Quicksilver: the chronicles of a newcomer to the art of haiku
Quicksilver
Hg3
Learning About Seasonal Words
By Laura Sherman
One of the first things I learned about haiku is that each poem must contain a seasonal word. Sounded easy enough. I assumed that this was open to interpretation and that I could pick words that evoked different seasons for me.
As I studied further, I ran across the term “kigo.” Kigo is a Japanese seasonal word. These are set in stone. Students of haiku in Japan study a kigo dictionary, called a “saijiki,” to learn which words represent which seasons.
As I continued to explore this area I saw that some haiku poets branched from the kigo concept and sought seasonal words appropriate for their area. In a different discussion on Young Leaf #2 (here on troutswirl), I was intrigued by how seasonal words could vary depending on where you live in this world.
Lorin Ford pointed out that July is winter in Australia. I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t considered that before. Since I live in Florida, I never thought of it as anything but a summer word (a very hot, humid, sticky seasonal word).
I see there is a debate between the traditional kigo approach and the seasonal word concept (which is a bit more open to interpretation). I plan to study both approaches more and learn from each.
I do have trouble sometimes finding an appropriate kigo or seasonal word for my haiku. I know it isn’t a haiku without one.
I have been working on two haiku that have stumped me. For me “sandy” speaks of summer, but I know it isn’t a kigo. Does it work as a seasonal word?
returning—
my sandy footprints erased
webbed ones remain
Then the other has been with me for a while. I love going to the beach and watching the sun touch the horizon. It’s a special moment for me. It is also a little sad when the moment is gone and the sun has set.
red sun touches
distant aqua line—
deflating
So, for me both haiku speak of summer, but I suspect neither has a seasonal word. How does one “insert” a seasonal word without losing the poetry? I could make Line 1 of the second haiku: “red summer sun touches.” Or perhaps, “august sun touches,” which might infer that summer vacation is over as well. I prefer the original, but suspect it isn’t a haiku.
Can you help me sort this out?
What do you do when you write a haiku, which doesn’t contain a seasonal word?
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Quicksilver is a column on troutswirl, the blog for The Haiku Foundation, devoted to showcasing the questions, ideas, and evolution of a beginner to the art of haiku, Laura Sherman. Each installment will feature some of Laura’s new work as well as her ideas and thought-processes concerning them. It is hoped that readers will respond with reactions, ideas, and advice on her work and provide feedback on how she might develop and improve her craft.
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I think it was Hoshinaga Fumio who mentioned that, having invented the seasons, kigo!
Here, in the West, we still have many folk traditions with deep responses to seasonal and historical events. But, nothing to compare with the depth of cultural resonance and nuance of Japan’s inherent cultural search engine, which is kigo.
In Japan, as in Asia generally, mythic realism (or, more actively referenced: ‘magical realism’) is still alive and well, though struggling against an ever increasing, endless tsunami of crass consumerism and it’s non-stop conveyor belts of enervating junk. The West already has succumbed to this, profoundly disturbing, state of affairs.
In the social scientific laboratory of Western humanism’s end-game dystopia, we simply do not have (anymore) the deep connotations of Japanese nature adoring, historically respectful and mystically nuanced, traditional kigo.
The best we can do is subscribe to Modernism’s minimalist, stripped down austerity (carefully avoiding reactionary boroque frills) and cite a seasonal reference. By doing this we approach the existential archetypes of our haiku subjects more closely (yes we do) than Japan, and this is the edge we have. This is what we can give back, with gratitude.
This use of seasonal reference (in place of kigo) can work very well for us. We (literally) address a special moment’s brief enlightenment and this avoids our haiku becoming total disembodied ghosts in some abstract and timeless void, neither here nor there.
Essentially, our Western challenge is to reawaken magical realism (mythic consciousness) to counterbalance and integrate the well established scientific realism that has insulated us from the natural cycles, the living ecosphere and the mystery of being. We need to heal this schism in our somewhat wan, collective souls.
This is why we, in the West, have totally misunderstood much of haiku’s intrinsic and sublime purpose and transcendental utility. Why we have fallen into endless years of fruitless, narrow minded and petty dialectical debate (instead of direct common knowledge) – like a rabid dog chasing it’s swift tail.
In summery, if we’re not Japanese. haiku, with a seasonal reference (as surrogate kigo,) is better than nothing.
MORE ON MAGICAL REALISM AND HAIKU HERE :
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=155009504538038
— jp
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