Haiku Moment

Kagero Nikki, translated here as The Gossamer Years, belongs to the same period as the celebrated Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikuibu. This remarkably frank autobiographical diary and personal confession attempts to describe a difficult relationship as it reveals two tempestuous decades of the author's unhappy marriage and her growing indignation at rival wives and mistresses. Too impetuous to be satisfied as a subsidiary wife, this beautiful (and unnamed) noblewoman of the Heian dynasty protests the marriage system of her time in one of Japanese literature's earliest attempts to portray difficult elements of the predominant social hierarchy. A classic work of early Japanese prose, The Gossamer Years is an important example of the development of Heian literature, which, at its best, represents an extraordinary flowering of realistic expression, an attempt, unique for its age, to treat the human condition with frankness and honesty. A timeless and intimate glimpse into the culture of ancient Japan, this translation by Edward Seidensticker paints a revealing picture of married life in the Heian period.

This classic book is a collection and analysis of Japanese haiku in the English language. The Haiku is a brief poetic form expressing a moment of insight. No foreign form since the sonnet has so fascinated and challenged the poets of the English-speaking world. Yet no scholar or critic, until now, has undertaken a definitive study of the problems of writing haiku in English. This book, the first of its kind, examines English language haiku in the light of Japanese form. Author Joan Giroux explicates the meaning and history of the Japanese haiku, its cultural background the creative process which gives it birth and the technical devices developed by Japanese poets over the centuries. Examples by classic and contemporary poets, including Basho and Buson, Shiki and Hastutaro, are given Romanized Japanese and in English translation. Poems, in English, from early efforts by Ezra Pound and Wallace Stevens to work of contemporaries like James Hackett, are discussed and evaluated. Wherever possible, comparisons are made, contrast indicated and suggestions given, with a rare sensitivity to the poetic possibilities of both languages and keen appreciation of the unique qualities of both cultures.

American Haiku: New Readings explores the history and development of haiku by American writers, examining individual writers. In the late nineteenth century, Japanese poetry influenced through translation the French Symbolist poets, from whom British and American Imagist poets, Amy Lowell, Ezra Pound, T. E. Hulme, and John Gould Fletcher, received stimulus. Since the first English-language hokku (haiku) written by Yone Noguchi in 1903, one of the Imagist poet Ezra Pound’s well-known haiku-like poem, “In A Station of the Metro,” published in 1913, is most influential on other Imagist and later American haiku poets. Since the end of World War II many Americans and Canadians tried their hands at writing haiku. Among them, Richard Wright wrote over four thousand haiku in the final eighteen months of his life in exile in France. His Haiku: This Other World, ed. Yoshinobu Hakutani and Robert L. Tener (1998), is a posthumous collection of 817 haiku Wright himself had selected. Jack Kerouac, a well-known American novelist like Richard Wright, also wrote numerous haiku. Kerouac’s Book of Haikus, ed. Regina Weinreich (Penguin, 2003), collects 667 haiku. In recent decades, many other American writers have written haiku: Lenard Moore, Sonia Sanchez, James A. Emanuel, Burnell Lippy, and Cid Corman. Sonia Sanchez has two collections of haiku: Like the Singing Coming off the Drums (Boston: Beacon Press, 1998) and Morning Haiku (Boston: Beacon Press, 2010). James A. Emanuel’s Jazz from the Haiku King (Broadside Press, 1999) is also a unique collection of haiku. Lenard Moore, author of his haiku collections The Open Eye (1985), has been writing and publishing haiku for over 20 years and became the first African American to be elected as President of the Haiku Society of America. Burnell Lippy’s haiku appears in the major American haiku journals, Where the River Goes: The Nature Tradition in English-Language Haiku (2013).Cid Corman is well-known not only as a haiku poet but a translator of Japanese ancient and modern haiku poets: Santoka, Walking into the Wind (Cadmus Editions, 1994).

