Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Haiku Nerdiness

I've always appreciated the little things in life. I love to laugh at random things in my surroundings that just happen to strike me as funny. Like the "Econo Foods" sign by school having burnt out letters so that it read "no foods." So funny.
Recently I've gotten back into writing poetry a little bit. Not that I was ever a very talented poet, I just like writing it. For fun, to get out thoughts, etc. It's a hobby, really. I was reading about Haiku last night, and it's really interesting. Haiku are always seen as these really simple poems that you teach elementary school children to write because they're short. But they're really not that simple. Writing a good haiku is actually pretty difficult. And getting the real point of haiku is too. For one, it's not easy to write a beautiful and moving poem in so few words. Two, haiku isn't just a form of poetry. For those who are really hardcore into haiku, it's like a lifestyle. A lifestyle of noticing the details of moments, and of being able to capture those moments in just a few words. Sure, anyone can string together the right number of syllables...but will it have meaning? Beauty? Will it capture the feeling of the moment? A haiku has to do everything any other poem has to do, and it has to do it just as well, but in far fewer words.

I feel very English-nerdy right now. I don't know if anyone reading this (if anyone is, indeed, reading this) cares at all about haiku, but I find it fascinating. I guess that's why I am a Literature major.



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