Home Page The Haiku Beyond the Haiku Mental conditions
The Great Master always keeps to the rule of seventeen syllables in his haiku. The rule that these should be organised as three lines of 5–7–5 is almost universal in his work and that of others. There are, however, eight different ways in which seventeen syllables can be arranged symmetrically over three lines. This gives a different balance–and opens new opportunities–while maintaining the discipline of line length. Here are examples of each. They are original except for 4–9–4 which is an enhaikument of 22 syllables of Spanish.
A curiosity, or, perhaps contained herein, the beginning of a new art form?
I
Have spent my entire (unhappy) life looking after number
1
The one
Who is incompatible in our relationship
Is you
A ‘Grade A’
In my results! But... My best friend has failed
A grey day
I want to do
With you–what it is that springtime does
With cherry trees
Distorted haiku
Still seventeen syllables
–Different line lengths
Blind man walks the pavement
Tap, tap, tap, tap, bump
–We don’t see each other
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony
(The Choral)
–Heard it more times than he did!
Records our birth–walking with us
TIME
Keeps on going–leaves us for dead