Select Poetry from the Members of the World Haiku Club
Debi Bender

 

Rising early each morning, .....I let her into the warm barn; I pour oats, clean her stall, .....then fork more hay into the trough; When she kicks my hand away, .....why do I think of my wife? Larry Gross

 

Larry narrates his pastoral sijo in a natural conversational tone. Here he could be talking to himself, the reader, a friend or even one of the barnyard animals. He takes us through his daily morning routine in a matter-of-fact way, the rhythms of life which sound in the repetitions of his words and phrasing: "First I do this, then this, and this and this....". We are lulled into a warm blanket of complacency, as if gazing sleepily into the first soft light of dawn as it pours between cracks of wood in an old barn fragrant with the smell of hay and oats and animals. Suddenly, we are "kicked" by an ungrateful hoof, right back into the present. Like a consummate stand-up comedian, Larry delivers the punch line: "take my wife...". This is perfection within the sijo expectations for structure: introduction, development (turn) and conclusion (twist). It reminds me of the wedding joke repeated by those long-married, "I do...and I do...and do for you..." (implied in the silence: but it is never enough!)

Underlying the humour is a darker sense of pathos. Where is the poet's wife? Why does the "rejection" of the poet's hand by the well-nurtured beast remind him of her? My mind wanders to a hospital bed where a beloved spouse is refusing nourishment, even from her husband of many years. Perhaps she feels exhausted and irritated by his close attention to her needs. Wherever the poet's wife may be, she is not in the barn with him. His nurturing is now for the beast in his care. I am touched by the poignancy and great love expressed in this sijo. What makes it even more beautiful is that the emotion is stated in a subtle way without saying it outright. We see his love through his actions and internal metaphor or comparison. Any given verse is almost always open to a variety of valid reactions or interpretations, of which mine is but one. The next reader may see something entirely different.

Brevity with concision are qualities which can make a haiku powerful. More generally, to compact a universal idea, or to "sketch" a perception by which an essence is captured in a few, deft strokes, is one beauty found in Asian poetry and art forms. To me, this practice seems at one with wisdom, so often aptly wrapped in small packages called proverbs; to say only what is essential, no more, no less. Without peripheral "noise", the importance of what is not said may therefore be heard or "seen" in the space of silence, recognized and contemplated. This same quality exists in other forms of Asian verse than haiku, such as the Japanese waka or tanka, katauta, dodoitsu or as seen in Larry's verse of Korean p'yong sijo. While haiku is a one-breath "outward observation", in sijo, more room is given for more "inward" personal reflection to be expressed. 

How well the mind remembers advertising jingles, or the first lines and last refrains of a favourite song. Sijo, a folk song form from the agricultural peoples of Korea, neighbour of Japan, has often been transmitted orally through generations. The three lines of these still-popular songs are chanted, and easily remembered. Classic Korean sijo, like haiku, are grounded in nature, concrete rather than being abstract in content. They are direct and to the point, with nothing between the poet and his subject.  Sijo include the vocal sounds of poetry and music, for they are oral song. Covering all manner of every-day subjects, they can be humorous, poignant or profound. Larry is a pioneer in introducing sijo poetry to the West, and WHChaikuforum had the honour of hosting the first internet sijo seminar, led by Larry in the spring of 2000.

Go back to Editor's Choice: Haiku

 

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The selections in our "Editor's Choice" column represent the various genres and styles of poetry practised within the membership and mailing lists of the World Haiku Club. Specific poems are chosen as outstanding contributions. In each issue, one haiku and one poem from another genre are chosen as outstanding contributions.