Haiku: Infolded Meaning By Dan Brady This is a selected collection of my haiku. I have a long history with this poetic form and remember first composing haiku in 4th grade, yet I still find it fascinating today. While, in essence, haiku is a simple set of three lines with but seventeen syllables. It may directly or indirectly indicate a season or capture a larger meaning in a momentary perception but haiku speaks of life and brings out something of the eternal in the present, of the infinite in the minute and the ethereal in the real; I find it all quite fascinating! Basho, Shiki and Buson have influenced me as well as reading haiku written by Beat Poets and by my experiences with The Haiku Poets of Northern California. While teaching, I helped students appreciate haiku before we went on "haiku hikes" where they found their own voices. As with most skills, teaching others is away to learn and learned to take my own haiku hikes. To this day, when camping or on a nature walk, I find opportunities to write haiku. I hope you'll enjoy this book; here are a couple of my favorites: In the cleft of clover Single dew drop gleams All the sun's circle inside Water strider A kick Ripples the moon.
About the Author :
Dan likes to say, "I love writing; it's great fun, good for the heart, mind, and health. I'm fascinated by how words fit together, chime, rhyme and flow from one to the next. I write because I cannot be silent; how could one be in this world? I've a theory: the right set of words, presented in the right setting is one of the ways civilization evolves. I ever improve my craft and seek such words so, should the opportunity arise, I'll present that which may transform my life and or the lives of others."Dan was born in New York City, New York in 1952. When his father died in 1960, his mother decided to return to California. She managed to raise seven children and do well despite trying circumstances. Dan was the first of his family to complete a college education. He graduated from San Francisco State University in 1975 with a degree in Sociology and in 1985 went back to obtain an elementary teacher's credential. He began teaching in 1987 and for a while writing was set aside. He married in 1989 and soon the muse moved again as he began a return to writing. This began with writing haiku and joining with the Haiku Poets of Northern California for several years. His writing soon returned to its roots, poetry, lyrics, science fiction, fantasy, and the nature of nature, philosophy and more.
Review :
I have enjoyed this book of Haiku very much. Also, I like the groupings according to the different themes. Interestingly enough, the following is not only one of my favorites but also the author's:
"Water strider
A kick
Ripples the moon"
It is a beautiful description of a moment, as if time is turned into eternity. It could be the author himself or any other person like me (love hiking) in the mountains finding a puddle with the moon reflected on it and putting our feet in there. Howevver, it could also be interpreted metaphorically as follows:
1- The moon reflected is our dreams and someone above us kicks that moon like Donald Trump or any other "lesser god"?
2- The moon reflected is not the real one but a fake. It could symbolise our neoliberal world and someone kicks it. This someone wants the real moon, that is, a better world for us to live. This someone could be a person or even a whole citizen movement against what produces social injustice.
I think there are many other Haiku in this book, where I also found many possible interpretations/ associations.
This one here is so hilarious. To me it is more of a joke:
"Medical student
Anesthesiology book
As a pillow"
It is inevitable that we associate the images of the poems we read with our life experience. For instance, this one comes to me as a memory of my last vacation in SF as I went to Land's End several times:
"Land's End in fog
My tree fades
As did the world before it"
The world and the tree fading in the fog could suggest a change in someone's life. My tree could be my life, any of our lives as we are alive like trees (The Tree of Life). The world before it could be our previous life experience. When the fog lifts something may have evolved beginning a new life stage.
I love this one too, so musical:
"On the pier drawn along
With the water's ebb and flow
Motionless motions"
The ebb and flow could symbolise our changes in life, what comes and goes. Motionless motions appears somewhat contradictory. Slow and peaceful revolutions are indeed like that, doing things step by step.
I find these two particularly very musical:
"Before hazy pines
Myriads billow and flow
All backlit aglow"
"Spring wind rushes
The whorls of my ears each glance
Pitches the sound!"
Just to sum up, I really think all the Haiku in this book are wonderful.
