How to Haiku Part Two

By Maria Moss

A long jour­ney ends
when farm­ers grab their rifles
wolves in Germany

 

Remem­ber the Haiku rules from last week? If not, check here.

As opposed to last week’s blog on tra­di­tion­al Haikus, this blog will focus on the non-tra­di­tion­al vari­ant. While these Haikus still fea­ture a nat­ur­al scene or a part of nature (e.g. land­scapes, ani­mals, oceans), the focus is no longer on the depic­tion of a qui­et, solemn image of nature but on the dis­rup­tion or even destruc­tion of a once bal­anced and har­mo­nious envi­ron­ment. Non-tra­di­tion­al Haikus always call atten­tion to envi­ron­men­tal dam­age due to man’s inter­fer­ence in the nat­ur­al order of things.

 

Look at the fol­low­ing Haikus writ­ten by students:

Love­ly silent lake
shoal of fish swims quietly
stiff and upside down                                    (Lina Tran)

Soft green slopes smoothly
cling to the roar­ing highway
plas­tic every­where                                        (Maria Hermann)

Black shiny blankets
float on the vibrant ocean
fish gasp­ing for air

A flick­er of tail
red­dish fur bursts through the woods
hunt­ed by black hounds                               (Vanes­sa Richter)

Dry bar­ren landscape
echo­ing metal­lic roars
haunt the life­less realm                               (Vanes­sa Tan)

 

I thought I would end this blog with a link to a Haiku read­ing on YouTube, but I’m actu­al­ly pret­ty dis­mayed at the qual­i­ty of the videos I dis­cov­ered. My stu­dents can do bet­ter than that. If I can con­vince them to read their Haikus, you’ll hear from me again. In any event, try to write your own Haikus – it’s fun!!!

 

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