fifteen haiku

This is a total misnomer. I'm talking about the title. What we have here is a compilation of 7 senryuu (川柳) and 8 haiku (俳句). I leave it to your judgement to discern which is which. Traditionally, haiku tend to be elevated in tone, more in tune with nature and the passing seasons, whereas senryuu cast a wry and caustic look on human behaviour. Both use exactly the same 5-7-5 syllabic format.

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1.

My private student
shyly exposes her breasts --
what do I do now?

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2.

Millions of insects,
tiny transient tourists --
Japan in summer.

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3.

Two glasses of beer
and your face goes scarlet red --
school reunion.

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4.

Dripping ice-cream cones.
Each in summer kimono --
Five little girls.

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5.

At the funeral
my friend is gone forever
soft cold misty rain.

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This is not a quiz. It's just a bit of reflective fun. I realize looking at a whole row of haiku one after another gets a bit tiring. My Japanese friends tend to be rather strict in literary matters and would doubtless class all of the five above and the ten to follow as dubious senryuu. I'll tell you why below.

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6.

Leaving the office
a whole day of black and white
bursts into colour

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7.

at the festival
starlight shines upon your hair
only I can see.

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8.

Pale and unsmiling,
avoid like hell by daylight --
nightclub Russian girls.

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9.

Here comes Jonathan!
May a truck roll over him --
please please let me drive.

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10.

A life without love
avoids all complications,
leaves you dead and dry.

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Time for another break from the poems. They are only truly effective in isolation. A string of them rather dilutes their power and takes away their stand-alone presence, their "is"-ness, for want of a better term. My Japanese friends, to continue, believe that only pure poets can write haiku, which means, in effect, that the poet must be Japanese and will most certainly not write in English!! They do have a point. Modern haiku are sclerotic in the sense that they have been surrounded by an accumulation of so many subtle rules that they have become almost impossible to write by any normal non-expert Japanese, let alone a foreigner. This is pure nonsense, of course, as a glance at the great free-wheeling iconoclasts of the 17th century makes immediately apparent. Unpredictability and originality have since come to be discerned as dangerous and negative values in Japan, however, with the concomitant need to ruthlessly stamp them out wherever and whenever they occur in the interests of "Wa" -- national harmony. Hence, to cut a rather interesting story short, the "taming" of haiku, along with everything and everyone else, including the ongoing failure of the educational system and the inability to deal with the iniquities of the imperial past.

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11.

Exploding fireworks --
love strikes at my heart again:
summer kimonos.

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12.

Fanatic patriots,
all with the same half-dazed look --
Yasukuni Shrine.

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13.

Late for work again!
Hurrying, jostle a blind girl,
I am so sorry.

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14.

She tells me her name,
says it means "the holy child" --
no, I don't think so.

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15.

Sake, more sake,
in cups of fresh-cut cedar --
ooh, the dancing moon!

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Well, I thought we'd never get to the end but we did. No more haiku from me for a while. See if you can separate them out into senryuu and haiku. Right, so. Good luck.

Just out of interest ... let me know if the Japanese characters below show up on your computer. They should. Doesn't mean they will.

じゃあ、皆さんこれで終わりにしましょうか
気を付けて家に帰て下さい
近いうちにまた話しましょう
Sayonara. さようなら

Jaa, minnasan, kore de owari ni shimashou ka?
Kiotsukete ie ni kaitte kudasai.
Chikai uchi ni mata hanashimashou.

Right, everyone, let's finish up here, OK?
Safe home (well, you're probably there already)
Let's talk again soon.
Good-bye.