Haiku thread

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

Hi Robert!
Can you explain why you sometimes like to use opposite imagery in your Haiku? Like snow and summer sun in one Haiku. You know I like to write these too, and I’m always looking to learn.

First in my poem was --

-------JUXTAPOSITION-------

A very strong technique that is to take two distinct images and put them together in the poem. This is called the Juxtaposition Technique. The purpose of the technique is to express a certain relationship between the two images that lead to a certain realization or understanding.

Accordingly, there are three types of relationships produced with the juxtaposition technique: similarity, contrast, and association. With similarity, the two juxtaposed images express a sameness with each other. For example, consider this poem by Buson:

misty grasses,
quiet waters:
it’s evening

Here, the “misty grasses” and the “quiet waters” play a similar, and reinforcing, role in contributing to the image of a calm, pleasant evening.

With contrast, the two images juxtaposed express a stark difference, producing a sense of irony. For example, read this haiku by poet Yamaguchi Seishi:

summer grass:
the wheels of a locomotive
come to a stop

Here, we see the strong contrast between something natural (grass) and something unnatural (the locomotive). The irony here is that although the poem is written in haiku form, which traditionally glorifies nature, the focus of the poem shifts from nature to machine, which detracts from the beauty of the grass.

Next , with association, one image relates to another in an unusual or enlightening way. Take, for instance, this poem by Issa:

people scattered
the leaves too scattered
and spread

Issa here associates the scattered people with the scattered leaves, perhaps alluding to the scene of a grave-site, with an array of tombs, and leaves scattered and spread atop these sites. Thus, the association provides the reader with a sense of desolation.


In many of my haiku's, I use one, or two or even three of the main techniques in the same haiku...
And always extremely important is -- IMAGERY...--Tyr


************************************************** *

edit --

needle, thread, old coat
shimmering winter snow drifts
summer sun, beach sand


needle thread old coat, -- symbolizes--being bare ill equipped for the conditions or else life


shimmering winter snow drifts -- symbolizes-- being in the elements- in a bad state although its beauty yet exists


summer sun, beach sand -- symbolizes -- the contrasting imagery, the wish the person may be thinking- and the pleasure of that scene and warmth.


That is the bare bones of it my friend.
There is much more , in that poem. I will leave that to the reader to find-t o cipher out, to imagine--to seek.... . -Tyr