Firstly, the work is not really much about haiku. It's more sentences with line breaks based on a 5-7-5 syllable count. Some of the sentences are clever, but very few of them are what I would call haiku. My favorite piece in the book is this one:
I have felt no joy
since the night she murdered me —
nor have I missed it.
That's nice, even poignant, but it isn't really a haiku. The syntax is, well, just a sentence. And there's an absence of seasonal reference. I do think there is one real haiku-like feature that some haiku tend to miss out on, and that is the twist. Unfortunately, though, this collection focuses on the syllable count aspect of haiku, which is probably the least important aspect. Many good haiku don't follow a 5-7-5 syllable count at all, and strict adherence to it often spoils what could be a nice poem otherwise.
That said, I did enjoy the story of Mecum's book. It was a fun read, and I'm glad I picked it up recently and was able to read it.
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2 comments:
You are a Haiku nerd. I love it. I'm not sure most people... general unwashed mass type of people... know just how complex the hiaku really is.
It's funny you say that, Michelle, because I was just thinking last night about how far I still have to go with the form. There are so many aspects of the haiku that I haven't really gotten hold of yet. It's a very rich and complex form, for something so small on the page.
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