None Of You Know What Haiku Are
I'm going to preface this by saying that i am not an expert in ANY form of poetry, just an enthusiast. Also, this post is... really long. Too long? Definitely too long. Whoops! I love poetry.
If you ask most English-speaking people (or haiku-bot) what a haiku is, they would probably say that it's a form of poetry that has 3 lines, with 5, and then 7, and then 5 syllables in them. That's certainly what I was taught in school when we did our scant poetry unit, but since... idk elementary school when I learned that, I've learned that that's actually a pretty inaccurate definition of haiku. And I think that inaccurate definition is a big part of why most people (myself included until relatively recently!) think that haiku are kind of... dumb? unimpressive? simple and boring? I mean, if you can just put any words with the right number of syllables into 3 lines, what makes it special?
Well, let me get into why the 5-7-5 understanding of haiku is wrong, and also what makes haiku so special (with examples)!
First of all, Japanese doesn't have syllables! There's a few different names for what phonetic units actually make up the language- In Japanese, they're called "On" (音), which translates to "sound", although English-language linguists often call it a "mora" (μ), which (quoting from Wikipedia here) "is a basic timing unit in the phonology of some spoken languages, equal to or shorter than a syllable." (x) "Oh" is one syllable, and also one mora, whereas "Oi" has one syllable, but two moras. "Ba" has one mora, "Baa" has two moras, etc. In English, we would say that a haiku is made up of three lines, with 5-7-5 syllables in them, 17 syllables total. In Japanese, that would be 17 sounds.
For an example of the difference, the word "haiku", in English, has 2 syllables (hai-ku), but in Japanese, はいく has 3 sounds (ha-i-ku). "Christmas" has 2 syllables, but in Japanese, "クリスマス" (ku-ri-su-ma-su) is 5 sounds! that's a while line on its own! Sometimes the syllables are the same as the sounds ("sushi" is two syllables, and すし is two sounds), but sometimes they're very different.
In addition, words in Japanese are frequently longer than their English equivalents. For example, the word "cuckoo" in Japanese is "ほととぎす" (hototogisu).
Now, I'm sure you're all very impressed at how I can use an English to Japanese dictionary (thank you, my mother is proud), but what does any of this matter? So two languages are different. How does that impact our understanding of haiku?
Well, if you think about the fact that Japanese words are frequently longer than English words, AND that Japanese counts sounds and not syllables, you can see how, "based purely on a 17-syllable counting method, a poet writing in English could easily slip in enough words for two haiku in Japanese” (quote from Grit, Grace, and Gold: Haiku Celebrating the Sports of Summer by Kit Pancoast Nagamura). If you're writing a poem using 17 English syllables, you are writing significantly more content than is in an authentic Japanese haiku.
(Also not all Japanese haiku are 17 sounds at all. It's really more of a guideline.)
Focusing on the 5-7-5 form leads to ignoring other strategies/common conventions of haiku, which personally, I think are more interesting! Two of the big ones are kigo, a season word, and kireji, a cutting word.
Kigo are words/phrases/images associated with a particular season, like snow for winter, or cherry blossoms for spring. In Japan, they actually publish reference books of kigo called saijiki, which is basically like a dictionary or almanac of kigo, describing the meaning, providing a list of related words, and some haiku that use that kigo. Using a a particular kigo both grounds the haiku in a particular time, but also alludes to other haiku that have used the same one.
Kireji is a thing that doesn't easily translate to English, but it's almost like a spoken piece of punctuation, separating the haiku into two parts/images that resonate with and add depth to each other. Some examples of kireji would be "ya", "keri", and "kana." Here's kireji in action in one of the most famous haiku:
古池や 蛙飛び込む 水の音
(Furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto)
(The old pond —
A frog jumps in
The sound of the water.)
You can see the kireji at the end of the first line- 古池や literally translates to "old pond ya". The "ya" doesn't have linguistic meaning, but it denotes the separation between the two focuses of the haiku. First, we are picturing a pond. It's old, mature. The water is still. And then there's a frog! It's spring and he's fresh and new to the world! He jumps into the pond and goes "splash"! Wowie! When I say "cutting word", instead of say, a knife cutting, I like to imagine a film cut. The camera shows the pond, and then it cuts to the frog who jumps in.
English doesn't really have a version of this, at least not one that's spoken, but in English language haiku, people will frequently use a dash or an ellipses to fill the same role.
Format aside, there are also some conventions of the actual content, too. They frequently focus on nature, and are generally use direct language without metaphor. They use concrete images without judgement or analysis, inviting the reader to step into their shoes and imagine how they'd feel in the situation. It's not about describing how you feel, so much as it's about describing what made you feel.
