A rather late revert to my attempt to complete the poetry exercises in "The Ode Less Travelled" by Stephen Fry. Inspired by my visit to Japan.
According to what I learnt reading "Miss Happiness and Miss Flower" as a child, haikus have 17 syllables
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| On Mount Yoshino |
altogether, and are arranged in three lines, of 5, 7 and 5 syllables respectively. However, according to Stephen Fry, it appears that this strict adherence to the Japanese syllabic form is not quite right. Obviously Japanese words have fewer syllables than English words. They say more with these 17 syllables then English speakers. Rather the haiku is supposed to be the distillation of a moment of inspiration or imagination, the "haiku moment". Stephen Fry also instructs that there must be a "seasonal word", or "kigo" in each haiku, to tell the reader what season this haiku is meant for, and should preferrably refer to the natural world.
The poetry exercise requires us to write four haiku, one for each season of the year. But I don't really want to as my photos are all of spring and cherry blossoms. So, I will just write three haiku, to celebrate the beautiful sakura flower.
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| Grounds of the Imperial Palace, Kyoto |
Dreaming of the spring
Cherry trees begin to bloom
Buds await their turn
Sitting by the tree
Pale pink petals float and sway
Blossoms on the wind
Silver on the ground
Above, fresh green leaves unfurl
Life begins anew
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