Humour in the Western Haiku

I have illustrated my comments in this article with some examples of the various uses of humour in haiku. My study focused on European and French-Canadian haiku. All sources are listed at the end of each page of the article. The haiku were published in the last five years.

I will detail these various technical points:

page 1 - Subjects: what do we laugh at?
page 2 - Ways: is the haiku noted or composed?
page 3 - Kinds: why do we write humour haiku?
page 4 - Methods: how do we write humour haiku?

Subjects: what do we laugh at?

— We laugh at ourselves:

les bas à l'envers j'ai mis les pieds en dehors de moi	the stocking inside out — I put my feet out of me
Gracia Couturier (Canada, HFC p33)

even the urine stream
belongs to my shadow —
moonlight night

Dimic Moma (Yugoslavia, KNOTS)

— We have been in a funny situation, or a situation that could make people laugh:

la chauve-souris tourne et tourne dans le ciel et moi dans mon lit	the bat circles and circles in the sky and me in my bed
Bill Bilquin (Belgium, TL)

— We laugh at others:

We have witnessed a funny situation, generally a fortuitous one. The humour sometimes lies more in our insight on a situation, rather than in the situation itself.

J'ai retrouvé mon Palm V dans mes papiers. Drôle d'endroit . . .	I retrieved my Palm V in my papers. What a strange place for it to be . . .
Bill Bilquin (Belgium, TL)

— We imagine a situation:

The haiku is only used as a medium. It is difficult to be separated from the joke.

Ein neuer Lover und die Heizdecke im Schrank bleibt eingemottet.	New lover and the heating blanket remains stored in the wardrobe.
Krisztina Kern (Germany, HSF p37)

— We laugh at a situation:

The mechanics of opposition, of contrast, of parallelism are used. Derision, satire, mocking — we don't laugh at a person, but at the situation.

sa chambre de bonne tout en haut de l'escalier qui pue l'encaustique	her maid's room right at the top of the stairs that stink of wax
Guy Ménard (Canada, HFC p 68)

— We laugh at society in general:

Social satire, great and little amusements of our vision of the world. It is not the situation, but the context that is mocked. It can be cynical or critical. It underlines the established facts, paradoxes, disparities.

au MacDonald tous mes doigts dans un Big-Mac passe un sans-le-sou	at McDonald's all my fingers in the Big Mac a homeless man passes
Jean Christophe Cros (France, TL)

In de kathedraal busladingen toeristen, een vrouw voor de Mis.	In the cathedral packs of tourists one woman for the mass
Paul Berkenman (Belgium-Flemish, HSF p113)

— We laugh at things:

Réveillon — Seul, dans le fond de la cour le bonhomme de neige	New Year's Eve — Alone, at the end of the yard the snowman
Jocelyne Villeneuve (Canada, HFC p99)

— We can objectively describe:

douce soirée un air frais dans la pièce un moustique aussi	sweet evening fresh air in the room a mosquito too
Jean Christophe Cros (France, TL)

— We can add a subjective element to include humour:

Cu demnitate în hainele mele vechî — sperietoarea	With dignity in my old clothes — the scarecrow
Stefan Theodorou (Romania, HSF p401)

— We laugh at living things (other than humans):

Sometimes, living things bring a smile or a mockery. Generally, because we attribute to them human feelings or behaviours.

Der kleine Laubfrosch, geschmückt mit altem Gras, sucht eine neue Braut	The small tree frog, prepared with withered grass, search a new lover
Ingrid Gretenkort-Singert (Allemagne, HSF p28)

Olujna kisa: mrav plovi na latici divljeg kestena.	Thunderstorm: The ant sails on a petal of chestnut tree
Marijan Cekolj (Croatia, HSF p210)

But not always . . .

Un moineau s'envole d'une poche du manteau de l'épouvantail.	A sparrow takes off from a pocket of the scarecrow's coat
Robert Davezies (France, HSF p268)

After the rain
from the squirrel's tail
rain falls again.

Smiljka Gagic (Croatia, HK-13, p22)

page 1 - Subjects: what do we laugh at?
page 2 - Ways: is the haiku noted or composed?
page 3 - Kinds: why do we write humour haiku?
page 4 - Methods: how do we write humour haiku?

Bibliography

FDC : Flaques du chemin, Louis Raoul, Ed Traces, 2000
TL : tempslibres - free times web site
HFC : Haiku et Francophonie Canadienne, A. Duhaime, Ed David, 1999
HK-xx : Haiku, Zagreb
HS : Hasee web site
HSF : Haiku sans frontières, une anthologie mondiale, A. Duhaime, Ed. David, 1998
KNOTS : Knots, The Anthology of Southeastern European Haiku Poetry, D. Anakiev, Ed Prijatelj, 1999

Thanks to Billie Wilson who has revised my English translation.