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SHASHIN-KAKU HAIKU began after a submission rejection
from Inkstone magazine in the Fall of 1983. One of the editors,
Denise Coney, stated: "Please excuse the long delay in
responding. I regret to say that we did not find anything among
your submissions that we wanted to use but please do try us again.
In their present form your submissions are not haiku, but more
like still photos. We suggest you pick up a copy of Henderson's
Introduction to Haiku, as we feel that you do have the ability to
produce better work! Good luck in your other areas of poetry." In
the Spring of 1984 the haiku were published under the title
Photographs, with the dedication to Denise and I think she has ill
feelings about it to this day!
Three years later I developed a style of haiku based on the
suggestion Ms Coney made that the originals were like "still
photos" and had the essay published as a Chapbook in 1987 with
Hamilton Haiku Press. It was published under the title (in
Japanese script) Uketorinin.
A further editing and revision occurred in 1991 when it was
published in the BookClub BookLit Series of the Canadian Poetry
Association. It was reprinted with additional haiku in 1993 in the Literary Review of Canada
(Toronto) and appears in its final draft
below.
SHASHIN-KAKU HAIKU has received only one review, in
Scene Magazine:
"BookLit #4, Shashin-kaku Haiku, is Wayne Ray's attempt to
modernize or recreate the form of haiku poetry. The book shows
the method and lists the history of the form, including some
original Japanese verses and their translations as well as some
modern examples of his Shashin-kaku school. Haiku is a good
exercise in verbal control for poets -it forces one to be succinct
and clear. It was favored by the Imagists (Ezra Pound, Carl
Sandburg, William Carlos Williams, etc.) because of its ability to
arouse a direct emotion or insight from a single, sharp image. The
book shows that haiku is more versatile than the "autumn" ones
we wrote in public school."
Mark Young
SHASHIN - KAKU HAIKU
In developing a new haiku style of poetry, I had to come up with
a name. During my investigations into the history of haiku (l) I
came across two Japanese words that I have chosen to describe
this new style; Shashin, meaning photograph and Kaku, meaning
picture (to sketch or draw).
The structure of the first line is made up of up to two words of
no more than three syllables or two feet (2), a foot is one
breath-stress producing either one or two syllables. The rhythm of
Japanese poetry is based on the beat of stress rather than on the
number of syllables (3). The only restrictions placed on the first
line are that it must let the reader know exactly what it is you
want to talk about and it must be connected to the second line in
continuity of thought.
The structure of the second line is made up of up to six syllables
or three feet and acts as an ending thought to the first line and
must show no contrast. The object of the first and second lines is
to `paint a picture' that will leave a very strong impression on the
mind of the reader. A `photograph' that says everything.
Subjective, maudlin ideas and rhyme are not accepted.
The use of non-traditional haiku themes is encouraged,
however, traditional seasonal themes with provocative content are
acceptable. The overall feelings and ideas embodied in the first
two, 2 - 3 beat, lines must be clear and concise with no hidden
images.
The third line, as in the haiku, is the contrast line with less
syllables than in the second line, two to three feet (five syllables).
Shashin-kaku must make a clear statement about life and the
world around us.
The best method of dealing with the writing of Shashin-kaku
haiku is to compare it with the traditional and modern haiku of
Japan as well as with the modern haiku style.
The traditional Japanese haiku style in English consists of a
5-7-5 syllable or 3-4-3 beat (4) poem with a seasonal word or
theme. The haiku form in any language is a triplet verse of 3-4-3
beats. Fundamentally, haiku is not syllabic poetry (5). It is the
haiku in the Japanese language that the syllables are counted and
not necessarily the English translations. Haiku as a verse form is
more than four hundred years old with its origin in the haikai, a
light hearted linked verse consisting of 36, 50 or 100 verses
composed by a team of poets. The opening verse, called the
hokku, was in three lines of 5-7-5 syllables with the second verse
a 7-7 syllable couplet.
