Haiku Fantasy

         Haiku has never been my favorite style of poetry, as evidenced by one of my own flippant contributions to the genre:

   What can you say in

   A poem with only three

   Lines, seventeen syll-

However, I thought we needed a little variety from all the Romantic poets (of whom there will be plenty more to come, too.)  So I've gathered a little bit of haiku on sci fi/ fantasy themes.

        Actually, haiku is a natural fit with fantasy, since an important part of the style is not just the stress count but the pithy turnaround, the twist that invites you to think about something ordinary in a new way.  Often haiku evoke feelings of wonder and mystery.  Some traditional haiku, while not explicitly intended as fantasy, still seem fantastical.

    I called to the wind,

   "Who's there?"… Whoever it was

    still knocks at my gate.

          (Kyorai (1651-1704), translated from the Japanese by Harry Behn)

    That duck, bobbing up

   from the green deeps of a pond,

    has seen something strange…

          (Joso (1662-1704), translated from the Japanese by Harry Behn)

    Deep in a windless

   wood, not one leaf dares to move…

    something is afraid.

          (Buson (1716-1783), translated from the Japanese by Harry Behn)

        I've also discovered that there's a "thing" called SciFaiku.  According to "The SciFaiku Manifesto" of 1995, "SciFaiku is a distinctive and powerful form of expression for science fiction. It packs all the human insight, technology, and vision of the future into a few poignant lines… SciFaiku takes its form from contemporary international haiku. A usual poem is 3 lines and contains about 17 syllables. The topic is science fiction. It strives for a directness of expression and beauty in its simplicity."

    desiccated mind slug                                               removed 2 planets

   clings to a hamster brain                                     for the view

    in a yellow jar                                                          it's okay, we'll plant more

          (Tom Brinck)                                                            (Todd Hoff)

(Apparently the future has no need for punctuation or capital letters.)

        My favorite use of haiku in fantasy, however, comes from the "Tales of Ba Sing Se" episode of the animated series "Avatar: The Last Airbender."  In this episode, Sokka (a brash teenager) accidentally stumbles into a classroom of the 5-7-5 Society and engages in an impromptu haiku slam with strict teacher Madame Macmu-Ling.  She says to him meaningfully

    Chittering monkey

   In spring he climbs treetops

    and thinks himself tall.

To which Sokka blithely replies in perfect haiku syllable-count

    You think you're so smart

   with your fancy little words…

    this is not so hard.

Madame Macmu-Ling warns angrily

    There's nuts and there's fruits.

   In fall the clinging plum drops

    always to be…  squashed.

Sokka, getting cocky, retorts

    Squish-squash, sling that slang…

   I'm always right back at ya

    like my boomerang!

The showdown ends, though, when Sokka accidently puts too many syllables in a line and gets thrown out ignominiously by an outraged bouncer.

        Someone pointed out that in this exchange Sokka and Madame Macmu-Ling are wordbenders, and that idea really struck me.  After all, what is poetry, or any kind of writing, but the ability to use the "element" of language to teach, to touch, to attack, to protect, to heal, to entertain… all the ways the benders of "Avatar" have the ability to manipulate their own elements of water, earth, fire, and air.

        So I'm going to keep on practicing my wordbending in the hope that someday I will be a true master.

[Pictures: Mallard Among Lilies, rubber block print by AEGN, 2006.]
[Cricket Songs: Japanese Haiku, translated by Harry Behn, 1964;
More Cricket Songs: Japanese Haiku, translated by Harry Behn, 1971, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.]