Friend and Colleague, Alexis Rotella, has established a new journal, entitled Prune Juice, to publish senryu and kyoka. This journal will be published twice a year by Modern English Tanka Press. Submissions are now open for humorous, satirical, and witty poetry. Read the full submission guidelines at the home page.
Good luck,
Alexis~
Showing posts with label senryu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label senryu. Show all posts
Monday, August 18, 2008
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Review: Blonde Red Mustang
blond red Mustang... a gathering of small poems
Art Stein
Slate Roof: A Publishing Collective
15 Warwick Avenue
Northfield, MA 01360 USA
www.slateroof.com
ISBN 0-9760643-2-4
$11.00 30 pps 9 x 6 inches
blond red mustang is an engaging set of short poems presented in a simple chapbook format. Light and serious verse in various forms such as haiku, senryu, tanka and free verse are arranged in thematic groups. Each has its merits.
The lighter poems are an agreeable diversion and make up a large portion of the book. Stein is particularly good at capturing the humanity of a moment with an apt turn of phrase; the following senryu are typical.
with great deliberation
she chooses
a fortune cookie
prepared for
my new garden
a woodchuck
His tanka are generally more serious. They are often what the Japanese would call ‘dry,’ which is to say, lacking an overt human presence. The following verse from the tanka sequence ‘Winter Beach’ is an example:
green margin
along the tide line
rope of rack
realigned daily
as the moon directs
This is an acute observation of the natural operations of the sea and its margins, a subject often celebrated in poetry, but usually with a romantic rather than an honest eye. As a poet of the water myself, I appreciate the accuracy of his vision, as well as the poetic quality of the scene. Yet this tanka can be read deeper, taken as a metaphor of the human existence (or at least the author’s existence).
The tanbun are also interesting and avoid the very common problem of simply using the prose to explain the poem or the poem to summarize the prose. At first glance there is no apparent relationship between the tanka and its prose, as in the ‘Babe Magnet,’ an observation of an elderly farmer’s charismatic influence on diner waitresses. The tanka that accompanies it is:
lifting off
the river shallows
slow wing beats
a great blue heron
rises
The pairing of the great blue heron and the flirtatious old farmer grants a gravitas that satisfies the reader’s interest. Stein masterfully imbues the old farmer with a roguish dignity that leads us from bafflement to humor to admiration; both for the character and the poet’s skill.
Several of Stein’s longer poems are accompanied by envoys, usually in the form of haiku, but sometimes as tanka. Regrettably, these longer poems with their consciously poetic language fail to please. They contrast well with the starkness of their envoys, providing an interesting interplay between the two, but ultimately fail to satisfy. Nonetheless, the attempt heightens the interest of the poems and inspires a poet to try the technique for himself.
Stein’s greatest skill is the way in which he juxtaposes his subject matter within and without the poems. Similar poems are grouped together to seduce the reader into a particular frame of mind, but not so many that the reader becomes weary. They alternate with other poems that invite a different perspective and so refresh the reader’s attention and interest. The pacing is excellent, leading the reader through a journey on the micro-scale of the poems themselves and on the larger scale of the chapbook taken as a whole work. Would that more poets paid as much attention and did it so well as Stein.
Although not all the poems are to my taste, this chapbook is one I’m setting aside for further study because there is much to be learned and much to appreciate. The journeyman poet and the reader wanting something more complex than the usual pretty poetry books will each find something to reward their attention.
~K~
Art Stein
Slate Roof: A Publishing Collective
15 Warwick Avenue
Northfield, MA 01360 USA
www.slateroof.com
ISBN 0-9760643-2-4
$11.00 30 pps 9 x 6 inches
blond red mustang is an engaging set of short poems presented in a simple chapbook format. Light and serious verse in various forms such as haiku, senryu, tanka and free verse are arranged in thematic groups. Each has its merits.
The lighter poems are an agreeable diversion and make up a large portion of the book. Stein is particularly good at capturing the humanity of a moment with an apt turn of phrase; the following senryu are typical.
with great deliberation
she chooses
a fortune cookie
prepared for
my new garden
a woodchuck
His tanka are generally more serious. They are often what the Japanese would call ‘dry,’ which is to say, lacking an overt human presence. The following verse from the tanka sequence ‘Winter Beach’ is an example:
green margin
along the tide line
rope of rack
realigned daily
as the moon directs
This is an acute observation of the natural operations of the sea and its margins, a subject often celebrated in poetry, but usually with a romantic rather than an honest eye. As a poet of the water myself, I appreciate the accuracy of his vision, as well as the poetic quality of the scene. Yet this tanka can be read deeper, taken as a metaphor of the human existence (or at least the author’s existence).
The tanbun are also interesting and avoid the very common problem of simply using the prose to explain the poem or the poem to summarize the prose. At first glance there is no apparent relationship between the tanka and its prose, as in the ‘Babe Magnet,’ an observation of an elderly farmer’s charismatic influence on diner waitresses. The tanka that accompanies it is:
lifting off
the river shallows
slow wing beats
a great blue heron
rises
The pairing of the great blue heron and the flirtatious old farmer grants a gravitas that satisfies the reader’s interest. Stein masterfully imbues the old farmer with a roguish dignity that leads us from bafflement to humor to admiration; both for the character and the poet’s skill.
