Last week we looked at writing a short story. I hope you managed to make some headway with it. This week I thought we’d look at the other end of the spectrum and try writing in a tighter fashion by experimenting with haiku.

What is a haiku?
A Haiku is a three-line poem that originated in Japan in about the 12th century. Traditionally it is made up of 17 syllables set out in three lines: five, seven and five. For example:

Cooking
Making something new ( five syllables)
using fresh ingredients (seven syllables)
is cooking with style. (five syllables)

What? where? and when?
A haiku should also conjure up a scene clearly so that the reader knows the answers to at least two out of the three following questions: what?, where? or when? For example:

Autumn in Bulgaria
Early afternoon:
muffled sound of quince falling
on garden gravel.

The ‘season’ word
In traditional Japanese haiku there is always a reference to one of the seasons. Japanese poets include references to flowers, fruits, animals and customs that are linked to specific times of year. For example, the moon in a haiku usually means the Harvest Moon, which indicates that the time of year is mid-September. Mentioning the moon therefore evokes all the associations of that season. This is known as the “season” word.

In English we do not have the same traditions of words that evoke specific times of year. Consequently English-speaking haiku writers often refer directly to the seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter or use non-specific nature and event references that do not always identify the month of the year precisely, eg, daffodils, snow, cricket, bonfires, etc.

Bulgarian traditions, however, may be more specific, for example February the 14th, Trifon Zarezan – the Day of the Winegrowers – where it’s customary to bless the vines. I would imagine that most Bulgarians, especially those living in the countryside, would know this festival. The Bulgarian writers among you (or readers of other nationalities who know about Bulgarian customs) may be able to write a Haiku using a season word in the Japanese tradition. Bearing in mind the number of celebrations in Bulgaria, I guess it’s possible to write a haiku for every month of the year!

Exercise
Write a haiku about winter in Bulgaria. The content could be about traditional events:

· Christmas celebrations
· New Year’s (or the folk holiday sourva)
· The Epiphany
· Atanassovden (the day that winter will soon go away)
· The Day of Maternity Aid/Babinden (when midwives are honoured).

On the other hand, you may want to write a haiku about your feelings regarding winter or make a comment about nature and the landscape at this time. Whatever you choose, remember that you are aiming to write three lines, the first with five syllables, the second with seven and the third with five. If you are successful you might like to try and write a few more haiku just to get into the swing of it.

Refining your haiku
Now that you are more confident, let’s look at refining the content a little more. A haiku paints a picture. However if the content is just an observation it can be interesting and even charming, but ultimately it can fall short of having any transferable meaning for others and so may be in danger of becoming one of the dreaded “so what?” haiku. In other words, having read it, the reader asks, “So what?”

It’s a tall order to write not only a haiku but also a haiku containing a universal truth! See www.haikusoc.ndo.co.uk for examples, which may help you to master this art form.

Writing haiku can be challenging but it’s also a useful exercise in distilling an idea into a few words. If you are attempting to write haiku for the first time, please don’t get bogged down with structure; just write, then refine. Try and write a haiku a day for the next seven days. Keep them all and next Saturday look back and marvel!
If you are successful in writing haiku you might be interested to know that The Swansea Review is currently looking for submissions. See www.swanseareview.com for details.

The VT Writers’ Group
This group meets weekly in the Veliko Arts Centre, 36 Ivan Vazov Str, Veliko Turnovo. For more information call Eileen Sutherland on 089/ 989 64 42.