Welcome to the Sunday Mangled poem. Every week I post a mangled poem, sometimes it’s something simple with no point other than to point out that there are some terrible poems out there, or to demonstrate just how badly I can do poetry. I do this in celebration of some of the published poems I have read that make my brain hurt.
This weeks mangled poem is the Haiku.
A Haiku is a syllabic poem adapted from Japan. It’s a contemplative poetry that valorizes nature, color, season, contrasts and surprises. Usually it has 3 lines and 17 syllables distributed in 5, 7 and 5. It must register or indicate a moment, sensation, impression or drama of a specific moment in nature. It’s almost like a photo of some specific moment of nature.
More than inspiration, it needs meditation, effort and perception to compose a real Haiku.
(The Art of Haiku Poetry)
I thought that for a poem so pure, so medative, that the best way to really mangle this poem is to enter it with absolutely no inspiration, or effort, or perception. Please forgive me for the following mangled poetry:
Musty, dark, quiet
Light burns, chairs squeak, I must eat
Theater Popcorn
One of the things I like most about the Haiku is that it really embraces the idea that time is circular, that everything comes back to the beginning.
Reference:
September 21st, 2008 at 12:48 pm
I mangle the haiku weekly!
September 21st, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Ree, I’ve noticed your Friday Haiku, I love that, and would say you do it wonderfully.
September 21st, 2008 at 7:07 pm
They say that when reading a haiku, you’re supposed to read it twice through. I rather like that idea. They’re such intense little moments of imagery.
September 22nd, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Silky, shiny, green
Shallow water,hot summer,
Thick, slimy, slick, slime.
September 23rd, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Oh, I can’t - the limerick was too hard!