I have not seen guidelines for one line haiku, I have an idea how one line haiku should be written and I am sure there will be those that disagree. I am not interested in guidelines for advanced haiku poets, I am interest in guidelines for the beginner who is taking baby steps, just to get them started. One searches the internet for guidelines for one line haiku and very little is found. I am the led of a group of haiku poets, we are all students of the art. We have been having a discussion on this subject and everyone has their own opinions but just what are the guidelines for one line haiku?
To me in one line haiku, one needs to adopt some of the guidelines and rules of a three line haiku. We all know that a three line haiku can have 17 syllables or less, 12 syllables or less for the phrase and 5 syllables or less for the fragment. To me any three line haiku can be converted into a one line haiku, because of the break pattern in the structure of haiku. Therefore why the one line haiku in the first, other than they are pretty or the poets preference for formatting the haiku at the moment.
One question for me, the three line haiku allows for syllable count 12 or less for a phrase and 5 syllables or less for a fragment, should this be followed in a one line haiku? I feel that one needs to keep a fragment to the size of a fragment and a fragment should never be longer than the phrase.
Best wishes... BWP... James...
Dear James,
Here's a few examples of one line haiku published in haiku publications. You might be interested in creating a commentary on one or two perhaps?
examples of one line haiku by Alan Summers and various authorsPublished one-line haiku by Alan Summers this small ache and all the rain too robinsong
ants following invisible trials the children
mist and dark I hold onto Little Bear
city of glass the immobilised man small stone counting
long hard rain my compass your true north
lantana the dark-veined tiger nectar-laden
pull of stars turning cold the snail's navigation
all those red apples amongst the blue tit
giallo this restricted area my birthplace
h=k=l=0 each love number sleeps
Hirst's butterflies disturbing the exhibits people
chestnut moon shifting in my memory ghost floors
night-entangled moons treading judas floors
train sitting:facingpeoplei'drathernot
our pigsilk insults pre-coital manoeuvres playback
the camp fire burns the misty moon halved by thin cloud
nautiluses who remember useful things for only a day
my failed assassin, who has never killed
Seven Sisters the call of owls either side
recurringdream#16.333iso/overbreakfast
Your oily gold in red saffron tea makes me laugh
petrichor this green sunsets in yesterday
curse her Rain falls from a normal blue sky
just me Great Auk I died
Monday's magician of yellow colour of murder
this sorrowing heart fading into plum blossom
crowded train a dozen yellows crackle
macula lutea the snowballs inside dogs
kwĭkˈsĭlˌvər: I've a need for the next biblical cubit
voodoo rain this new light year
Red Sea beat my heart still hydrozoa
Cheshire Moon the cat grins in Farsi
eight thousand li of cloud and moon questions mark
Oak Moon the carpenter's calluses chafing
butterfly dreaming man the Black Butterfly Moon
window-rattling moon I stay up and turn blue
Black Moon my finders keepers Valentine
toys from a distant land scaffolding the fall
ground zero into the new friend's story
sloe-eyed horses in Lichtenstein bubble gum wrappers
messenger shooting crows
soul her fish fingers to the second knuckle
long grass nights star systems in the Big Dipper
corn chaff realising oil as one colour
field of dreams an unborn child's color isn't rapeseed
Pharmakós the name you scratch inside
Blue Moon we don't do one-sided conversations
Old Man's Beard a cyclist wobbles the length of it
sick train the night heron shifts silt for all of us
memory of starlight wink of a one-eyed dog as it sneezes
gliding four sulphur-crested cockatoos a green tinged sundown
black swan rising diving into cloudless sky
moviescreenflickerfullolifecanvasthin
snowfall she takes her daffodils Underground
in-betweenness the grey heron seals the leaks of light
dustbunnies the coins of small change me
dragon tattoo my skinned fables of depression
the drum of the rain ghosting bare hands
leaves begin to fall this face too evolves from fish
the blue note I turn to wind-spun snow
irezumi the river coils into heron
intermittent rain I shed another crow
tearing up snow falls slowly a kind of blue
Published one-line haiku by various writers past and current:a love letter to the butterfly gods with strategic misspellings
- Chris Gordon
rooks weaving darkness into the dusk
-- David Platt
waterbug running by the frogulp
-- Alan Pizzarelli
a stick goes over the falls at sunset
-- Cor van den Heuvel
Ah water-strider never to have left a track!