The hokku was the most important as it set the tone for the rest
of the poem and through the works of Basho, in his travels, wrote
hokku alone without the verses that followed and cleared the path
for the birth of haiku - completely independent hokku. (6)
Basho:
furike ya/kawazu tabikomu/mizu no oto
an old pond
a frog jumps in
the sound of water
Modern Japanese haiku dates from the time of Shiki, circa 1896,
when he and his followers broke with traditional haiku thought
and strove to appeal directly to emotion and abhor wordiness,
leaning towards a diffuse style, as well as detaching themselves
from any lineage of classical haiku masters, creating a new haiku.
They respected the poem more than the poet. (7)
Kyoshi:
tenjutsu-no/utsurite karashi/
koto no mizu
the sun in the sky
is mirrored darkly on the water
where tadpoles live
Kijo:
hara-suma ya/butsukari uruku/mekura-inu
cold day in spring
bumping into this and that
a blind dog walking (8)
Haiku in present day Japan still has a seasonal theme as with the
modern form yet distinguishes itself from traditional form.
North America has no haiku tradition. Most 'modern' writings
are based on what has already been written and translated. Haiku
in Canada today, has a much more free style form where content
and structure are concerned. The seasonal theme can be found in
most of the Canadian haiku but there is no set beat, or 5-7-5
syllabic structure.
Jones:
a spring morning
inside the empty tavern
struts a pigeon
an old shoe
against the wall of an alley
worn again by leaves (9)
Faiers:
the morning taste
of herb tea
in a styrofoam cup
LSD
these clouds reveal
too much moon (10)
Hryciuk:
just changed
he lay on my belly
the warm swell of pee (11)
The following samples of poems will introduce you to all the
other, left over, haikuish, short poems which do not fit into the
standard haiku form. These Shashin-kaku follow the structure set
down in the beginning of this article. I have included samples of
haiku by various poets that I feel fit into this style.
abortion
is not for any man
missing my son
three girls
under an umbrella
acid rain
virgins dream
of a flame in the heart
fire in the pants
Consuming
shape of sterile love
Toronto track
Winter
embeds fly in ice
sad sun melting
Christmas,
in the white snow
broken candles
stripper
beer sloshing in her brain
both mouths smile
cooks chili
is bad tonight
stray cat is blind
my body
is possessed by lice
hotel is full tonight
Wayne Scott Ray
gangs march
children thrusting guns
genocide
Miki Mesiab (unpublished)
among headstones
in the cemetery
a condom
weeping
under her phoney crown
beauty queen
Herb Barrett (12)
radio shouts
wars murders accidents
cat curled in sleep
in the mall
people munching food
in different languages
J.B. Reynolds (12)
mice
chewing more than cheese
condominium life
Hanna Kutsu
The following three longer poems are composed of a main poem
of twelve lines or less which begins and ends with a Shashin-kaku
Haiku of the same theme. I call this style Joge uta (upper and
lower poem).
THE JUKE BOX
music blares
and in the restaurant
a blind boy
I see you now
do you see my sounds
my vibration's
my music
quarter in the slot
play me
music plays me
plays you
my music box mouth
has no eyes
I feel your smile
feel mine
dark sounds
penetrate dark spaces
inside smile
Wayne Scott Ray
BONE CANCER
his wife sits
weeping softly as he speaks
they both hurt
morphine drips
thin anesthesia
through veins
fragile
as my friend's
brittle bones
aching
he tells his life
drifting in and out
on tides of pain
there is
no more time
eyes close
pain will end too soon
eternal sleep
Miki Mesiab
RIGHT TO LIFE VS FREEDOM OF CHOICE
woman
with a dead womb
he had no name
is the right to life
in a woman's womb
(warped by drugs and
malnourished strife, torn
by teenage guilt,
fatherless welfare guilt),
up to her
or bureaucracy
or is it the right
of the child
to live or die
the clinic
on Harbord Street
childhood's end
Wayne Scott Ray
BIBLIOGRAPHY
