Haiku
by Howard A. Landman
Traditional haiku have 3 lines, of 5-7-5 syllables,
usually deal with nature, and have some kind
of twist or surprise in the last line.
Sometimes, the concept of a syllable is a little fuzzy:
is "gasm" one syllable or two?
The name Einstein has 2 syllables (ein-stein) in English
and 7 syllables (a-i-n-su-ta-i-n) in Japanese!
When I first started writing haiku, all I knew
was that they have 17 syllables.
So, these early "haiku" are non-classical.
Listen, Caterpillar
- Listen, caterpillar:
You can fly, but that coccoon has GOT to go!
Climbing The High
- Climbing the high mountain of your orgasm
How sweet to reach the tree-line
1994 January 11
- Pacing the prison grounds:
Did I really build these walls with my own hands?
1994 January 27
- From my rear-view mirror
hangs not fuzzy dice or panties
but the Void.
1994 March 23
The Homeopathy Of Love
- Smaller and smaller doses of you
Have larger and larger effects.
1994 April 14
Hollyhock Haiku (1996)
These were all written at the Hollyhock Center on Cortes Island
in British Columbia on July 4th-5th, 1996, as part of Cris
Williamson & Tret Fure's Songwriting and Performing workshop.
- I meditate, itch,
Mosquito drifts up and off -
I am feeding fish!
Purple Bells
- Drink from purple bells
Of speckle-throated foxglove?
A bee may, not I!
- The water so still -
How could it have gotten here
When it doesn't move?
- Pray for sun's return,
Be bathed in golden rays, then
Complain of the heat.
- Write songs till midnight
Then wake at 6 with new song
Crying to be born.
Rainbarrel
- Be like a barrel
Collecting love's rainwater -
Then ladle it out.
- Cast a diffuse glow
Let a little light shine through
Become translucent.
- Ask myself questions
For which I have no answers -
Eloquent silence.
Hollyhock Haiku (1997)
I returned to Hollyhock in 1997.
These Haiku were written on July 7th during gusty winds and intermittent rain.
- Tattered and threadbare
The great tree's lower branches
Like cast-off clothing
- A man cannot bend
This huge sideways tree-trunk, yet
It curves up itself
- Firs run their fingers
Through storm-gale's billowing hair -
Ferns cling to the ground.
- Four scarlet mushrooms
After rain, under cedar
Three open, one closed
- Red mushrooms so bright
I almost miss their neighbors
Subdued scaly brown.
- Thistle-purple puffs
Float like ducks on an ocean
Of waving green leaves.
Sanctuary Under Construction
- Smell of linseed oil
Bare wires jut from stucco walls
Cedar window seat
- Curls of golden hair
Behind sanctuary post -
Will she smile at me?
- The surf's roar, the breeze,
The rustling of countless leaves -
The whirr of a grouse.
- Old apple tree looks
Scabrous and twisted, dying -
Young peach leaves so green.
Copyright ©1994, 1996, 1997
Howard A. Landman /
howard@polyamory.org
Last updated 1998 May 21