The other day I found Haiku the Blog which is a blog where all the posts are in the form of Haiku. Then today Slashdot had a post about spam fighters using trademarked haiku in their efforts (and many of the comments are in the form oh haiku). One comment posted on slashdot gave a good explanation of what haiku really is. Naturally most people have it only partly correct according to his explanation.
5-7-5 is the rule; in addition to be a true haiku it must have a nature theme ... People adapting the haiku form to other languages may well relax the 5-7-5 rule, because it doesn't really make sense in many other languages other than Japanese. Every language has its unique sound which dicttaes its poetic form. However, I'd argue that a true haiku canot be created in any language other Japanese
But Haiku goes beyond the form... the essence of Haiku is related to the essence of those Antonioni films, including Blow Up, which you write about further down...
Posted by: Gary - NZ | 2002.08.27 at 12:06 AM
Yes, I think the fact that Haiku goes beyond form is convered in that "what haiku really is" link. Still, whatcha gonna do? Not write haiku? :)
Posted by: Dav | 2002.09.05 at 03:56 PM