Untitled - Haiku

Issa

 After a long nap,
 the cat yawns, rises, and goes out
 looking for love

Commentary

Here’s one for Minstrels’ collection of cat poems…

(tr. Sam Hamill)

Liberally quoting Martin :) “What I personally like about haiku is the concentration of the imagery, and the way in which each poem is a free-floating, perfectly self-contained entity.”

In this case, I see a perfectly contented, smug little cat who takes a nap, languidly stretches herself, and then goes about life. Who knows what she’s looking for - love, a mouse, or just some amusement ?

Minstrels has featured one of Issa’s poems, along with the above mentioned quote, before:
Poem #1136

— Sarah

The Wondering Minstrels, poem #1543 · 17 September 2004

Guest poem submitted by Sarah Korah

Fair use

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From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.

Rita Liddle · 17 September 2004

It’s cute as far as imagery goes, but is it a “Haiku”?

I was told that the construction of a Haiku should go like this:

1. line = 5 syllables
2. line = 7 syllables
3. line = 5 syllables

I was also told (probably by someone even more “demanding”) that Haikus in english are not “really” haikus.

Please don’t regard this as a critique, but a genuine question.:)

Martin DeMello · 20 September 2004

It’s cute as far as imagery goes, but is it a “Haiku”? I was told that the construction of a Haiku should go like this:
1. line = 5 syllables
2. line = 7 syllables
3. line = 5 syllables
I was also told (probably by someone even more “demanding”) that Haikus in english are not “really” haikus.
Please don’t regard this as a critique, but a genuine question.:)

Hi Rita,

The 5/7/5 rule applies to Japanese haiku; ‘real’ English haiku (insofar as purists admit they exist :)) attempt to follow the spirit rather than the letter of the law in that respect. [broken link] http://www.ahapoetry.com/keirule.htm has a great write-up on the reasons for the structure of Japanese haiku, and how that structure translates into English.

Incidentally, there is a related Japanese form, the senryu, which follows the structure of a haiku but relaxes its (many, many) other requirements, and often has a humorous aspect. It seems to be a fairly common practice to call 5-7-5 English verses senryu, by analogy, since they follow one aspect of a haiku while neglecting the others.

martin