(no subject)

[erinbow]

walking the floor with a sick child
the stars draw close

Probably too much metaphor again.  I stumbled one Richard Howe today; he's someone else doing the haiku-a-day foolishness for April.  He gives  Jack Kerouac's thoughts on what Kerouac called the Western Haiku:  “…simply say a lot in three short lines in any Western language.” More Kerouac: “…a Haiku must be very simple and free of all poetic trickery and make a little picture and yet be as airy and graceful as a Vivaldi Pastorella.” He says haiku “pack in a whole vision of life in three short lines.”

I have read Kerouac's haiku -- they are good, and will surprise you if all you know is  ON THE ROAD -- but somehow missed his thoughts on haiku.  I am glad to find them.  He is on to something; "free of poetic trickery" is particularly instructive for me.

Here is another go at the same haiku moment:

Walking the floor before dawn
The stars draw close
The old house creaks and sighs

And a third:

lying beside a feverish child
and shivering

But there's a lot of poetic trickery there....