{"id":24490,"date":"2018-11-20T11:01:55","date_gmt":"2018-11-20T19:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rachelswirsky.com\/?p=2039"},"modified":"2018-11-20T11:01:55","modified_gmt":"2018-11-20T19:01:55","slug":"haiku-round-up-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=24490","title":{"rendered":"Haiku Round-up #1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lately I have been posting haiku to my Patreon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

While I was having trouble writing fiction, a friend of mine showed me a haiku they\u2019d been working on. I couldn\u2019t manage something like a whole story, but writing seventeen syllables of poetry came easily, and felt right.<\/p>\n

These are only sort of traditional haiku. For one thing, I used English syllables instead of trying to adapt English words to Japanese morae which are similar to syllables, but not the same. I did use a seasonal reference in the first line of each, but they aren\u2019t necessarily the kind of seasonal imagery that would have been used in a traditional poem. Also, I talked a lot more directly about what I was feeling, instead of using the metaphors to convey it.<\/p>\n

However, I did try to convey the moments as I experienced them in that transient moment. I also tried not to revise, to just let them be in the moment they were. I think I cheated a couple of times, though.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to send out a haiku every few days for a while, at least until I run out of haiku. (I also wrote a couple of cinquains.) They aren\u2019t necessarily in order, and they\u2019re from a bit ago, so they won\u2019t be a read on my direct emotional state, but I hope the words mean something to you<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Here are the first nine:<\/p>\n

Humid, intruding
\nhours that won\u2019t shape into days,
\nheavy, unwelcome.<\/p>\n

Night, that bit too hot.
\nHe sweats and works and I don\u2019t
\nknow when night will cool.<\/p>\n

Night is cooler now.
\nRestless nothings pace my mind,
\nprivate and anxious.<\/p>\n

Bright green against blue.
\nAnother day forthcoming.
\nI hope it stays bright.<\/p>\n

Mimosa blooms fade.
\nI am content to watch them
\nthis mild afternoon.<\/p>\n

Berries dapple leaves.
\nThey and I, windlessly still,
\nhope we are ripened.<\/p>\n

White with slanted sun,
\nthe too-bright sky is stolen
\nwith painful glances.<\/p>\n

Smoke taints blue-bellied sky.
\nAll things contain their reverse.
\nNo moment is pure.<\/p>\n

School opens again.
\nI don\u2019t know why I am sad.
\nMemories, perhaps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lately I have been posting haiku to my Patreon. While I was having trouble writing fiction, a friend of mine showed me a haiku they’d been working on. I couldn’t manage something like a whole story, but writing seventeen syllables … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[253,263],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","category-rachel-swirskys-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24490"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24491,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24490\/revisions\/24491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}