Why I love haiku

[sandra]

This week I went to a low-key poetry reading in a local bar - one eminent national poet and one well-known-ish local poet reading a few pieces each.

Part-way through I realised how long the poems were, which made me smile and think, I love haiku.

Why?

• It's not a full-length book but it's still a story worth hearing
• There's room for imagination
• It knows when to be quiet
• It understands the power of a single word
• It doesn't outstay its welcome

Please feel free to add your thoughts ...

[PaulaB]

I love the powerful mixture of imagery and emotion in so few words:

Night; and once again,
the while I wait for you, cold wind
turns into rain.      - Shiki

[Julie B. K.]

I hear what you are saying. I can't read long poems without mentally editing them down into haiku.

[cat]

Just my opinion here, which I hope doesn't offend anyone—

Every poem finds its own form, its own size, and should be taken for what it is, poem qua poem. Excellent poetry comes in all shapes and lengths. None is superior to the rest.

In my opinion, "mentally editing" the work a poet has put heart and soul into "down into haiku" is disrespectful.

Outside of haiku, I do not even write poetry, so I'm not saying this because I any have skin in the game. I don't.

cat

[sandra]

"You know what I love? I love haiku. It is impossible to find within them another, smaller poem. But in every novel there is a short story, and in every story a poem, and in every poem a haiku. And in every haiku there is a moment that stands for all of time."

- American poet Mary Ruefle, March 19, 2014 in an interview on the Music & Literature website, http://www.musicandliterature.org/excerpts/2014/3/19/a-conversation-with-mary-ruefle.