WHC Shortverses Crystallines Reprint

WHCshortverses - WHCessay; Crystallines

Crystallines, A Contemporary Haiku Analogue for English Language

On the auspicious occasion of July 7, Tanabata 2001, editor and WHC member, Denis Garrison, began the popular WHC Crystallines Workshop on the WHCshortverses mailing list. The crystalline is a contemporary Western haiku analogue developed by Garrison in his search for a way to assimilate as much essence and traditional expectation of Japanese haiku while meeting the need for a natural form for English language and poetic tradition.

The first Western analogue form which was introduced on WHCshortverses was the American Cinquain (an analogue of haiku and tanka created by Ms. Adelaide Crapsey in the early 1900's). A cinquain posted by one of the members led to spontaneous discussion, study and writing of cinquain. This was followed by a guided workshop in "zip" haiku analogue theory and construction, given by member and creator of zip construction, John E. Carley of England.

Garrison, Editor of several e-journals for haiku and related genres through TemplarPhoenix, added a new publication, Ku Nouveau, to accommodate analogue forms including crystallines, zip, shinku and cinquain. Carley is co-editor of Ku Noveau for zips.

The following article and crystalline primer is reprinted from Denis' web journals:

THE NEED FOR EXPERIMENTATION

Denis Garrison
Maryland, USA
When an art form is adopted by a different culture than that which originated the form, it becomes the new culture's own property and it is made over in the cultural context which it has entered. There are, in every case, many from the original culture who demand adherence to their tradition, but it is futile. It is always futile to attempt to control what one has given away.
It is a delicate balance that one must strike. One must not discard the past in ignorance, but one also must not be constrained by the past. One must assiduously study the rules of poetics and then ignore them. The rules of poetics are not for writing the poem; the rules are for forming the craft of the poet. Every time a poet puts pen to paper, poetry is reinvented - or should be!
There is, of course, paradox in this view, but paradox is the natural condition of humanity driven by base desires and lofty ideals. The orthodoxies about haiku: the haiku moment, haiku mind, objective correlative, purely objective imagery, etc., etc., all fall before the onslaught of paradox and ambiguity.
For what haiku poets of the older Japanese tradition were seeking to accomplish with their haiku, the traditional haiku poetics are necessary and appropriate. For modern poets in Western languages who wish to emulate the same kind of poetry towards the same ends and with the same philosophic underpinnings, those same traditional haiku poetics are, likewise, necessary and appropriate. However, for modern western poets who find in haiku the greatest value in its crystalline brevity and in the rigor of condensation to a lyrical minim, adherence to the traditional haiku poetics is both inappropriate and needless, since those poetics are intrinsically inconsistent, even incompatible, with English poetic tradition.
To the degree that each poet (or group or school) follows their own values and poetics, there is not any one group which is "correct" and others which are "incorrect." Artists are free and cannot be constrained by scholastics. On the other hand, to the degree that some poets set themselves up as arbiters of all haiku, including haiku in English and other western languages, then artistic politics enters the arena and "right and wrong" become an issue.
Western poets are intrinsically unencumbered and unobliged by the eastern traditions. They work within their own cultures. Western poets who essay haiku nevertheless need to study the original traditions and understand them as well as they may, and must respect those older traditions even in the breach, because to do otherwise in to rebel out of ignorance, which is inherently wrong. If a western poet is to write haiku, and if that poet is going to go beyond the traditional boundaries of the art form, then she or he had better know where the boundaries are. There is no merit in freedom by virtue of ignorance.
Furthermore, for the western haiku poet, assuming that the poet has indeed studied the original tradition as suggested above and moved beyond it, there is also the ongoing utility of examining anew the craft aspects (the "tools") of the original tradition in order to discover new and more culturally relevant (in the poet's culture) ways to accomplish the ends of those tools. For example, while some wish to simply discard the idea of kigo (season-words), others might not. Kigo have changed substantially before. From setting the moment of composition, they have mutated to set the context of the content of the haiku. Now, in an age when many cultures are not agrarian, use of the seasons for context-setting on an exclusive (or nearly-so) basis is questionable. So, there is growing interest in new directions for kigo - including internationalization of natural kigo and consideration of keywords which are not rooted in seasonality. Continuing experimentation with such poetic tools is firmly within the English poetic tradition, certainly, and probably many others' as well. Choice within freedom, as against doctrinaire constraints - that is the goal.

The Crystalline
Four crystallines by Denis Garrison

crystalline # 16

Rain-soaked barnyard's a muddy bog,
but amidst the muck, blooms marigold.

crystalline #17

This primeval sea of prairie grass
is grackle-peppered ... bison-strewn!

crystalline #18

In banyan roots enwrapped,
the granite Cross glows in the midst of lilies.

crystalline #19

Turtle shell found on grandma's grave:
vacant, yet it bursts with violets.

DEFINITION: The "crystalline" is a new haiku analogue; a seventeen syllable couplet that assimilates as much as possible from the Japanese haiku tradition into the English poetic tradition. A primary concern for the crystalline is the euphony of the verse. See examples above.
GUIDELINES: The grammar (inflections and syntax) of the lines, which usually comprise one or two sentences in a couplet, should be relatively straightforward and natural. Unnaturally abbreviated or telegraphic grammar is to be avoided.
The traditional omission of "understood words" is permissible (e.g., "Catch me." rather than "You catch me.").
Initial capitalization of the first word of a sentence, a proper name, etc., should follow common usage; do not capitalize the first word of the second line solely on the basis of its position. Terminal punctuation also should follow common usage. The versification of the poem into two lines, that is, the couplet form itself, serves the function of the Japanese kireji or cutting word.

