More Little Poems: A Lifetime in Haiku-Like Milestones (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798829188436)

From childhood through an over eighty-year lifetime these poems range from child-like to mature, stark to beautiful, grief to joy, and light to profound. The 42 new poems begin on page 48 and end on Page 59. There are a total of 275 haiku-like milestones each in as few as eleven and rarely as many as seventeen syllables. Each poem stands on its own. They are not intended to be read as connected to one another except that they are presented in approximate chronological order.

I call these milestones because I stray from the traditional Japanese haiku rules in the following ways:

1. Form is shortened to 11 syllables on 3 lines of 3-5-3 syllables each in order to approximate the traditional Japanese haiku 17 sounds on one line of 5-7-5 sounds with cutting letters, Kireji.
2. Season words are optional not mandatory.
3. Capital letters and punctuation marks are eliminated to focus on sound and sense.
4. Form follows function so alterations in form, capitalization and punctuation at times are made to emphasize sense over form.
5. Apostrophes of possessive and contraction are used when their absence might alter sense.

I do try to follow in Basho's spirit writing these milestones. Practically all translators, linguists, scholars, and leading haiku poets say and show that about 10 to 14 syllables in English is approximately equal to the 17 sounds in Japanese haiku. I chose a 3-5-3 syllable form of 11 syllables to maintain a balance with haiku in Japanese. Here is an example that illustrates my intention: Basho's famous "Frog Pond" haiku in Japanese 5-7-5 syllable form.

Furu ike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto

A famous literal American English translation in 3-4-5 syllable lines by R.H. Blyth destroys the 5-7-5 balance of the original:

The old pond;
A frog jumps in -
The sound of the water.

Here's my rather cheeky translation, or more correctly interpretation if you like, in 3-5-3 syllables that preserves the balance and more:

duckweed pond
fearless frog jumps in
ker-PLUNK-plunk

I think this is closer to Basho's intention for these reasons:

1. It emphasizes Basho's allusion to Wang Wei's classical Chinese poem Duckweed Pond which we westerner's might otherwise miss.
2. It describes the frog in terms we Westerners understand as the hero and his spiritual journey with the word "fearless" that recalls Don Quixote and Parsifal.
3. It uses the "right" words, which Basho recommends, using onomatopoeia in American English slang "ker-PLUNK-plunk" rather than Blyth's more literal "best" words translation "the sound of water."
4. It capitalizes the first "PLUNK" to visually simulate the louder sound of the first plunk.
5. And it maintains an American English balance of 3-5-3 syllables to Japanese 5-7-5 sounds,

"Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood" T.S.Eliot

Remember the four levels of understanding:
1. Literal: In a literal manner or sense; exactly what is said, written, or read.
2. Similarity: Similar to, Symbolic of, metaphorical, figurative, representative, or emblematic of our condition.
3. Tradition or Morality: Concerned with our societal or spiritual background.
4. Universality: Oneness pertains to our universal condition.

I hope you have fun reading these little poems slowly, aloud or in meditative silence. Please take some time before reading the next poem and allow it to sink in.

Author: Keith McCaughin
ISBN-13: 9798829188436
Publisher: Independently Published
Language: English
Published: 05/20/2022
Pages: 70
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.25lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.17d