from Susan and Jennifer's blog, where we have shared our responses to their weekly prompts for haiku poems.
So many of us are keen to continue sharing our poetry, that we have decided to create a new place for this creative conversation. We are very happy to have Jennifer's support in this initiative.
We will post a weekly poetry prompt on this site every Sunday. We hope you'll come back to share your work and support with each of us. See you Sunday, March 2!
Haiku can also be considered as, "The best haiku capture human perception—moments of being alive conveyed through sensory images. They do not explain nor describe nor provide philosophical or political commentary. Haiku are gifts of the here and now, deliberately incomplete so that the reader can enter into the haiku moment to open the gift and experience the feelings and insights of that moment for his or her self."
It is not our intention or purpose to define the form for anybody who contributes here. Definitions by their nature limit or set boundaries around terms. We include them in this creative dialog as a a point of departure rather than a limitation. Discussing form and its nature and purpose are simply parts of creativity.
One Single Impression is what we create whenever we write any kind of poem, however we vary theme and form, whatever we write about. We are sharing ourselves, beginning a thought that invites others to share the experience. We fully respect each contributor as a sensitive human being and a writer.
We are picking up where One Deep Breath is leaving off after this week. For the past year and a half many poets who blog have derived inspiration from Susan and Jennifer's blog, where we have shared our responses to their weekly prompts for haiku poems.
So many of us are keen to continue sharing our poetry, that we have decided to create a new place for this creative conversation. We are very happy to have Jennifer's support in this initiative.
We will post a weekly poetry prompt on this site every Sunday. We hope you'll come back to share your work and support with each of us. See you Sunday, March 2!
I am so glad that you are picking up where One Last Breath left off. I will be visiting and posting often.
ReplyDeleteThank you for continuing this great endeavor!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that the haiku prompt will continue.
ReplyDeleteI think its worth quoting this from Brooks Books Haiku (http://www.brooksbookshaiku.com/index.html) about 5-7-5 though:
We reject the view of haiku as a closed poetic form consisting of five-seven-five syllables. Haiku come in a wide variety of forms including one line, visual, three line, two line, four line, free-form and syllabic form. The essential element of form in English-language haiku is that each haiku is a short one-breath poem that usually contains a juxtaposition of images. Each haiku usually has a break—a contemplative pause—which makes it a deliberately incomplete literary artifact, prompting the reader to make a leap of imagination in order to complete the moment begun by the poet.
Thanks for picking up the baton. Looking forward to continuing to be inspired by your prompts (although perhaps only sometimes blogging on them :) )
ReplyDeleteI am so happy that you are going to continue this prompt. Even tho I am mostly a lurker I have found this prompt and all it inspires to be so entertaining. You just can't find this type of thing other places. Thank you for continuing where One Deep Breath stopped.
ReplyDeleteThanks for doing this. I look forward to Sunday :)
ReplyDeleteI, too, am so happy you're going to carry on after ODB leaves. I'm looking forward to your prompts.
ReplyDeleteI'm with crafty green poet here. Whilst I'd love to participate, I'm a little put off when the opening statement of the blog defines haiku in terms of syllable count.
ReplyDeletebut we shall see how things go
Ackworth Born,
ReplyDeleteThere is no attempt here to limit creativity. Perhaps you will revisit this introductory post, which I revised with your concerns in mind.
God bless.
After I posted my last comment I clicked on the definition link you'd provided. If one scrolls down past the stark-definitions given by dictionaries that represent popular usage/belief rather than accuracy, one comes to the wiki article.
ReplyDeleteThe wiki article is very good as it gives a good analytical appraisal of the views about haiku and how it has evolved.
Whilst I wouldn't expect beginning writers to absorb much of that early on - they really should be aware that the idea of haiku being a syllablic verse-form is a total myth.
I'm very pleased to see you've amended the opening post.
It would be my preference if you linked directly to the wiki article rather than use the one you have there.
I'm content to let readers find their own way.
