Mijikai Haiku

autumn skies

words just

tumble down

     This is my first Mijikai Haiku. Sounds new to you, I'm sure. It's actually a group on Facebook which was recently created by Ed Bremson. According to him, Mijikai Haiku means a short or brief haiku. 

     More details below from him -

     Some possible ideas include taking a haiku and paring it down to its bare essentials, eliminating unnecessary words; or writing a haiku from scratch by concentrating on images instead of grammar. Another idea is to paint images with only a few words, perhaps make impressionistic haiku, using broad strokes. Of course there are many ways to do this. I’m not going to tell you how to use your imagination. Much of the time I personally try to make an actual haiku. Let me give an example. Here is a poem I wrote:

spring moonlight –
a black cat waits silently
in the yard

In Mijikai Haiku, how might we change this? Perhaps:

moonlight
black cat
yard

or

black cat
moonlight
yard

Of course it would also be possible to say:

moonlight / black cat / in my yard OR EVEN
moonlight / in my yard / black cat

You might ask, why do you say “in my yard”? Isn’t that being verbose? Well, “in my yard” is just one possibility. And a lot of the process depends on the effect the poet is trying to convey. And I did cut it down from ten words to six, from thirteen syllables down to seven, which fits in with the spirit of Mijikai Haiku, imho.

Of course, there are many ways to make Mijikai Haiku. Some have experimented using one word, two words, three words, etc.

The above examples are not the only possibilities. Given the imagination of human beings, who knows what paths of creativity and expression we might go down. BY THE WAY, particularly with Mijikai Haiku, there are no correct ways to say this or that. There are only new ideas. Also, like Mijikai Haiku, this statement is a work in progress.

One last thing: let’s make this a fun and safe place to carry on this experiment. Let’s be nice and pleasant to each other so everyone can have fun.

     It's an open group so see for yourself if you'd like to experiment on this kind of haiku. Click here to see comments on my first attempt. I managed to cut it down to 6 words. Most haiku posted over there are even shorter than mine. Some work for me; some don't. I think I like the idea of trimming unnecessary words as long as it will not change or obscure the meaning of what the poet is trying to say. I have yet to read or write a haiku that can pack a lot of meaning or layers of meaning in such a very rare limited number of words like four or five. How about 1-3 words? Is that possible? Like Ed says, it's a work in progress. Who knows? Somebody may come up with one. For the meantime as new ideas may come up, I'm willing to experiment and join the fun.