Every once in a while I read a haiku journal that publishes two line haiku.
In our more conservative training here in the States, we're tought haiku are best written in three lines, or monostich (one line haiku).
A seasoned haiku writer once explained that if a writer can get a ku to two lines, the writer should be able to get it down to a monostich. My own experience is that a one-line haiku is more complex than pushing two lines into one.
Besides the "Chrystaline" (form), 17 syllable, two line haiku, is there considered opinion regarding two line haiku?
Jan in Texas
Hi Jan
Quote from: Jan Benson on September 12, 2015, 03:52:30 AM
Every once in a while I read a haiku journal that publishes two line haiku.
In our more conservative training here in the States, we're tought haiku are best written in three lines, or monostich (one line haiku).
Over the decades there has been different conservatisms and it seemed almost always that haiku should be in three lines, despite the fact that the first and original haiku from Japan followed the same pattern as hokku, that they would be one vertical poems.
Sometimes hokku and haiku from Japan are put over into three lines for spacing and perhaps emphasising the three rhythm patterns.
In the West writers like Tito aka Stephen Gill have long been writing predominantly in four lines, as were Yuasa's translations of Basho's work.
Art is elastic, and up to the author where they decide their line breaks occur, and if they desire and can create unusually strong enjambment.
The one line/monostich/monoku has gained popularity which is healthy as it can bring in different dynamics.
I've written quite a few back in the last century because they just felt right for the poem.
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A seasoned haiku writer once explained that if a writer can get a ku to two lines, the writer should be able to get it down to a monostich. My own experience is that a one-line haiku is more complex than pushing two lines into one.
I would expect a seasoned writer in any poetry genre to be able to choose a line number of a stanza successfully.
There is various reasons why a haiku writer will decide on a three line haiku with fragment one line or phrase two line starting it off; a four line poem; a multiple line haiku; two line and one line.
There are many descriptions of how and why one line haiku work different, from Bill Higginson to Jim Kacian, and myself. I'm publishing examples and samples in a forthcoming anthology out later this year that touches on monoku, and the anthology tackles multiple approaches to haiku.
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Besides the "Chrystaline" (form), 17 syllable, two line haiku, is there considered opinion regarding two line haiku?
Jan in Texas
I don't know too much about "Chrystaline" (form) e.g.
The dust of summer covers the shelf
where in spring you last left your ring.
Judi Van Gorderresources on the haiku family tree - Pearl Pirie (June 2015)
I do write a lot of different approaches to haiku from core classic techniques of kigo/seasonal reference and a cut, often a strong cut, to 5-7-5 haiku; monoku and two line haiku etc...
Here's some examples of my work utilising two line stanza stances in haiku or haikai influenced work:
scattered leaves on a pond
goldfish surfacing
Alan Summers
Publications credits: Albatross, The Constanza Haiku Society, Romania
Vol. III No.1 Spring-Summer/No.2 Autumn-Winter 1994
disembodied voices, darkness, light
express train jolts
Alan Summers
Publications credits: Point Judith Light (1994 & 1995)
into the evening a tractor harvests
willywagtail song
Alan Summers
Publications credits: Azami Special Edition (Japan, 1998)
Angel Beach
phytoplankton for the great whale
Alan Summers
Publication Credits: Does Fish-God Know (YTBN Press 2012)
rattle of rain
the crumbs in giants' pockets
Alan Summers
Publication Credits: Does Fish-God Know (YTBN Press 2012)
Blood Moon
my Rhesus positive rising
Alan Summers
Publication Credits: Does Fish-God Know (YTBN Press 2012)
aberrations of rain
epipubic bone retracts the lever
Alan Summers
Publication Credits: Does Fish-God Know (YTBN Press 2012)
Sakurafubuki
you come to me
Alan Summers
Publication Credits: Does Fish-God Know (YTBN Press 2012)
girl in an owl
a human gun for yellow
Alan Summers
c.2.2. Anthology of short-verse ed. Brendan Slater & Alan Summers
(Yet To Be Named Free Press 2013)
The old man of built-in cabinets
fits nests of pigeonholes
Alan Summers
Publication Credits: c.2.2. Anthology of short-verse ed. Brendan Slater & Alan Summers
(Yet To Be Named Free Press 2013)
six-year-olds who work out past┓
└tense forms of imaginary verb
Alan Summers
Publication Credits: c.2.2. Anthology of short-verse ed. Brendan Slater & Alan Summers
(Yet To Be Named Free Press 2013)
Os Sacrum
this pear on Plato's diaphragm
Alan Summers
Publications credits: Bones - a journal for contemporary haiku Issue 0.1 2012 reissued 2013; Does Fish-God Know (Yet To Be Named Free Press 2012)
Previously unpublished two-line haiku being featured in a forthcoming anthology:
the shadows that don't belong
daffodil trail
Alan Summers
leaf drop
a shrew journeys its path
Alan Summers
occluded moon
I remember odd socks
Alan Summers
temple steps
the five sunflowers Van Gogh
Alan Summers
this feeling of guilt
neglected moon
Alan Summers
everyone went to the moon
a softness of morning stars
Alan Summers
Haiku can be very robust and coupled, as it was, right from the very beginning in Japan with Western aesthetics in art and writing.
warm regards,
Alan
QUOTE IN FULLQuote from: Jan Benson on September 12, 2015, 03:52:30 AM
Every once in a while I read a haiku journal that publishes two line haiku.
In our more conservative training here in the States, we're tought haiku are best written in three lines, or monostich (one line haiku).
A seasoned haiku writer once explained that if a writer can get a ku to two lines, the writer should be able to get it down to a monostich. My own experience is that a one-line haiku is more complex than pushing two lines into one.
Besides the "Chrystaline" (form), 17 syllable, two line haiku, is there considered opinion regarding two line haiku?
Jan in Texas
Alan, Thank you for you several examples of published two line haiku.
Jan in Texas