I am almost finished writing a haiku for each chapter of the Bible (1,189 chapters), and I am interested to hear critique from experienced haiku writers. This particular board (Religio) sounds like a good place to discuss why I undertook this project and what I hope to accomplish. You can read my haiku by searching 'Gendai Bible' on google.
Sounds interesting, I would post links rather than make people search. ;)
Fair enough. I just wasn't sure if posting links was allowed. Here is the link: http://www.gendaibible.net
Welcome to THF, Frederick :)
Quote from: GendaiBible on August 29, 2014, 12:42:49 AM
Fair enough. I just wasn't sure if posting links was allowed. Here is the link: http://www.gendaibible.net
Links are certainly allowed. Do you follow the other gendai haiku sites?
The most famous and authoritative in the English language but also bilingual, certainly in the videos:
http://gendaihaiku.com
http://research.gendaihaiku.com
http://rosenberrybooks.com/what-is-gendai-haiku/
My own collection of gendai haiku, short verse and other haiku:
http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/does-fish-god-know-haiku-collection-by.html
The G-force of Blue | Touching Base with Gendai haiku by Alan Summers
http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-g-force-of-blue-touching-base-with.html
Translating any religious bible is certainly a challenge. Do you paraphrase, or create new work and wording as for example the original collection that became known as the Christian Bible New Testament from Aramaic to Greek, and then Latin, to English (King James) to New English.
As a translation of a Japanese-language haiku into English isn't fully possible, and all we can do is create an English-language haiku which is a kind of parallel poem, a version, an alternative perhaps, what did you do, how did you approach such a huge undertaking, what changes etc... did you make, and why gendai?
What you mean by gendai haiku for instance, as its history came from certain needs, and from Japanese haiku poets being tortured to death because they stood up against Japan entering the Second World War?
I applaud you for such a huge project!
warm regards,
Alan
Thank you for the links, Alan, and I will certainly click through in the near future.
As to your questions, in all likelihood the Gendai Bible assaults the traditional form of the Bible and haiku, and presses hard on the edges of what traditionalists would consider gendai (but isn't that the relationship between gendai and haiku? - to extend the tradition)
In brief, my method for writing the Gendai Bible was to read each chapter of the Bible, attempt to glean central themes and characters contained therein, and then reflect the same in the 17 syllable structure of haiku. In so doing, I knew that I was omitting many more of the words in Scripture than I was including, I was probably ignoring most of the 'rules' that constitute haiku poetry, and the only reason the word 'gendai' might be applicable is because the work is modern or avant garde.
That being confessed, my purpose is to provide another avenue and perspective to the Bible. By reflecting the characters, events, theologies, etc. in fewer words, trusting that the larger meanings of scripture will emerge from the 1,189 haikus, I hope that more people will be able to journey from the beginning to the end of the Bible and perceive the large arc of the greatest story ever told. I am also hoping that some people will be curious enough from their reading of haiku to explore the material from which it came.
To add to the spiritual benefits of the haiku poetry in the Gendai Bible, I composed a chant so that each haiku can be sung. The time and breath of singing, I hope, will reveal a deeper spirituality of the Bible as well.
Hi Frederick,
Wow ... what a fantastic and ambitious endeavor.
Reading through some of these haiku, what strikes me is that these are very different from both "traditional" and "Gendai" haiku. Your Bible haiku are, at their heart, narrative. As a whole, they tell (or distill) a story; individually, each tells bits of the story.
While haiku are descriptive, the description is usually centered around a moment in time -- and tends not to focus on or adhere to the narrative (if any) that provides the greater context of that moment. Jim Kacian explains this in a well-known piece, "Haiku as Anti-Story," which I heartily recommend. http://www.gendaihaiku.com/kacian/anti-story.html
That being said, your haiku do possess a brevity and light touch that are characteristics of the form. Additionally, there is a key similarity in the intentional "incompleteness" of your haiku, which is similar to haiku generally, which rely on suggestion and implication.
Thanks for sharing --
David Grayson
it is a very large project, and i congratulate you for your, (near complete), work.
i am a student of the bible and consider the king james version to be some of the best prose and verse in the english language.
i think your verse are wonderful, however i do not believe you should consider that they need be haiku.
the site is good also for teaching some of the lessons the bible stories carry into the present.
i think the choice of verse form is perfect, for your purpose, because it provides for the continuity of form through the entire bible and i like the musicality of 5 / 7 / 5 , three line verse.
i only think you need not worry when someone says it is not haiku. in my mind you are developing a new english verse form, inspired by the brevity and musicality of haiku , used to carry a narrative in verse.
i also have written 5 / 7 / 5, three line verse over many years for much the same purpose, to condense my journal notes and thoughts into a short verse narrative form.
i have been told it is not haiku, and that is ok with me
marty
David & OneCloud -
Thank you both for your feedback and what I take as encouragement. I confess that I am much more of a student of the Bible than I am of haiku. As such, when facing a choice between preservation of the Biblical story or maintaining the alluring quality of haiku, I chose the former as my priority. It is possible that in trying to exist in both places I have been true to neither, or perhaps by some artistic license I may have brought new light into each.
I have begun teaching Bible studies using the online Gendai Bible as the central reference point. The search function on the website (http://www.BibleHaiku.com) and its link to BibleGateway.com ("read chapter" at the bottom of each page) enables me to cross-reference the Bible in new and interesting ways based on theme, person, events, concept, theology, etc. I tend to teach by drawing people into discussion rather than trying to make a pre-determined point, so the often open-ended and elastic nature of the haiku format lends itself very well to this purpose.
Thank you again for your feedback, and God bless you.