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WHAT IS HAIKU? - Week 16 (final)

Andrew Lansdown ( Perth, WA)

(1) "Haiku are poems modelled on the seventeen-syllable three-line poems of the
ancient Japanese. Being poems, haiku are a form of literature and may employ
literary techniques and may be judged by literary standards. Generally
speaking, haiku stir emotion and stimulate reflection in the reader through
simple precise objective depictions of things in nature."

(2)
"Haiku are pebbles
poets lob into the pond
of our emotions."

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Jack Prewitt (Serelemar, NSW)

‘Haiku are the little poems I write and call haiku.’

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Lynette Arden (Adelaide, SA)

'haiku are small and humble poems that depict the everyday world around us, aiming to give a flash of insight into that world.'

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Earl Keener (Bethany, West Virginia)

“Haiku represents
the smallest atom of literature in which we might study
the heart beat of the muse. Haiku is verbal resonance
resulting from psychological projection. It is the literary equivalent of the Shinto experience of the kami.”

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 Susan Murphy (Sydney, NSW)

'Nothing is ordinary and to notice it without intruding, saying only what's needed, quite naturally touches eternity.'

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Beverley George (Pearl Beach, NSW) endorses John Bird’s description:

‘A haiku is a brief poem, built on sensory images from the environment. It evokes an insight into our world and its peoples.'

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This is the final publication of responses to What is haiku? Next week I’ll briefly review what we have shared over the past five months. John Bird, for the AHS Definitions Project.