Haiku – Making More Pots (Part 2)
One Day
This is Part 2 of two posts about writing haiku. Did you miss Part 1 on Monday? It’s here.
Why write haiku if you are a visual artist? Writing haiku uses the art-making skills of looking, seeing, focusing and making statements about big things (life, death, beauty) using very little material. It’s a great way to start your day in a relaxed and focused way.
So, onward we go. OK, you have your notebook and your pen Have you found your haiku spot?
Haiku are traditionally based in nature, but you can write haiku about anything. You should pick one spot and return to it for at least a week. Return even longer and you will be challenging yourself even more.
1. For this first haiku, pick one thing from your spot. Say to yourself, “I will write a haiku about this rock, this chair, this tree.”
2. Don’t wear or look at a watch, but say to yourself, “I have 30 seconds.” Or choose one minute or whatever space of time gives some urgency to the task, but doesn’t cause you to be in a panic.
You want a finite amount of time to write down all the descriptive words you can about the the item you chose.
You will learn over time what type of words work best. But for this first time, ask yourself, “What do I see?” Write down concrete words – green, needles, pinecones, swirling.
Then ask, “What do I hear? ” Trill, whistle, car. When you write down car – stop! Is it a sound? No. Is the car chugging, grinding, purring? Those are the specific, descriptive words you want to write down.
Continue through the five senses: What does the tree feel like? Its needles? Its bark? Would it be safe to taste your item? Or can you imagine what it might taste like? If I’m looking at a pine tree, I might think of a ship’s mast made from it and think, salty. What does the tree smell like besides pine-y? Is it sharp, lemony, woodsy, dark?
Work your way down the five senses, but mostly concentrate on writing many words and writing quickly. Be specific, be descriptive. You want a lot of words on your piece of paper.
3. Now choose nine words from your list that seem to catch the essence of your subject. Write those down, arranging them in three lines. if you have had enough excitement for the day, hey, you have written a poem. Go for a haiku tomorrow. Continue on to Step 4 if you are ready to finish a haiku today.
4. Now count the syllables. If counting syllables gives you fits, have a dictionary handy and use it this first time to check the number of syllables. Write down next to each line the syllables it contains.
How many syllables do you have? Seventeen? You have written a haiku – Congratulations! Not seventeen? Here is where it really becomes fun.
Perhaps your list has words with only one or two syllables. You will need to add more words to your haiku from your list to reach seventeen syllables. You may want to choose twelve words to begin with from now on.
Too many syllables? What can you cut? Do you need to make a substitution from your list of words? Does adding an -ing to a verb help? You shouldn’t have any of the little words, “the”, “an”, “a”, in your haiku, but perhaps you need to add them now.
It’s your haiku, so do what you need to do to make it right.
Does your haiku capture a feeling, a moment, a particular thing in a particular place?
I used this method of pre-writing for quite some time and I have taught kids to write haiku using it. It’s a place to begin, a place to start your pen writing and your eyes and other senses working. After a time, you will be able to do this in your head and in your rough drafts. I write all my haiku on the right-hand page of a two-page spread and use the facing left-hand page for revisions.
Now that you have written one haiku, can you write another from your list of words? If so, great! If not, no worries. You have learned what types of words would be more helpful. Come back tomorrow to your spot, choose an object, make another list of words and write more haiku.
Wren, so tiny, so quick,
Jumps on a chair.
Nervous, curious, fearless.
Feel free to share your haiku in a comment. Remember, we are not making THE perfect pot, we are making lots and lots of pots.
Thank you all for sharing! V.
Somewhat off subject — thanks for your review of the Masters book from Lark. I picked it up last week and have been spending a good bit of time in study. There are several people in the book whose work I don’t know and I’m glad to have the opportunity to learn more about them. I wish some of the portfolios had earlier work — I’m always interested in how someone’s work evolves — but what’s there is (as Spencer Tracy is reported to have said of Katharine Hepburn) cherce.
Thanks so much for the tutorial on writing Haiku. I had been thinking of writing a poem about a tree as that is what I’m starting to concentrate on in my fiber work. You inspired me to try a Haiku. So I did this while on my morning walk in the woods.
Majestic tree thrusting skyward
Raven King atop
Shouts Caw, Caw, Caw
I’m sure I’ll try some more as it was an interesting exercise.
Virginia,
I enjoyed your Haiku overview. I love Haiku. I wrote a book for all my siblings several years ago in Haiku and Tanka. I had them send me favorite memories that I translated to Haiku and pictures. Now that I am quilting I have Haiku written for many of my quilts.
Sometimes a haiku just forms in my head. I’m not trying to write one, but if it does, I write it down. One must have popped in after reading your blog. I wrote it down and decided to draw a small picture with it. I put the first on my blog today. I have a couple so far and will put more up on my blog. You can see it here: http://lisasartmusings.blogspot.com/
Maybe I’ll try your descriptive word exercise sometime.
Thanks, Virginia. Hmmm, I remember vaguely learning about haiku in elementary school some 30-mumble years ago. No conscious efforts to make any since then!
I found it interesting that you wrote about haiku this week because I had been considering learning the form last week!
Well, it’s a quiet day at the office & I have my tasks completed, so I took a stab at your method..
Flurescent lights hum,
Generic creamy white walls
inpire naps, not work.
Great job, Jackie! Your first one???
Tomme – You are so great! Over $750 raised by the challenge quilt CD fundraiser you are doing for FFAC – thank you!
Linda – Oh, hang in there! Haiku in a doctor’s office is good sue of your time. No macro lens for the flowers – just my point and shoot little Nikon Coolpix. It just keeps going and going.
Lynn – Thanks and let me know how it goes.
V.
This is a really great exercise, I think I will make this a daily routine – thanks for sharing this!
Virginia, I love haiku too … I wrote these while waiting in the doctor’s office for my Chronic Fatigue appointment …
Waiting in the chair
Hoping not to fall asleep
Doc arrives — Wake up!
Sleep sneaks up on me.
Wishing I could fend it off,
I fight, but — no use.
By the way, I LOVE your macro photographs of your flowers!
In the haiku I write, I challenge myself to stay within the boundaries I learned back in grade school of not only 17 syllables, but the 5-7-5 order, and although the three lines should relate to one another, each should also be able to stand alone as a complete thought.
My haiku for today is prompted by the upcoming Relay for Life, and the ongoing fundraising efforts of Fiberart For a Cause:
Many voices cry.
How can we help find a cure?
Hope remains alive.
Never tried this before – quite enjoyable!
Active cloud of silence,
Wriggling tails, tadpoles hide,
Heron waits, patiently