For greater clarity, here is a direct lesson from Robert on one of my hokku as published in Simply Haiku:
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"Don Baird, a world-renowned American martial arts teacher, knows the discipline and work it takes to earn a black belt. It is not something one earns in a few months or a year. Sensei Baird knows that getting a black belt is not the end-all of end-alls. There are higher degree black belts. Learning and ascending never ends. I've watched this man's poetry mature. His activity-biased haiku (is there any other?) and the breath behind them, illustrates the importance of koto over mono: not the object but becoming the object. It is a breakthrough he has grown into.
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"Don Baird, a world-renowned American martial arts teacher, knows the discipline and work it takes to earn a black belt. It is not something one earns in a few months or a year. Sensei Baird knows that getting a black belt is not the end-all of end-alls. There are higher degree black belts. Learning and ascending never ends. I've watched this man's poetry mature. His activity-biased haiku (is there any other?) and the breath behind them, illustrates the importance of koto over mono: not the object but becoming the object. It is a breakthrough he has grown into.
tea cup moon . . .
on this hazy night,
a white owl
How does line one relate to lines two and three? Baird makes effective use of juxtaposition to unveil a surplus of words previously hidden, contrasting the high and the low. Juxtaposition as practiced by the great haiku poets prior to the Meiji period is a powerful aesthetic style.
teacup: an adjective referring to the visible appearance moon: physical object
hazy: an active, descriptive modifier night: not an object
white owl: an organic living object
Baird is saying more than the obvious in this haiku. Haiku painted with only the obvious are worthless. Haiku that are mere word paintings are just that, nothing more: a Herman Melvillianian photograph that has no place in a poetic genre built around an economy of words. Without depth, a haiku is an amateurish expression indicative of laziness and a lack of study.
What does the white owl signify? Is it a metaphor? The reader of a haiku's job is to interpret a haiku via his or her own experiential reference and cultural memory. Reading Baird's haiku, I am reminded of the white owls I saw at night during the Vietnam War. I, of course, read and interpret this haiku differently than most."
Robert Wilson
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Pardon me for using myself as an example but Robert's thinking process is so well exemplified here, I couldn't avoid presenting it. This is classic "Robert thinking" and it is very helpful. His analysis and style of critique gives us more insight to the workings and nature of hokku.
(IMPORTANT: each time Robert refers to haiku he is actually referencing hokku)
on this hazy night,
a white owl
How does line one relate to lines two and three? Baird makes effective use of juxtaposition to unveil a surplus of words previously hidden, contrasting the high and the low. Juxtaposition as practiced by the great haiku poets prior to the Meiji period is a powerful aesthetic style.
teacup: an adjective referring to the visible appearance moon: physical object
hazy: an active, descriptive modifier night: not an object
white owl: an organic living object
Baird is saying more than the obvious in this haiku. Haiku painted with only the obvious are worthless. Haiku that are mere word paintings are just that, nothing more: a Herman Melvillianian photograph that has no place in a poetic genre built around an economy of words. Without depth, a haiku is an amateurish expression indicative of laziness and a lack of study.
What does the white owl signify? Is it a metaphor? The reader of a haiku's job is to interpret a haiku via his or her own experiential reference and cultural memory. Reading Baird's haiku, I am reminded of the white owls I saw at night during the Vietnam War. I, of course, read and interpret this haiku differently than most."
Robert Wilson
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Pardon me for using myself as an example but Robert's thinking process is so well exemplified here, I couldn't avoid presenting it. This is classic "Robert thinking" and it is very helpful. His analysis and style of critique gives us more insight to the workings and nature of hokku.
(IMPORTANT: each time Robert refers to haiku he is actually referencing hokku)
- You, Sandip Chauhan, Robert D. Wilson, Sandi Pray and 4 others like this.
Christopher Provost I started reading Robert's essays in Simply Haiku (thanks for sending them, Robert). Heavy stuff! Makes me realize just how much I don't know about haiku/hokku.
Don Baird They are wonderful ... but require much reading and thinking time. They will change your perspective of hokku forever ... and haiku. When Robert and I reference haiku, we are referencing primarily Shiki and his ways. When we reference hokku, we are referencing Basho, Buson, Chiyo-ni, and Issa ... but lean a lot of our teaching from the shoulders of Basho. Of course, as you know, haiku doesn't have a core identity anymore. It has been clearly ruined as an identifiable genre. It's whatever someone writes and calls it today.
Dalvir Gill this one small write-up (review ) by Robert is a greater help than a book on the subject, for me. Thanks Robert and thanks for sharing Don.
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