Several of Stein’s longer poems are accompanied by envoys, usually in the form of haiku, but sometimes as tanka. Regrettably, these longer poems with their consciously poetic language fail to please. They contrast well with the starkness of their envoys, providing an interesting interplay between the two, but ultimately fail to satisfy. Nonetheless, the attempt heightens the interest of the poems and inspires a poet to try the technique for himself.
Stein’s greatest skill is the way in which he juxtaposes his subject matter within and without the poems. Similar poems are grouped together to seduce the reader into a particular frame of mind, but not so many that the reader becomes weary. They alternate with other poems that invite a different perspective and so refresh the reader’s attention and interest. The pacing is excellent, leading the reader through a journey on the micro-scale of the poems themselves and on the larger scale of the chapbook taken as a whole work. Would that more poets paid as much attention and did it so well as Stein.
Although not all the poems are to my taste, this chapbook is one I’m setting aside for further study because there is much to be learned and much to appreciate. The journeyman poet and the reader wanting something more complex than the usual pretty poetry books will each find something to reward their attention.
~K~
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Senryu Example - serious
While humor is very much a part of senryu, serious senryu are not just important to senryu but also to haiku in general. As mentioned in previous posts, a great many senryu are published as haiku in the West, though this is rarely done in Japan. In fact, it is so common than even professional editors fail to see any distinction between the two. Yet the differences are profound.
frayed to nothingness,
the raveled string of life
snaps
~M. Kei
The verse above is not a haiku -- no seasonal reference, no formal pattern, nothing of nature in it. It makes use of a metaphor (frowned upon in haiku) and makes use of formatting to convey part of the meaning of the poem.
This verse was written after my mother died and describes exactly my experience of her dying and death. The long decline into illness, fraying her fragile frame, until at last... she died. It is a case of an event so packed with emotion that it is impossible (and unnecessary) to describe the emotion. A bald statement of the facts suffices; anyone who has ever watched a parent slowly dying needs no explanation, and for those who have not, no amount of explanation is sufficient. The mind that composed this poem was not a haiku mind.
frayed to nothingness,
the raveled string of life
snaps
~M. Kei
The verse above is not a haiku -- no seasonal reference, no formal pattern, nothing of nature in it. It makes use of a metaphor (frowned upon in haiku) and makes use of formatting to convey part of the meaning of the poem.
This verse was written after my mother died and describes exactly my experience of her dying and death. The long decline into illness, fraying her fragile frame, until at last... she died. It is a case of an event so packed with emotion that it is impossible (and unnecessary) to describe the emotion. A bald statement of the facts suffices; anyone who has ever watched a parent slowly dying needs no explanation, and for those who have not, no amount of explanation is sufficient. The mind that composed this poem was not a haiku mind.
Senryu Example - humor and parody
Senryu take their name from the poet Senryu ('river willow') one of the foremost poets and editors of the genre. Senryu are sometimes glossed as 'humorous haiku,' but they are really a different genre. In Japanese they are traditionally written as three lines of 5-7-5 syllables, but all other requirements of haiku are cast away. Senryu can be written about anything using any techniques and the human presence looms much larger. A great deal of what is published as 'haiku' in the West is actually senryu -- if it lacks a seasonal reference, if it is not a nature poem, and if it lacks the two images divided by a caesura that are the three principle elements of haiku, then it is either a failed haiku or a senryu.
Senryu is not nearly as well known in the West, probably because all short Japanese forms are lumped together under the label 'haiku,' and where senryu is known it tends to focus on humor. Regretably, this can deteriorate to the level of bumper sticker humor, which may also explain why senryu is not nearly as popular with 'real poets' as haiku is. Nonetheless, serious senryu are very much a part of the genre and have immense power of their own. Therefore, I usually prefer to say that while haiku is about nature, senryu is about human nature.
Fly,
be afraid!
No Buddhists in this house!
~M. Kei
Previously published in TempsLibres (Belgium).
Buddhists are forbidden to take life, so swatting flies is definitely out of the question. Insects are a popular topic in haiku and a variety of verses sympathize with these small and humble occupants of the cosmos. This senryu is thus a parody of haiku as well as having inherent humor. And yes, parody of the more formal (critics would side hidebound and stuffy) genre of haiku has been at least as popular as haiku itself.
This is also a rare verse that straddles the borderline between haiku and senryu; the poem is about a fly and a fly is definitely part of nature. It was even published as haiku, but I regard it as senryu. The difference is very apparent in my head when I am writing them; the mindset that produces a haiku is very different from the mindset that produces a senryu. For me, haiku composes the poet, but it is the poet that composes senryu. I will not even attempt to explain what I mean by this; haiku is numinous, senryu is noumenal. Leave it at that.