ReplyDeleteI'd just like to add my perspective on haiku. When I first started writing them I adhered rigorously to the 5 - 7 - 5 syllable count. I now realise that this bears no relationship to the Japanese poetic form and I feel free to write to other syllable counts. The contemplated pause mentioned by crafty green poet seems to be a good way of looking at it. I learnt a lot from an exchange of comments with Debi (My Hermitude) following the lasr One Deep Breath prompt. i love 'ku
ReplyDeleteGlad to have this new forum and I look forward to playing along when I can!
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking up the One Deep Breath venue - I'll continue to look forward to Mondays!
ReplyDeleteThank you both so much for picking up the torch. I would have continued on my own to prepare haigas, but it is so much more fun to do it as a community.
ReplyDeleteWhile I would like to be on the blogroll, I, like akworth_born, feel very uncomfortable with the link to, and a description on the blog page using an outdated, errant definition of haiku (5-7-5 "syllables"). These definitions could be understood by some novices as a "guiding light" to submitting haiku at OSI, and it could be a valid deterrant to knowledgeable haijin who know better.
ReplyDeleteI agree with akworth_born, that it would be better to link to the article rather than to outdated dictionary definitions, letting people find their way through what are usually stumbling blocks for so many people who would like to learn to write in the genre. It could cause haijin (actual haiku poets) to refrain from joining, in a similar sense that a knowledgable and/or gifted poet of sonnets would probably not wish to join a group of people attempting to write sonnets whilst using an altered form of writing poems which don't bear much resemblance to actual sonnets in form and style, except, perhaps the number of stiches in their poems.
Most all the dear and poetic folk currently coming from One Deep Breath are very much novice to haiku. It might be good to ask yourselves, in honesty, are you here only to express yourselves for personal pleasure and community...and to give and receive praises... or are you also here to truly learn how to understand and write haiku...to learn to actually write recognizable and hopefully, good haiku (and tanka, and haibun)which could be accepted and read in a haiku publication?
I suspect that seasoned haiku poets who see the site in the future, might feel more inclined to be a part of OSI without the 5-7-5 definition references. These are such experienced poets who, if attracted to OSI, could be very helpful to those in the group who are actually trying to learn and understand the genre.
In this light, may I recommend to refrain from defining haiku on the blog homepage? Rather give links to respected haiku resources, such as web-pages from Brooks Books, Modern Haiku, etc. I'm sure akworth_born, a haiku and poetry editor and poet who has been in the haiku world even longer than I could provide you with good links; and I would be happy to do the same, if desired.
Sorry for the lengthy comment; it's just that I've got a teacher's spirit, years invested in haiku, tanka, and other poetic forms, and an editor's squinty eye. Just my 2 cents for consideration. And cheers for voluntarily taking up the ODB gauntlet. - Debi
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ReplyDeleteI also have some good haiku links on my blog, if you are interested in doing that.
ReplyDeleteI am oh so relieved and glad that this place will continue here, I for one am fairly new to writing haiku but have learnt so much just by participating in forums such as this. Kudos to the two of you who have undertaken to continue with providing us with such a wonderful place to strut our stuff.
ReplyDeleteSandy and Andree,
ReplyDeleteOne more thought on links: In addition to Crafty Green Poet's offered haiku links, Haiku, One Deep Breath lists some very good site links as well. I hope you'll continue that on the OSI homepage?
Do I understand correctly, from the introduciton, that OSI might be exploring other poetry forms than Japanese genres (generally haiku, tanka, haibun, senryu)? (Please enlighten me :^D)
I am looking forward to the first prompt. Please add me to the blog roll. "Deo Writer" at
ReplyDeletehttp://www.deowriter.blogspot.com
Very cool but do they all have to be haiku?
ReplyDeleteI'm excited to have discovered this new blog (and the link in this post to One Deep Breath) and am looking forward to participating. I shall look forward to Sundays with anticipation ... and may try to post something tomorrow at Sacred Ruminations in response to the first prompt.
ReplyDeleteHugs and blessings,