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CRAIG MCLANACHAN New Zealand

 

Haiku Treasure Trove is a feature designed to present relatively unknown haiku poets, as well as excellent haiku and related poetry which has not been widely read or even seen by others than the author and perhaps, a few close friends or family members. We also wish to create a stronger bridge between haiku poets and non-haiku poets, as well as those poets who write in several genres, haiku being just one of the forms of their interest.

Craig McLanachan offers his understanding and concerns for haiku in its development from an exclusively Japanese genre into a poetry form for every nation.

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A Personal View of World Haiku 2002
Craig McLanachan
Dunedin, South Island, NZ

When I first encountered haiku about six years ago in a New Zealand Poetry Society Anthology, it immediately struck a chord. I had long been a keen photographer and had always tried to create thought provoking images. Just as important to me were the titles given to my works. Haiku seemed to be only a little longer than some of my print titles. It seemed amazing that such a small verse could present such strong images, not only concrete, but emotional. I have come to the conclusion that haiku work in a very compatible way with the process of how our brains remember events and interactions. Our brains seem to be able to 'weave' complex bundles of all the ambient minutae surrounding everyday events. Any one of these strands which make up the bundle can release the whole experience, much like a video clip. This may be a pleasant experience or quite the reverse. Just hearing a song from many years ago may bring back waves of memory. I believe that haiku play on this preference in our brain to bundle and juxtapose images. Just the same, we all see other people's images and words through the lens of our own experience.

In my early days, I saw haiku as a simple form. I had yet to meet the avalanche of words generated through its promotion and dissection. I began to write what I thought were haiku. Most, of course, were not, but I had started to build a bank of ideas I could go back to. I sought out books and found the local library most helpful. Then came our computer, and with it the Internet. Suddenly I was aware of a revolution, a joyous celebration of the birth of modern "World haiku". I quickly realised that new levels of understanding have been reached through volumes of research and interaction by haiku poets and aficionados. I saw that many of the old notions of what constituted a haiku were based in well - meaning but erroneous information. This occurrence seems to have started when early translators struggled with the difficulties of the Japanese language. The more I read about Japanese haiku the more I came to see it as a great body of work in progress, protected by tradition. Among other devices, traditional Japanese haiku implements "season words" or kigo. These words locate the haiku in space and time and carry rich heritage. This heritage is, by its nature, unique to the culture it from which it grew. Great differences in languages and cultures around the world make a "pat" universal system almost unworkable. It is worth remembering that every culture has its own rich linguistic heritage.

The limitations which poets striving to write in this genre have imposed on World haiku by following set rules presents another issue. It seems to me the Japanese are, themselves, may be much more adventurous with haiku than the rest of the world. The days of mere description and pretty nature poems are numbered. I ask you to look to the old masters. You are bound to be surprised at the places where these great minds take you. For me, a great strength of haiku is the way it "places us" within this world. We are portrayed as a part of nature, not some superior and aloof entity divorced from reality. The masters told us about their lives but oh, how they did it! Add to this the way haiku takes the least, the most fragile, and makes it monumental. Haiku gives an opportunity to give the world evidence of our caring, and to reinforce the hope that we may make a positive contribution.

My final advice? Read lots, write lots. Rewrite and revise. Find the quiet space you need to see things as they truly are. Interact with others of a like mind and introduce people to the joys of haiku. Develop your attitude and abilities to write effectively, but most of all, keep going; make haiku a positive part of your everyday life.

Such is my respect for the heart of Japanese haiku that I see a need to draw a boundary to protect it as the true original genre. I suggest we call World haiku just that, World-ku or World-haiku, leaving [the singular Japanese word, haiku, as a term describing the Japanese form only. I put this up as a topic for discussion while remaining a benign spirit willing to accept the majority decision.

Craig McLanachan

 

 

Selected Haiku

 

in the city
my heart lifts
to a tern's cry

sweeping away
in single file
* shags at wave tops

by an inborn affinity
with the ocean of air
an egret soars

but for your eyes
in this ugly city
the colours would run

leaf
bubble
leaf
helter skelter
the gutter (1)

down a dark street
with uncommon commotion
blows a paper bag

near the temple
camellia blooms
in Buddha's hands

in the quiet garden
even the butterfly
is raucous

facing the cold wind
only the dead tree
remains unmoved

come to me love
if this is autumn
may winter rest
for now

the ice melts
clear water
with sharp edges

so hard to rise
already my bones
cleave to the earth (2)

*shags: cormorants

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Craig McLanachan was born 2-12 1947 in Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand where he still lives. Married to Margaret, they have 4 grown sons. Craig was trained as an old time grocer but says "that's history"; today he works as the manager of a cut-flower wholesale market. Interests include writing and poetry, photography, music and nature, combining all the above wherever possible. Locally, he belongs to the town's writers group of which he is secretary, and he is the publicity report person for the Dunedin Photographic Society. Some of my haiku can be found along with my first essay on Tina Stanton's Moments Haiku site at:

http://personal.nbnet.nb.ca/litha/moments/mclanachan.html

Craig writes: "I must say that my earlier suggestion to find another term for haiku in English, in particular 'enku', has undergone a re-think. This new essay is closer to where I am today, but I feel I am now even slightly more settled in my thinking. To me, the most important attribute a poet can have is a 'voice', a recognizable personality or direction.

I write poems which owe much to haiku, but may not be haiku. This does not concern me as long as I have achieved my goal. Of course, I am very happy to have a haiku and when I think of how many lives have been dedicated to this beautiful form. I am humbled to get one. I would like to stretch the short poetry forms in all directions, if I may, but always in a kind and benevolent spirit. Why did I start writing poetry? Well, mostly out of frustration with how we can all slip under and around life without leaving a mark or finding our potential. Something in me just had to get out! Whatever happens to me I have enjoyed being a part of a great outpouring around the world, this community of poets."

 

(1) (2) First published in Moments Haiku

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