Okay, so I have managed to screw up your worldview on haiku. Yes Virginia, there is no Santa Claus and haiku doesn't necessarily have seventeen syllables. And even worse, we have to think about things like anthropomorphism and suchness. Well calm down now folks, we aren't alone in our search for haiku. There are volumes of books on the subject. I will try to touch on a few of these, the ones I have used and found helpful in my studies and writing.
It all goes back to my days in college in the mid-seventies. Yeah, I'm one of those flower child wannabes who was born just a few years late. Anyway, back in college I had some interest in haiku, so I picked up a book. It was a paperback, with an off yellow color. Titled simply
The haiku Anthology
, it was a nice anthology of some "English Language haiku." Little did I know, back in those days, I bought one of the best haiku books available.
Yes, that simple little anthology has been expanded through three editions to hold over 800 haiku. The book, edited by Cor van den Heuvel, has an excellent preface that discusses the history of English Language haiku and goes into some detail about syllable count, the use of nature and seasons, and more. I recommend that you put this book at the top of your booklist. It is available in paperback for around $15.00 (well worth the price). It had been out of print for some time, so when the newest edition hit the shelves, I think I turned a few heads in the bookstores. Once the people realized it was just me jumping for joy and not some passionate escapade between the bookshelves they turned away again.
Another book I found very helpful in re-learning haiku was
The Haiku Handbook, How to Write, Share, and Teach Haiku
. This book written by William J. Higginson, with Penny Harter, covers the history of haiku, the art of haiku (including excellent discussions on the basic precepts of the art), teaching haiku, and other forms. It was in reading this book that I began to understand how much I did not really understand in haiku. This book forms some of the basic first steps in learning and re-learning haiku. The last part of the book discusses other forms of Japanese poetry including tanka, haibun, senryu, renga and dodoitsu. And no, I did not dodoitsu on your shoe!
R.H. Blyth -- I let the name here stand alone. If you read my earlier article on suchness, you might have seen the name. Blyth is often quoted when it comes to haiku because he has said so much on the subject. He has written, if I may stoop to infomercial techniques, not one, not two, not three, four or five... but six large volumes on haiku. These include
A History of Haiku Vol. One
and
