Poetry Isn't Hard . . .

Do you like Haiku?

It is relaxing to write.

Please write one for me.

Five-seven-five.

It’s almost that simple.

Technically, a haiku should have a suggestion of nature, and perhaps a reference to the season in which it was written, but those constricts have mostly been done away with in English versions.

The acknowledged master of traditional Japanese haiku was Basho. National Geographic Magazine did an excellent article on his life and his Journeys which I would direct you to read, rather than trying to do it justice on this page. When I read the article, I was struck by how serene his life and his work seemed. I have since read as many of his poems as I can, but I can’t help but think that I will never appreciate his mastery without learning his language. As that seems unlikely at this point, translations will have to do.

Translating Poetry must be among the most difficult of tasks. For what is poetry, if not meter, and rhythm, and sometimes rhyme? To get the essence, the feeling of the original into another language must take the utmost skill, and mostly I think - the passion for the art and the language.

To understand the difficulty, go to this page. There is an original Haiku by Basho, and 30, that’s right 30 different translations. Which one is the most accurate? I know which one I like best. How about you? I Like this one:

The old pond is still
a frog leaps right into it
splashing the water

Perhaps I like that one best because in my mind, the 5-7-5 must hold, but it just seems to capture the feeling right. Who knows?

I have recently been reading a new translation of Beowulf, and it is such a beautiful poem. Not at all the way I remember reading it before.

So, back to my little Haiku at the top:

Do you like Haiku?

It is relaxing to write.

Please write one for me.

Please, today, include a haiku in your comments. If possible, make it about this blog in some way. It doesn’t matter how. It could be about a particular post, about me, about a commenter, about our little community here in this corner of the tubes. It can be about one of the pictures to the right. Just 5-7-5, that’s all.

Have a great day!