Judith J. Katz
I think the inherent brevity and simplicity of the Haiku form make it naturally appealing to students until they realize how much work goes into writing something brief and simple. Hopefully by the time they realize the challenges inherent in reaching the goals of this form, they will be hooked by the concept and unable to stop thinking in a Haiku style. Beginning below I will discuss the way in which I want my students to begin to understand and utilize the common vocabulary I will be introducing them to.
Observation
I want my students to learn all good writing relies to some extent on their ability to observe something. What they observe can be external like the color of the limbs on a tree outside the classroom window or internal like the tickle in their throats when the dry heat of winter fills the classroom. Haiku is a form of poetry that exists in order to describe that which is observed.
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Naked brown and cream
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Limbs outside winter windows
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Radiator pings
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Judith Katz
Common Language
Another practice that will be important for my students is choosing their words carefully. Since the Haiku is generally an observation of a common, everyday experience involving what can be seen nearby the student will be encouraged to use common language. The language of Haiku is not metaphorical it is straightforward. The container of Haiku is so limited in size that complicated grammatical construction must be abandoned in favor of the simple and direct.
Hosimi
One of the Haiku concepts that is particularly challenging to young (and even sometimes mature writers) is that of hosimi, or slenderness of word use. Hosimi is a quality that can make the lines of the Haiku seem fragmentary and incomplete. These qualities contribute to simplicity and naïf sound that the Haiku lines have.
I must remember that hosimi may be viewed as a direct literary insult to my students who can exhibit a pit-bullish protective quality regarding their writing. In the past they have wanted to protect and retain every word they write. They do not want to edit, change, remove, or rearrange the order of the words they've written. But in order to adhere to the concept of hosimi they almost always must edit, change, remove or rearrange the original order of the words they've written. This will inevitably lead to a strengthening of their editing skills and create positive influences on the word choices they make later when they begin writing in more complex forms like sonnet, Pantoum, and free verse. It is my hope that the experience of reading, writing, and editing Haiku will encourage my students to create combinations they might otherwise resist.
Painting a Picture, The Five Senses
My students will practice using description through their five senses to paint a picture for the reader. Technically the pictures they paint for the reader will not all be visual. By using their five senses they will be able to write Haiku that observe the way a place, or event, smells, tastes, feels, sounds and or looks. By encouraging them to include all of their senses I hope to expand their ability to observe beyond what they may have experienced or written in the past.
Detail
I anticipate detail becoming a tricky area for my students. Since I will have already told them that I expect them to use common language I expect they will fight with me about using words that are highly descriptive. I can easily imagine them telling me that "dog" is good enough, common enough and that a detail about what kind of dog is being observed is not needed.
I am prepared to overcome their objections. I am prepared to describe the "Evolution of Detail" as told to me by William Wenthe, Professor of English, The University of Texas. Professor Wenthe, in a session of constructive criticism of my poetry once commented that the power of poetry is in the detail. He asked me which of the following was the most descriptively powerful; animal, mammal, dog, collie, a one eyed boxer named Jubal. Clearly the last, most detailed description paints the clearest picture.
The Haiku Moment and Present Tense
One of the reasons I like to teach Haiku at all is because of the Haiku Moment. At the risk of being viewed by my students as a "new-age" thinker there is a great deal of discussion in my classroom that revolves around being in the present moment. This comes up in a variety of personal, educational and artistic ways. I believe that to be a good writer you have to learn to allow your mind to drift into the real or imagined past, present and future. In the case of Haiku, I will be training my students to work with the present. I want them to them to focus on observing and writing about the present and writing about it in the present tense so they can paint a picture a clear picture of it.
Observation Rather Than Statement
Through my prior teaching experience I have seen this is an area in which students have a lot of trouble. To a student the word "goodbye" may seem like an observation, but it's not. It's a statement. An observation would paint me a picture of the student's detailed observation of the Haiku moment that comes just before, just after, or as the word is being said. For example in my Haiku that follows:
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Gate swings closed. Her hand
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Waves above dark wooden slats
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small against sunset
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Judith Katz
This Haiku paints a picture of what someone might see after goodbye is said. It's an observation, not a statement.
Editing
It will be a rare and shining moment when my students or I write a first draft of a Haiku (or anything else) that won't require discussion and change. Like Rodin's sculpting the nature of creating high quality, authentic, writing requires us to look at the work until we have taken away everything that's not the final product.
The 13 definitions are the tools we will learn to use together so that we can refine, sculpt, edit and create Haiku that paint a picture and bring us to the Haiku moment.
