What strikes me most about a haiku is its ability to put a picture in my mind....its certainly not an easy task to do that.
Just try describing a scene..any scene to the person who 'gets you' the most, you would discover that you would need to use tonnes of words just to get near enough.
A Haiku on the other hand puts a distinct scene, a picture or an incident in my mind in as little as 3 words (There is a 3 word Haiku below). I realize that there is more to a haiku than this and for all i know, painting a scene may not be a Haiku's purpose at all... The haikus u find here are the ones whose 'pictures' or 'scenes' I have been able to imagine and relate to...Hope you like them too.
Everything should be made
as simple as possible,
but no simpler.
-- Albert Einstein
From
http://my.execpc.com/~ohaus/pubhaiku.htm
tasting a slice of melon -
the truck farmer's
anxious smile
December fog
picking the reddest apple
from a vendor's cart
my shadow on
the door -
both children asleep
little boxes
of travel soap
thoughts of my children
propped on his shovel
my neighbor recalls the past
the snowstorm strengthens
antique toy show
the baby's hand
reaches out
racists
waving
flags
Twilight
the tea bag
stains the water
funeral procession
his old friends
dutifully follow along
self defense class
everyone
facing the mirror
my son's
small hands
shaping the bonsai
through the rear view mirror
my kids
entering school
lost in years
of an oaks gnarled bark
nameless lovers
job interviewee
taken to lunch
between words tiny bites
edging closer
to the monkey cage -
my son tightens his grip
fresh-cut peonies
carelessly she flicks off
the tiny ant
wiping away the film
on the window’s wavy glass
father’s reflection
world war II scrapbook
faces of young boys
huddled together
her hand on his back
gently caressing
the tattooed dragon
sixteen candles
with one breath
recalling her birth
the tiny ant
carelessly passing through
my shadow
torrential rains
my ailing neighbor
sprinkling the flower bed
From
http://archive.salon.com/21st/chal/1998/02/10chal3.html
With searching comes loss
and the presence of absence:
"My Novel" not found.
-- Howard Korder
Yesterday it worked
Today it is not working
Windows is like that
-- Margaret Segall
You step in the stream,
but the water has moved on.
This page is not here.
-- Cass Whittington
Bar Haikus
http://www.toyomasu.com/haiku/
Basho, Matsuo. (1644-1694).
An old pond!
A frog jumps in-
The sound of water.
No one travels
Along this way but I,
This autumn evening.
Clouds appear
and bring to men a chance to rest
from looking at the moon.
Won't you come and see
loneliness? Just one leaf
from the kiri tree.
Temple bells die out.
The fragrant blossoms remain.
A perfect evening
Etsujin.
Covered with the flowers,
Instantly I'd like to die
In this dream of ours!
Hashin
No sky
no earth - but still
snowflakes fall
Issa. (1762-1826).
Right at my feet -
and when did you get here,
snail?
My grumbling wife -
if only she were here!
This moon tonight...
A lovely thing to see:
through the paper window's hole,
the Galaxy.
A man, just one -
also a fly, just one -
in the huge drawing room.
Kato, Shuson
I kill an ant
and realize my three children
have been watching.
Kójó
Night, and the moon!
My neighbor, playing on his flute -
out of tune
Murakami, Kijo. (1865-1938).
First autumn morning:
the mirror I stare into
shows my father's face.
Natsume, Soseki. (1867-1916)
On New Year's Day
I long to meet my parents
as they were before my birth.
Raizan
You rice-field maidens!
The only things not muddy
Are the songs you sing.
Shiki, Masaoka. (1867-1902).
I want to sleep
Swat the flies
Softly, please
After killing
a spider, how lonely I feel
in the cold of night!
For love and for hate
I swat a fly and offer it
to an ant.
Ron Loeffler
Glass balls and glowing lights.
Dead tree in living room.
Killed to honor birth.
Andeyev, Alexey V.
Spring backup in CS lab:
time to fall in love with
certain humanware.
Chris Spruck
Faceless, just numbered.
Lone pixel in the bitmap-
I, anonymous.
Michael R. Collings
Silence--a strangled
Telephone has forgotten
That it should ring
Dave McCroskey
the morning paper
harbinger of good and ill
- - I step over it
Polaroid Haikus by Rajhiv
Salary's come
My commitments
Beyond Torture
The six-foot man
A wonderful bride
My baby's grown
From 'The Heron's Nest' -
appointment calendar
a coffee ring joins
one day to the next
- LeRoy Gorman
summer moon —
her eyelashes touch
the telescope lens
- Chad Lee Robinson
summer’s end
only dead grass
shows the circus was here
-Sandra Simpson
late night —
a waitress repeats
the list of pies
-John Stevenson
cold night
the dashboard lights
of another car
- John Stevenson
watching the waves . . .
a stray dog settles
beside me
- K. Ramesh
cold morning
the old horse gets up
and goes to work
- Ruth Holzer
glowing embers
I tell her a story
she already knows
— Rick Tarquinio