Senryu is not nearly as well known in the West, probably because all short Japanese forms are lumped together under the label 'haiku,' and where senryu is known it tends to focus on humor. Regretably, this can deteriorate to the level of bumper sticker humor, which may also explain why senryu is not nearly as popular with 'real poets' as haiku is. Nonetheless, serious senryu are very much a part of the genre and have immense power of their own. Therefore, I usually prefer to say that while haiku is about nature, senryu is about human nature.
Fly,
be afraid!
No Buddhists in this house!
~M. Kei
Previously published in TempsLibres (Belgium).
Buddhists are forbidden to take life, so swatting flies is definitely out of the question. Insects are a popular topic in haiku and a variety of verses sympathize with these small and humble occupants of the cosmos. This senryu is thus a parody of haiku as well as having inherent humor. And yes, parody of the more formal (critics would side hidebound and stuffy) genre of haiku has been at least as popular as haiku itself.
This is also a rare verse that straddles the borderline between haiku and senryu; the poem is about a fly and a fly is definitely part of nature. It was even published as haiku, but I regard it as senryu. The difference is very apparent in my head when I am writing them; the mindset that produces a haiku is very different from the mindset that produces a senryu. For me, haiku composes the poet, but it is the poet that composes senryu. I will not even attempt to explain what I mean by this; haiku is numinous, senryu is noumenal. Leave it at that.
Haiku
What is haiku? For the average North American, a haiku is an exercise from elementary school in which they learned that the poem was composed of three lines of 5 syllables, 7 syllables, and 5 syllables, or 5-7-5. While this is the original form of haiku in Japanese, the Japanese method of writing syllables means that the content of the poem is briefer than could be contained in the same number of English syllables. Thus in English, formal haiku adheres to a format of a short line, a long line, and a short line, the whole to be spoken in a single breath. Yet this is not the Japanese practice -- Japanese haiku are written in a single line. This leads to English haiku written in one line. But Japanese haiku are also distinguished by a caesura, or pause, that connects and links two ideas, usually two images, which causes some English-language haiku to be written in two lines. Nonetheless, three lines is the most popular because the phrasing of Japanese naturally breaks into the alternating pattern of 5-7.
Various other patterns are proposed as well, while others have abandoned the idea of 'counting' syllables, lengths, words, beats, or anything else. There is general consensus among poets and scholars that 5-7-5 is NOT what defines a haiku in the first place. No, what defines haiku is that it is seasonal poetry about nature.
If you're familiar with the 'joke-ku' 'haiku error messages' and your banal elementary school 5-7-5 poems about kittens, you may be baffled to discover that these in no way qualify as 'haiku.' They are what the Japanese call 'zappai' -- or parodies, knockoffs, jokes, etc. Certainly there is a place for such things -- we all love a good joke and parody is as much an art as poetry -- but they aren't haiku.
Haiku must have some sort of reference to nature or the season in it. Period. It's a genre, you see, not a form. Other poems are written in the same form, but are not the same genre. As mentioned above, zappai shares the form, but not the content. Another popular genre using the same form is senryu. Sometimes called 'humorous haiku,' it began as the 'lighter side of life,' and has evolved into a serious genre that can treat serious subjects. The chief difference between senryu and haiku is that senryu is about human nature while haiku is about nature. There is overlap between the two and novices are often hard-pressed to tell the difference.
Further, many magazines call themselves 'haiku' magazines but publish both senryu and haiku without distinction. Some publications will even go so far as to subdivide between haiku and 'hokku' -- but this is splitting hairs to a degree that will only frustrate the novice. Haiku magazines do not publish zappai; they don't consider it to be 'real literature.' Zappai doesn't need any help getting published; the world is full of people willing to forward it to everyone they know via email.
Various other patterns are proposed as well, while others have abandoned the idea of 'counting' syllables, lengths, words, beats, or anything else. There is general consensus among poets and scholars that 5-7-5 is NOT what defines a haiku in the first place. No, what defines haiku is that it is seasonal poetry about nature.
If you're familiar with the 'joke-ku' 'haiku error messages' and your banal elementary school 5-7-5 poems about kittens, you may be baffled to discover that these in no way qualify as 'haiku.' They are what the Japanese call 'zappai' -- or parodies, knockoffs, jokes, etc. Certainly there is a place for such things -- we all love a good joke and parody is as much an art as poetry -- but they aren't haiku.
Haiku must have some sort of reference to nature or the season in it. Period. It's a genre, you see, not a form. Other poems are written in the same form, but are not the same genre. As mentioned above, zappai shares the form, but not the content. Another popular genre using the same form is senryu. Sometimes called 'humorous haiku,' it began as the 'lighter side of life,' and has evolved into a serious genre that can treat serious subjects. The chief difference between senryu and haiku is that senryu is about human nature while haiku is about nature. There is overlap between the two and novices are often hard-pressed to tell the difference.
Further, many magazines call themselves 'haiku' magazines but publish both senryu and haiku without distinction. Some publications will even go so far as to subdivide between haiku and 'hokku' -- but this is splitting hairs to a degree that will only frustrate the novice. Haiku magazines do not publish zappai; they don't consider it to be 'real literature.' Zappai doesn't need any help getting published; the world is full of people willing to forward it to everyone they know via email.
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