In this intriguing literary experiment, Ian Marshall presents a collection of nearly three hundred haiku that he extracted from Henry David Thoreau’s Walden and documents the underlying similarities between Thoreau's prose and the art of haiku. Although Thoreau would never have encountered the Japanese haiku tradition, the way in which the most important ideas in Walden find expression in the most haikulike language suggests that Thoreau at Walden Pond and the haiku master Basho at his "old pond" might have drunk at the same well. Walden and the tradition of haiku share an aesthetic that embodies ideas in natural images, dissolves boundaries between self and world, emphasizes simplicity, and honors both solitude and humble, familiar objects. Marshall examines each of these aesthetic principles and offers a relevant collection of "found" haiku. In the second part of the book, he explains his process of finding the haiku in the text, breaking down each chapter of Walden to highlight the imagery and poetic language embedded in the most powerful passages. Marshall's exploration not only provides a fresh perspective on haiku, but also sheds new light on Thoreau's much-studied text and lays the foundation for a clearer understanding of the aesthetics of American nature writing.

Lake Cora is a beautiful spring-fed lake located in the cradle of southwest Michigan's orchards and vineyards. The lake is surrounded by a soft sandy shore, natural grasses, and stately trees. Though it is small and not widely known, locals affectionately call it the other great lake. Although Lake Cora is an ideal setting for water skiing, small sailboats, kayaks, and an occasional wave runner, it is primarily a quiet reflective setting for fishing, swimming, and a calm nightly parade of pontoon boats. As such, the lake gives rise to thoughts of nature and the nature of life. The ancient craft of haiku provides a vehicle to express such reflections. Haiku is a generally unrhymed poetic form traditionally consisting of seventeen syllables arranged in three lines of five, seven, and five syllables, respectively. Haiku is perhaps the most popular and best-known poetic form worldwide. These poems are deceivingly simple enough to be taught to children and yet have been the subject of doctoral dissertations and academic careers. Lake Cora Haiku is a fresh new collection of this admired poetic form.

This is the most authoritative and concise book on Japanese haiku available: what it is, how it developed, and how it is practiced in both Japanese and English. While many haiku collections are available to Western readers, few books combine both translated haiku with haiku written originally in English, along with an analysis of individual poems and of the haiku form itself. Written by a leading scholar in the field—Kenneth Yasuda was the first American to receive a doctorate in Japanese literature from Tokyo University—Japanese Haiku has been widely acclaimed. This edition is completely repackaged for a digital format, and is the perfect book for lovers of poetry who do not have a solid background in haiku.

Have a haiku momentwhen your mind stops and your heart moves. Writing haiku offers the chance to honor, hold, and fully experience a fleeting moment that takes you out of yourself, a moment that hints at the deeper unity that lies beneath the surface of things. from Chapter One In this encouraging guide for both beginning and experienced haiku writers, Margaret D. McGee shows how writing haiku can be a consciously spiritual practice for seekers of any faith tradition or no tradition. Drawing from her experience as a spiritual retreat leader and published haiku writer, McGee takes the mystery and intimidation out of beginning to write haiku. For those already on their way, she provides helpful hints and exercises to broaden and deepen both your haiku artistry and your appreciation of haiku as part of your spiritual life. With humor and encouragement, she offers step-by-step exercises for both individuals and writing groups, and shows how haiku can help you: Pay attention to the world around you to connect with sacred moments Overcome fear and self-doubt to access your innate creativity Explore and use haiku together with spiritual practices in your own faith tradition Make haiku a spiritual part of your daily routine

This book was originally submitted to the IT University of Copenhagen as a master's thesis in 2013 under the title of ""Games and Poetry: Player associations with poetic game experiences."" It explores the concept of the poetic videogame, a game that has an imaginative or sensitively emotional style of expression or effect on the player that, as a whole, is different from the kinds of experiences that shape the current videogame landscape. It offers a framework for the creation of poetic videogames by looking at one specific type of poetry; haiku. This is accomplished by applying the forms and conventions of haiku, such as its three elements; when, where, what, or the five-seven-five pattern, to videogames.