Dear Sally,
                The Bum isn't a haiku form and was never intended to be one,
I agree that rhyme and haiku are not compatible. It does resemble loosely
the shape of the mirror cinquain, but, although the cinquain was intended by
Crapsey to be a Western form of the haiku, I've never thought it was a
successful translation.
      It seems to me that the spontaneous nature of haiku is too often
overlooked - many haiku are too contrived and over-worked for my taste, as
well as appealing largely to the born-again florist. I get the feeling that
in the Western mind, spontaneity and triviality are too often equated, so
instead of the feeling of insight or revelation that haiku can produce, too
often the reader is left thinking 'So what?'  What impresses me about the
best haiku is a vivid juxtaposition of images where the connection is not
logical, but poetical.
     The Bum is intrinsically  a considered form, not a spontaneous form. It
is not a syllabic form, either, but emblematic verse. The rhyme scheme is an
echo of short forms like the epigram, which I find a very satisfying poetic
experience. The two shaped strophes, or cheeks, are separate, yet
onnected  - echoing the juxtapositions found in haiku, but in a more
obviously 'artful' form.
  The Bum may be seen as an emblem of life, where all things are, at bottom,
connected.
  Kind regards,
   grasshopper

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sally Evans" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2003 12:26 AM
Subject: Re: [THE-WORKS] the New sub Castle -the Bum


> Dear grassy,
>
> having lurked your bum form with interest, I do wonder if there is a
problem
> with rhyming haiku. After a strong dose of hauku  writing last year, my
> first serious learning about the subject, I concluded that rhyming verse,
> including rhyme as it can sometimes appear in free verse, is not related
to haiku.
>  Haiku as I began to understand them have more to do with inspirational
> expression, encapsulated visions, than they do with traditional verse.
>
> I think your poem works  and I think it is syllabic verse but not haiku.
>
> However when John started the WHCpoetrybridge list at first he said that
> anyone writing very short forms was welcome to take part, and such forms
as englyn, triolet and presumably clerihew were welcomed.
>
> I noticed  on the other side of the bridge, Deborah Russell's moving poems
> were often composed of lines each of which could be construed as a haiku.
>
> so there are a few thoughts, leading I know not where
>
> bw
>
> SallyE
>
>
>