In every issue, the quarterly Buddhist magazine Tricycle publishes a winning haiku from its ongoing monthly haiku contest. The poem appears alongside a column written by the contest’s judge, poet and author Clark Strand. This season’s haiku-adjacent column includes the following bit, about one theory on the nature of haiku:
The Japanese haiku critic Kenkichi Yamamoto (1907–1988) believed that the best haiku strike a balance between humor and existential isolation. “Loneliness in life and the comical elements of life are two sides of the same coin,” he wrote. As a genre of literature, haiku thrives on the flip of that coin — the small element of uncertainty that challenges our ordinary understanding of the world.
I hadn’t realized there were such things as haiku critics (!). I also like the idea of loneliness and humor being related somehow.
Read the Spring 2024 winning haiku here. And enter the monthly contest here. (The next round must include the word “turnip.”)
Since May, I’ve been collaborating with a friend of mine, Barry Kuhar, to make “Full Moon Haiku Cards,” themed for each month’s full moon. He writes a haiku (or a haiku-inspired poem) for the inside, I draw the cover, and we sell them at a local restaurant. When the cycle is finished, we plan to offer them as a full set. (Thirteen cards, including the Blue Moon.) On January 25, if all goes according to plan, we’ll be reading from/showing the cards at the Rensselaerville Library, in case anyone is in the area (upstate NY).
I wanted to share the covers and poems because I love them, but also to recommend the act of just getting your own (or your kids’) drawings printed on cards, because it’s really easy and fun. I get the moon cards printed at Albany’s Modern Press, but I’ve also had good experiences using the online services Moo and Smartpress.
Barry and I still have a few more to go (coming up are the Wolf, Snow, Worm, and Pink Moons, before we’re back at the Flower Moon), but here’s what we’ve got so far:
The finished cards end up looking like this:
The Haikuvies blog provides summaries of movies in haiku form. From the Princess Bride summary:
Iocane powder
brings end to battle of wits
ha ha ha ha… flop
Winners of the Helvetica haiku contest I pointed to a couple of weeks ago. My favorite of all the ones listed: “i shot the serif / left him there full of leading / yearning for kerning”. Close second: “She misunderstood / When I said she was ‘Grotesque’ / Akzidenz happen”. I am a sucker for puns.
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