-- vincent tripi
between the piano's phrases night wind
-- Fred Schofield
in the otherwise still twilight a clamor of robin wings
- Allan Burns
all these sounds not one of them a falling leaf
-- R.C. Matsuo-Allard
an owl hoots darkness down from the hollow oak
- Tombo (Lorraine Ellis Harr)
the blind child reading my poem with her fingertips
-- Elizabeth Searle Lamb
clay on the wheel I confess my faith
- Peggy Willis Lyles
deep inside the faded wood a scarlet maple
-- Nick Avis
pig and i spring rain
- Marlene Mountain
dusk from rock to rock a waterthrush
- John Wills
pain fading the days back to wilderness
- Jim Kacian
white wind the eyes of the dead seal missing
- Carolyn Hall
the owl's flight unheard stars appear
-- Peter Yovu
the blood rushing through my blowhole winter stars
- Scott Metz
mallards leaving in the water rippled sky
- Penny Harter
Spring thaw wings beating inside my skull
- George Swede
night rain a calf stands tight by the bull
-- Pamela Brown
touching the ashes of my father
-- Bob Boldman
heading home I return the stone to the river
- Stuart Quine
muzzle of the drinking cow glides across still water
- Janice M. Bostok
I breathe the wind breathes through the aspen
-- Martin Lucas
thrush song a few days before the thrush
- Marlene Mountain
swans stir of his breath against my hair
- Alexis K. Rotella
lingering on this earth dried onions
-- Ruby Spriggs
Before we knew its name the indigo bunting
–Peggy Willis Lyles
More rain the sisters slip into their mother tongue
–Scott Metz
shadows darkening three-sevenths of her face in sunlight
–Elizabeth Searle Lamb
mallards leaving in the water rippled sky
–Penny Harter
–Matsuo Allard (b. 1949):
through a column of factory steam the white gull
darkness across the river lights in a mill
higher this time the last salmon
alone at 3:00 a.m.—the door knob turning slowly
an icicle the moon drifting through it
passing clouds only a stand of aspens is in light
deep in my notebook a lily pad floats away
–Jeff Stillman:
cross-examination all morning a slanting rain
cold moon lover all business
wind's second wind dead of winter
sweater mend unraveling . . . winter wears on
briefly the heron's catch shaping its gullet
New Year's morning the rent past due
hazy moon hung over the new year
- e n d -
Quote from: BrokenWordsPoet on May 21, 2014, 07:46:09 AM
I have not seen guidelines for one line haiku, I have an idea how one line haiku should be written and I am sure there will be those that disagree. I am not interested in guidelines for advanced haiku poets, I am interest in guidelines for the beginner who is taking baby steps, just to get them started. One searches the internet for guidelines for one line haiku and very little is found. I am the led of a group of haiku poets, we are all students of the art. We have been having a discussion on this subject and everyone has their own opinions but just what are the guidelines for one line haiku?
To me in one line haiku, one needs to adopt some of the guidelines and rules of a three line haiku. We all know that a three line haiku can have 17 syllables or less, 12 syllables or less for the phrase and 5 syllables or less for the fragment. To me any three line haiku can be converted into a one line haiku, because of the break pattern in the structure of haiku. Therefore why the one line haiku in the first, other than they are pretty or the poets preference for formatting the haiku at the moment.
One question for me, the three line haiku allows for syllable count 12 or less for a phrase and 5 syllables or less for a fragment, should this be followed in a one line haiku? I feel that one needs to keep a fragment to the size of a fragment and a fragment should never be longer than the phrase.
Best wishes... BWP... James...
James,
There will also be a dedicated anthology due out that covers the history of one-line haiku by Snapshot Press.
The submission period is now concluded but I thought you might be interested in the details: www.snapshotpress.co.uk/submissions/one-line_haiku_anthology.htm
Quote from: BrokenWordsPoet on May 21, 2014, 07:46:09 AM
I have not seen guidelines for one line haiku, I have an idea how one line haiku should be written and I am sure there will be those that disagree. I am not interested in guidelines for advanced haiku poets, I am interest in guidelines for the beginner who is taking baby steps, just to get them started.
I feel part of the answer is the same for advanced readers as well as beginners, and that is to read as many examples in good publications as possible.
Luckily even print magazines such as Modern Haiku and Frogpond have online examples of work published in various print issues of their publications.[/quote]
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One searches the internet for guidelines for one line haiku and very little is found.
It may be difficult to separate the not-so-good internet sites from the good ones. Here's a few worth reading about one-line haiku:
http://www.thehaikufoundation.org/2010/07/28/12th-sailing-one-line-haiku/
http://www.thehaikufoundation.org/forum_sm/index.php?topic=1094.0
http://www.simplyhaiku.com/SHv2n5/haikuclinic/haikuclinic.html
http://www.marlenemountain.org/1lhaiku/1lhai_contents.html
http://www.poetrysociety.org.nz/node/529
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I am the led of a group of haiku poets, we are all students of the art. We have been having a discussion on this subject and everyone has their own opinions but just what are the guidelines for one line haiku?
Do you mean you are a leader of a group of haiku poets?
There are no guidelines or rules, or regulations as such although we can often work out what works and doesn't. Japanese haikai verses were written vertically as a single line so Western practitioners, and others, decided to attempt one-line horizontal haiku, although the dynamics change.
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To me in one line haiku, one needs to adopt some of the guidelines and rules of a three line haiku.
