|
Hi, I’m Alan Summers, one of the co-editors of haijinx. On behalf of the other editors I would like to extend a warm welcome to all who are interested in haiku.
Whether you are a newcomer or a veteran you are welcome onto this website that features quality haiku and essays on haikai and concentrates on the role of humour in haiku.
First of all, to anyone who stumbled onto us and is not familiar with haiku or was taught at school that haiku had to be 17 syllables in length, may I jump at this opportunity and offer my thoughts on what a haiku is?
Veterans, please humour me!
|
(from ‘sundog’ haiku journal: an australian year by alan j summers, 1997 reprinted 1998, published by sunfast press; these extracts revised 2001)
Haiku is a form of brief poetry, often in three short lines, although it can be from one to four lines as well!
It is a poem spoken within the span of an intake and exhalation of breath, nature-orientated, both of nature around us — even of a daisy in a crack of concrete — and the bigger nature, Life, but not as a philosophy. Haiku is about what is, as it is, raw reality.
Thoughts on haiku:
Readers are free to tap into their own experience and memories. In haiku the immediate quality of life speaks for itself, without any intrusive presence of the poet. An overt opinion, however small, merely makes it into an epigram.
Readers should be allowed to be able to find for themselves if a verse is moving, funny, or subtly satirical. Otherwise it is merely a judgement made into prose or poetry, but not haiku.
Haiku should be a trigger for an intuitive response. There should not be anyone guiding you into what you should or should not feel. So relax from the mental-free-for-all and become a witness with the eyes of a child.
|
This is how I feel the haiku in haijinx are: fresh, childlike, and free from the presence of the writer.
Our main features are haiku, of course, and articles on haiku. Also we invite you to write to us, whatever stage you are in with haiku, to give us feedback.
A favourite feature of mine are the spotlights on haiku writers, haijin (hence the name haijinx, eh?), respected by their peers throughout the world. For our first issue we are fortunate to feature prominent haijin such as John Crook from England; George Swede from Canada; and Ikuyo Yoshimura from Japan.
Please don’t forget to check into the articles on haiku written by prominent haijin:
Ah, but the haiku themselves, yes! That's the real reason to be here. Please, check these out, soak into them if you will. Not including the spotlights and articles, we have more than 50 haiku from over 30 haijin worldwide. Enjoy!
A quick hint: whenever you wish to learn more about an author or artist, simply click their name and be transported to their biography. The little pink stars, by the way, denote previously published work and a click will take you to the relevant credit.
In haijinx you will discover what I believe is the true spirit, the core, essence, the sheer quality and vivacity of haiku, and why it is forever contemporary, and evolving.
by alan j summers
March 19, 2001
|
