8/8/98

linked

so many poets begin so many haiku with ing words. feels like the poem loses some of it's structure. has bugged me for years. in 1974 i made a 'tear out' with a big torn out circle with magazine letters of ing after it. ing by itself in 76 'roof'--unexplained of course. in those days called such comments 'dadaku.' since evolved into various forms of 'high coup' including 'high coup hai clue'--i forget a lot of my terms along the way. one of my favorites 'sheku'--a phrase of/by the female. ultimate 'political/ spiritual' term merely 'women's haiku.' in truth nothing 'merely' about it.

noticed the sheet you sent leroy says linked lines. is this a preference for you rather than linked haiku? i started using the latter when i realized my (& many other writers') links were more 'finished' as haiku instead of what i see as the intentional fragmentary style of japanese renga. well japanese haiku itself is fragmentary--we are just so used to 'filled-out' translations. their language from which their literature derives is much less definite/specific than ours. the renga/renku debate turned me off but i say renga cause it's handy. but when i define what i do i say kinked--giggle this really happened--when i define what i do i say linked haiku to express it's more or less self-contained content--even if it might appear fragmentary to others. [course i've been known to write kinked haiku too.] the term linked haiku seems to have more presence than linked lines--tho of course that's what we do. your thoughts?

my boys coming soon i hope. my hair & house are rats' nests. hope i'm not degnigrating rats. need to get out of this green lean-back into nature's colors and shapes.

8/13/98

contests

i think i once mentioned to you about feeling left out of a contest as there was no one-line option. but i don't enter anyway. at most half a doz over the years. just wanted to bring up the matter at the time. don't know why i bring it up now other than your intriguing: all the rules suggested will rule us out. sounds like haiku i've written or wish i had. (john deplored contests but i guess they're fun for most.)

guess i don't feel that many know what i'm about and only judge on what they know of themselves. i want a wider world in haiku for poets than the magazines and contests 'allow.'

8/14/98

limit japanese words

like to call them 'linked haiku' with any title for larger piece that feels good to you. i just don't want to deal with renga/renku argument but i particularly like to limit japanese words for english-language creations as well as our individuality-mindedness which was (is?) a no-no in the days i observed in japan. one followed one's master's/sensei's style. (same in other arts.) i do think we have written renga/renku tho. haiku i believe is now a universal word and means what it means to those who write it. as henderson remarked long ago--which didn't seem to seep into people's concepts.

8/14/98

b/bathwater

to my way of thinking art is revitalized when this happens. art history is full of babies thrown out. so is haiku etc. can't understand why this is not understood by many in haiku. i need another cup of coffee before i go on (and on).

 

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