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Vegetables Impact the Senses
Thirty-three poets
from eleven countries have contributed one hundred-seventy-two
Haiku to the July / August 31, 2012-43 "vegetable(s)" Haiku
Thread. Biologically, a vegetable is an edible plant or part of
a plant, usually excluding
seeds and most sweet
fruit. This typically means the
leaf, stem, or root of a plant. However, a non-biological
definition of a vegetable is largely based on
culinary and
cultural tradition. Therefore,
the
application of the word
vegetable is somewhat arbitrary, based on cultural and/or
personal views. In this Haiku Thread there are many seed crops
and
fruits
in the botanical sense, that are used as vegetables.
One of the most
important qualities of a vegetable is "freshness", a trait
Pravat Padhy associates with his mother's "smiles" in a unique
juxtaposition:
green
vegetables
my mother smiles with
morning freshness
# 18. Pravat Kumar Padhy, India
Padhy's association
of the images of "vegetables" and a "mother's smiles" suggests
nurturing--an important role in the life of all developing flora
on earth.
Cooks throughout the
world use vegetables as staples in many tasty dishes served in
various ways; on distinctive root crop vegetable might selected
to enhance the flavor of a stew:
slicing and
dicing
parsnips for the beef stew
morning dew
# 17. John Daleiden, US
In addition to a
"stew" dish which might be served as a main course for an
evening meal, different vegetables are used for a simple noon
pick-me up:
winter mist
another bowl
of veggie soup
# 14. Chen-ou Liu, Canada
For some less
fortunate people in the world, such as the homeless, this may be
their only hot meal of the day:
vegetable
soup day
the cold homeless queue
tasting the steam
# 100. Karin Anderson, AU
Nutritious
vegetables included in tasty dishes are as diverse as the
delicious stem shoots of spring asparagus or the flowering buds
of cauliflower and broccoli served either in a cooked disk or
served as nibbling finger foods:
the last
broccoli
from my garden
summer's end
# 06. Máire Morrissey-Cummins, IR
The strong scent of
a vegetable often causes an immediate human reaction:
tears—
the fragrant first cut
into a red onion
# 07. Štefanija Ludvig, CR
The memorable scent
associated with a specific vegetable may be associated with a
human being:
veggie
dumplings...
I wrap myself
in her scent
# 72. Chen-ou Liu, Canada
The abrasiveness of
cutting into an onion is reflected in Marg Beverland's haiku
through this memorable juxtaposition with an external sound:
slicing
onions
the whine
of a concrete cutter
# 154. Marg Beverland, New Zealand
Occasionally, the
memorable taste of a vegetable is unique and stimulates a
subsequent human reaction:
two slightly
bitter
olives in the dish...
he looks away
# 03. Vania Stefanova, BG
Sometimes, the taste
associated with a vegetable is "hot":
picking hot
peppers—
from those tiny white flowers
so much sharpness?
# 131. Djurdja Vukelic Rozic, Croatia
The visual sight or
shape of one particular vegetable can cause individuals to
associate that shape with another aspect of the natural
environment.
yellow melon
in the sky—
an old moon
# 89. Vania Stefanova, BG
The tactile sense, the sense of
touch is often associated with vegetables:
picking
tomatoes
off the leafy vines
her painted nails
# 22. Rachel Sutcliffe, UK
Vegetables are often
associated with random and uncommon pairings of an edible
vegetable with a remote and unexpected association through
juxtaposition:
cabbage patch
on the compost heap
my old doll
# 38. Tracy Davidson, UK
farmer’s
market
a ladybug crawls
out of the lettuce
# 53. Cara Holman, US
The physical effect of a
transformed vegetable can have a giddy and humorous effect on
overindulging humans:
beet wine
grandma’s giggles dance
in my heart
# 91. Karen O'Leary, US
Vegetables can also
impact the creative and imaginative and creative realm of human
endeavors:"
pumpkins
everywhere
no dearth of carriages
for Cinderella
# 147. Sandra Martyres, IN
Plainly, the
vegetable crops raised all over the world are valuable
commodities; they need protection form invasion and destruction:
behind the
scarecrow
a murder of crows
ganging up
# 83. Bernard Gieske, US
The haiku selected
for this Choice focus on the relationship of vegetables to
vairous human senses: taste, scent, sight and shape,
tactile, associations, transformations, creativeness and the
need for protection.
Each of the haiku
selected are superior compositions that demonstrate many of the
following qualities of haiku:
-
contains syllable counts of
no more than 575 but more frequently fewer syllables; in
Japanese sound units were counted and clearly linguists
have told us that Japanese onji sound units do not equal
the longer sound of English syllables (between 17 - 12
English syllables).
-
constructed with 3 images
arranged in a two line phrase and a one line fragment
(see
Jane Richold's fragment and phrase theory).
-
contains a kigo and / or
are written to express a commonly selected theme, ie.
"vegetables".
-
constructed with an
expressly stated kireji—employing
punctuation, and / or a clear break (written or
unwritten) between the fragment and phrase.
-
utilizes common haiku
techniques such as:
comparison, contrast, association,
word-plays, puns,
riddle, sense-switching (synesthesia,
narrowing focus,
juxtaposition
(as an expression of metaphor and simile),
Shiki's Shasei,
double entendre,
close linkage, leap linkage,
sabi,
wabi, Yūgen, paradox, humor,
literary allusion,
finding
the Divine in the Common.
Reference:
Lesson
Ten Haiku Techniques:
Bare Bones School of Haiku by Jane Reichhold.
-
are written in the present
tense so the reader has the feeling that the observed
event is happening right now.
-
uses verbs that carry an
emotional impact; a minimal use of the gerund form.
-
contains some element of
nature (the natural world
elements—as
opposed to an exclusive focus on the humanity element).
-
results in an aha moment for
the reader.
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