Haiku & accompanying

Unnumbered Haiku

stone green, cut of stones

all scuffs and welts and lesions

all faces of the face

-

I wonder if I like Haikus so well because of their ambiguity? There are certainly at least a couple ways to interpret the preceding, as I see it, and it begs the question of the nature of intention and whether my understanding of the poem is right. Or, in full view of the issue, which of my understandings is right, for I certainly conceive, in retrospect, several objects (not physical objects necessarily) this could be referring to; though I certainly only intended one. But that's all aside.

What I really like about the Haiku, I think, is not ambiguity; that can be achieved in any form of writing fairly easily, and it's only a challenge not to take it too far. Rather, the very clearly defined locus of the piece, that turning-point between the second and third lines captives me. It's the fourth inaudible line, sandwiched between lines, that I like. This is almost like peripeteia in miniature; an entire reversal of fortunes occurs between the the latter two lines; the last card is shown in the third line, the dots are connected, so it must be completely unexpected, and yet still provide the key to the structure of the poem. It must be apposite as well as opposite, at is were. So you have this thing that works secretly, behind the scenes, to provide the only action that can take place in the Haiku. I love it, and I think I love it because it's hidden and loose and infinite, but becomes very defined and almost unthought-of in the final reading.

The only thing that seems to consistently annoy me with the Haiku is that I always want the sequel. Haiku historically was only supposed to begin the Renga cycle; someone else comes along and composes a 7-7 line, another person adds a 5-7-5, and so on in a circle, until the desired length is achieved or the end becomes self-evident. But it becomes fairly moot if you just do it by yourself; if I want to construct a long poem of ambiguous self-contained stanzas I'll just do it without the syllable restrictions. No, I need something else, and this is the important part. Anybody out in internet land, if you like my style and think you've got something to balance it, e-mail me at kyle.j@mail.com to do some Renga. I need a partner, and I'd love to check out your work.