Possibly, yes. It depends what you state as rules (or guidelines).
Quote
We all know that a three line haiku can have 17 syllables or less, 12 syllables or less for the phrase and 5 syllables or less for the fragment.
The syllablic side of poetry isn't as much a concern for modern haiku writers in English, but often we write one that is less than 17 English-language syllables, and closer to the duration of 17-on ('on' is the Japanese counting system for their sound units, think 'mora').
Quote
To me any three line haiku can be converted into a one line haiku, because of the break pattern in the structure of haiku.
Many of us would disagree, otherwise why not write an English-language haiku in three lines anyway?
Have you read the latest Norton haiku anthology:
Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years (W. W. Norton 2013)ISBN 978-0-393-23947-8
Haiku in English
The First Hundred Yearshttp://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=4294972241
And look inside page:http://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail-inside.aspx?ID=4294972241&CTYPE=G
There are many examples of one-line haiku through the decades in the book.[/quote]
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Therefore why the one line haiku in the first, other than they are pretty or the poets preference for formatting the haiku at the moment.
That's down to the individual poets I guess. Why do others write English-langauge haiku in three lines (and heroic couplets or quatrains many decades ago) when Japanese-language haiku is written as one line?
Perhaps all poets are eccentric, or that a line of poetry is a potent device. I'll have to leave that to each and every poet to answer. 8)
Quote
One question for me, the three line haiku allows for syllable count 12 or less for a phrase and 5 syllables or less for a fragment, should this be followed in a one line haiku?
I think you will find that writers of haiku be it three lines, or four lines (like Tito aka Stephen Gill of Japan) or two lines as well as one line don't always think of fragments and phrases as syllabic structures. There are many variations over the decades, and the use of negative space, juxtaposition, sometimes a seasonal reference, and the cutting of the haiku in two are what counts first and foremost.
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I feel that one needs to keep a fragment to the size of a fragment and a fragment should never be longer than the phrase.
Best wishes... BWP... James...
I guess if a fragment was longer than a phrase than the fragment automatically becomes the phrase and the phrase, if shorter, is the fragment. Or, as some Japanese haiku writers do, they write haiku that go beyond 5-on 7-on 5-on and can be longer than even a tanka.
The writing of haiku is a fascinating discipline and lifelong activity, with all its advantages, its controversaries, and personal growth.
kind regards,
Alan
Quote from: BrokenWordsPoet on May 21, 2014, 07:46:09 AM
I have not seen guidelines for one line haiku, I have an idea how one line haiku should be written and I am sure there will be those that disagree. I am not interested in guidelines for advanced haiku poets, I am interest in guidelines for the beginner who is taking baby steps, just to get them started. One searches the internet for guidelines for one line haiku and very little is found. I am the led of a group of haiku poets, we are all students of the art. We have been having a discussion on this subject and everyone has their own opinions but just what are the guidelines for one line haiku?
To me in one line haiku, one needs to adopt some of the guidelines and rules of a three line haiku. We all know that a three line haiku can have 17 syllables or less, 12 syllables or less for the phrase and 5 syllables or less for the fragment. To me any three line haiku can be converted into a one line haiku, because of the break pattern in the structure of haiku. Therefore why the one line haiku in the first, other than they are pretty or the poets preference for formatting the haiku at the moment.
One question for me, the three line haiku allows for syllable count 12 or less for a phrase and 5 syllables or less for a fragment, should this be followed in a one line haiku? I feel that one needs to keep a fragment to the size of a fragment and a fragment should never be longer than the phrase.
Best wishes... BWP... James...
Alan has already put up a lot of fine examples of one-line haiku (the term "one-liner" refers to a joke) I'll just ad a sequence published in Modern Haiku (can't recall which, though)
winter etudes
Matins a D-minor chord while the coffee brews
almond flowers silent etudes for a skull
how this waltz grew mute and fifty mysteries on a chain
where The Book would have been rusty nibs and laudanum
moorish tiles all faces turned inwards
coughing roses in winter it's plausible
Prime a halfhearted mazurka and the mist the mist the mist
a faint spatter of blood it's nothing my dear
between the screams of pigs the sound of an angry pen
in Polish he longs for Paris Terce
it fades as we smoke the kids are outside
the piano sleeps praying they still walk the hallways
ivory kneeling for Sext in C-major
it's time but it's not a red bougainvillea and she slams the door
she is away the middle four octaves are ebony
this note tells about rain None
a notebook with corrections major to minor and back
just this word nocturne and a day has passed
Vespers as the winter settles in the lungs
lush valley the sunset enters his mouth
how many more breaths and scales Compline
--
further reading than the excellent books suggested might be "Right Under the Big Sky I don't Wear a Hat", Hiroaki Sato's one-line translation of Hosai Ozaki, Jim Kacian's "where i leave off" that also works as an "over-view" of various "constructions".