Hi Stuart, Lee,
Stuart, seeing your name up above reminded me of something you said on our Warm-Up thread that I thought was interesting, and that I think might make a useful question for Lee to address with us:
Quote:
Originally posted by Stuart Farley:
Have you ever noticed that haiku sometimes reads like a little note or annotation? I mean that in the best possible way.
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Now, I know you say "in the best possible way," and I agree that that is sometimes the result. But as a personal observation, I often find that haiku suffer from being
too much like annotations, or even definitions in a dictionary. So, to use a deliberately bad made-up example,
autumn evening
cool wind blows in from the west
as sun is setting
You don't say!
This is one of the traps that beginner haikuists often seem to fall into--and sometimes, not-so-beginners too. Lee's been giving us some very insightful advice on "sparking distances" today . . . this may come under the the general heading too, I suppose. Anyway, Lee, if you've got a moment, it seems an interesting question. Any thoughts?
Steve C.
p.s. (Editing back.) Look Lee, you've got a star now!
p.p.s. (Editing back again.) Just realized how funny my salutation at the top of the post must look! Now all we need is a Jackson.
p.p.p.s. (Again! Aiyaiyai, this has to stop.) Stuart, please note: I don't mean to imply that your own poems made me think of the "annotation problem"; it was just seeing your name here that reminded me of your Open Mic post.
[This message has been edited by Stephen Collington (edited October 16, 2008).]