“I was in my kitchen looking through cookbooks for inspiration, as I am essentially the chef of the house, and while I forget what meal I ended up making that night, the cookbooks did serve up the thoughts that lead me to jot this haiku down on a recipe index card.”
There is always a lot of internal struggle for me when I read haiku like this one that are on the face using some 'new' technique or modern references that 'feels' like it is deviating from the common understanding of haiku which can now be called (maybe) classical haiku (?). Like when I see modern technology stuff in haiku, my mind just cannot easily reconcile the fact that haiku is evolving and that it is going to be or is already a valid form. There is this irrational urge to hold onto the classics. Maybe that makes me a classicist. Maybe I am. So it is a strange feeling to enjoy reading a haiku…
I guess the beauty of haiku is that the building momentum of Japan wanting to enter WWII was the sad but necessary catalyst for haiku to make a jump from the more agrarian based and classical hokku.
Japan also went rapidly into the Industrial Revolution, helped by a man from Aberdeen, Scotland, hence the famous jump from ancient warriors in summer grasses to:
夏草に汽缶車の車輪来て止まる
natsukusa ni kikansha no sharin kite tomaru
summer grasses—the wheels of a locomotivecoming to a stop
Pedro shares-
“I was in my kitchen looking through cookbooks for inspiration, as I am essentially the chef of the house, and while I forget what meal I ended up making that night, the cookbooks did serve up the thoughts that lead me to jot this haiku down on a recipe index card.”
A beautiful selection Vandana, I love both the playfulness and depth of this ku and it is one to sit with for a while ...
playful ku. And, given the comments, many layered. Thanks to all who wrote comments; they help me learn so much!
Witty and with a light touch, and of course the ambiguity ... I love this ku! Great selection, Vandana!
Lovely haiku. An amusing juxtaposition :)
There is always a lot of internal struggle for me when I read haiku like this one that are on the face using some 'new' technique or modern references that 'feels' like it is deviating from the common understanding of haiku which can now be called (maybe) classical haiku (?). Like when I see modern technology stuff in haiku, my mind just cannot easily reconcile the fact that haiku is evolving and that it is going to be or is already a valid form. There is this irrational urge to hold onto the classics. Maybe that makes me a classicist. Maybe I am. So it is a strange feeling to enjoy reading a haiku…