All traditional English poetic devices (including, but not limited to, metaphor, simile, alliteration, assonance, consonance, onomatopoeia, allusion, rhyme) which can be used to advantage within the other rules and the set prosody are permissible. In such a short form, verbosity is to be avoided. Poets should strive for highly condensed and concrete imagery that enhances perception and understanding.
Transparency of meaning need not diminish the depth of poetic resonance.
While immediacy is highly desirable and, therefore, the present tense is normative, use of other tenses is not at all prohibited.
PROSODY: A crystalline is, ideally, a couplet of exactly 17 syllables. A couplet may be "regular" or "irregular" depending upon the symmetry of the lines. A regular couplet's syllables are distributed 8+9 or 9+8. Other distributions are "irregular" but entirely acceptable if the verse works best divided unevenly.

A regular couplet is not inherently better than an irregular couplet. It is more important that the lines break where they should (remember the principles of kireji). The crystalline's syllabic limit is consistent with the common western definition of haiku as a "seventeen-syllable poem." A regular crystalline may be iambic or trochaic tetrameter, with or without one excess unstressed syllable, but a completely regular beat can be boring. Writing to a metrical formula will, predictably, yield formulaic, unsatisfactory, verses. The harmony or beauty of sound that has a pleasing effect to the ear is achieved both by the selection of individual word-sounds and also by their relationship in the repetition, proximity, and flow of sound patterns. This is euphony, more important than strict metrics. Skillful word selection to modify the rhythmic pattern, i.e., modulation, is desirable.
For further study regarding syllabification and Japanese "on", click on these links.

LINKING CRYSTALLINES:
A crystalline is an untitled couplet, either a complete poem or a stanza, which follows a strict syllabic verse form, as described in the previous paragraphs. Several crystallines may be linked together as stanzas of a larger poem. In line with the renga tradition behind the development of haiku, alternating crystallines by different poets may be combined in a single poem. This is not to debar a single poet writing a linked poem, which is entirely permissible. In any such linked crystalline, each couplet must be autonomous, able to stand on its own, yet each couplet must be closely related to its following and preceding couplets; the internal links are substantial so that the whole poem has a poetic unity.

The rhyme scheme for linked rhymed couplets should have sufficient variety to avoid a cloying effect. Three adjoining couplets should not use the same rhyme. Some sample rhyme schemes for linked crystallines include: aa bb cc aa bb cc; aa bb bb aa cc dd dd cc; aa aa bb bb cc cc; aa bb cc bb dd ee ff ee. These are only samples; many other combinations exist. Also, please do not take these examples to mean that linked crystallines must include 6 or 8 couplets. While 2 couplets (viz., a quatrain) is obviously the minimum, there is no necessary upper limit. The poets need to be able to recognize excess and limit the poem appropriately. Remember, rhyme is not required for a crystalline, but also is not prohibited.

KEYWORDS: The use of keywords (e.g., kigo and analogues thereto) is desirable in order to most succinctly establish a couplet's context, whether the context is a natural surrounding, time of year, or day, or phase of moon, a manmade surrounding, or even a situation. The success of a poem's keyword depends upon whether it conveys essential information to the reader; it is not dependent upon compliance with a poetic canon of keywords, kigo, etc.. Nevertheless, the poet may be well-advised to consider canonical keywords and kigo precisely for their potential utility.

CONTENT: It is in content that the more fundamental difference from traditional haiku will be found. While traditional haiku value direct observation with the greatest possible degree of non-subjectivity, subjectivity is permissible in a crystalline. The poet's response to the object is admissible. The poet's thoughts and feelings are admissible. The content of the poem is not of greater importance than the beauty of the language. As stated at the beginning of this article, a primary concern for the crystalline is the euphony of the verse. Now, content is of great importance also, but not so great importance that the beauty of the verses should be sacrificed.

That having been said, poets are advised to keep the haiku tradition in mind, to consider natural elements for each couplet, to consider the poetic value of objective imagery, and to consider the concept of the poem as objective correlative of the emotional and perceptual content which the poet wishes to communicate to the reader. Poets are also advised to keep in mind other haiku techniques such as juxtaposition for resonance and the "third effect." In summary, three major characteristics of haiku, in western estimation, are the seventeen syllable limit, the kireji (cutting word) and the kigo (season word). The crystalline form incorporates all three of these characteristics. Furthermore, the haiku traditions of natural subjects and of objective imagery / the "objective correlative" are highly valued, albeit not enforced.

This new form is named the "crystalline" because the core value of the form is the highly condensed and concrete imagery of the couplet, transparent in its accessibility. The fact that the name breaks down to "crystal - line" is serendipitous.
The original crystalline concept
is the work of Denis M. Garrison.

Ku Nouveau ezine publishes innovative forms of haiku in English. Serious attempts to assimilate the haiku tradition in forms that are within the English poetic tradition are appreciated. Ku Nouveau means to promote innovative ku by providing a showcase for poetry in these new forms. Do not be shy about suggesting a new form for publication here. For details about ku nouveau, please read our About Ku page. New ku forms in which we are interested include, but are not limited to: the couplet of seventeen syllables called the "crystalline"; the fifteen-syllable form, the "zip"; the early 20th century form, the "cinquain"; and the early 21st century form, the "shinku."

Reprinted by permission from Ku Nouveau at TemplarPhoenix, an online journal edited by Denis M. Garrison.

Next read: WHCshortverses Crystalline Kukai Winners

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