Now, let's put it all together, looking at a haiku written Yosa Buson around 1760 (translated by Harold G. Henderson)
The piercing chill I feel:
my dead wife's comb, in our bedroom,
under my heel
We've got our kigo with "the piercing chill." We read that, and we imagine it's probably winter. It's cold, and the kind of cold wind that cuts through you. There's our kireji- this translation uses a colon to differentiate our two images: the piercing chill, and the poet stepping on his dead wife's comb. There's no descriptions of what the poet is feeling, but you can imagine stepping into his shoes. You can imagine the pain he's experiencing in that moment on your own.
"But tumblr user corvidcall!" I hear you say, "All the examples you've used so far are Japanese haiku that have been translated! Are you implying that it's impossible for a good haiku to be written in English?" NO!!!!! I love English haiku! Here's a good example, which won first place in the 2000 Henderson haiku contest, sponsored by the Haiku Society of America:
meteor shower . . .
a gentle wave
wets our sandals
When you read this one, can you imagine being in the poet's place? Do you feel the surprise as the tide comes in? Do you feel the summer-ness of the moment? Haiku are about describing things with the senses, and how you take in the world around you. In a way, it's like the poet is only setting a scene, which you inhabit and fill with meaning based on your own experiences. You and I are imagining different beaches, different waves, different people that make up the "our" it mentioned.
"Do I HAVE to include all these things when I write haiku? If I include all these things, does that mean my haiku will be good?" I mean, I don't know. What colors make up a good painting? What scenes make up a good play? It's a creative medium, and nobody can really tell you you can't experiment with form. Certainly not me! But I think it's important to know what the conventions of the form are, so you can appreciate good examples of it, and so you can know what you're actually experimenting with. And I mean... I'm not the poetry cops. But if you're not interested in engaging with the actual conventions and limitations of the form, then why are you even using that form?
I'll leave you with one more English language haiku, which is probably my favorite haiku ever. It was written by Tom Bierovic, and won first place at the 2021 Haiku Society of America Haiku Awards
a year at most . . .
we pretend to watch
the hummingbirds
Sources: (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)
Further reading:
Forms in English Haiku by Keiko Imaoka
Haiku: A Whole Lot More Than 5-7-5 by Jack
How to Write a Bad Haiku by KrisL
Haiku Are Not a Joke: A Plea from a Poet Who Has Had It Up to Here by Sandra Simpson
Haiku Checklist by Katherine Raine
10K notes
·
View notes
jordan taking care of a sick marie. (can supes get a cold?? idk… anyways 🩵)
word count: 819
-
autumn had hit godolkin with a vengeance, the trees were pretty and the air left a chill on exposed skin. it was beautiful. what wasn’t beautiful was a cold going around that was hitting some of the students.
they weren’t sure why it was hitting some and not others, but jordan didn’t really care about that. they managed to dodge and weave the bug going around — they were much too busy to get sick.
that wasn’t the case for marie though.
jordan had sent a text to marie earlier that morning, asking where she was. it was unlike her to not meet in the common area of the crimefighting building, it was jordan’s turn to buy them a morning coffee that saturday before they had to do some work as a t.a.
frustrated after a third missed text, jordan held onto the two coffees with a tight grip and began walking out into the open space of the campus with an intense demeanour. you would think that someone pissed them off.
that’s when they saw emma, their brown eyes widening as they called out, “emma! where the hell is marie?” they asked, lowering their voice in the last sentence as they hustled in her direction.
the blonde looked over at them, having been fully absorbed in the comment section of her most recent upload. she blinked a few times as she watched jordan walking towards her with ferocity, needing to look up just the slightest due to jordan’s height in their male form.
“hey, hey,” she raised her hands, “just because i’m her roommate doesn’t mean i have to be her messenger,” she teased, but jordan’s face reminded her that they weren’t one to mess with, “jesus, dude. she’s got that cold going around. be careful in there, it’s hazardous!” she had to call the last part out because jordan had already started walking away.
with a racing heart and clammy hands, jordan pushed their way past students until they reached the dormitories. the path to marie’s dorm room was one they memorized, taking less then a couple minutes before they were using their foot to kick a few thumps against the door.
“marie?” they called out, putting their ear to the door and giving awkward, tight lipped smiles to students walking by and looking with interest.
“it’s open.” spoke a weak voice from the other side of the door, muffled and cracking. oh god.
jordan had to handle the two coffees in one hand as they opened the door, eyes widening when they saw marie in her bed. she was laying on her side, brown eyes glazed over and a bit red. she coughed, cringing at the pain.
“fuck, marie, why didn’t you text me?” jordan asked her, using their foot to shut the door behind them. as they walked closer to her, their form switched into their female body, expression softening.
“too tired to look at my phone.” she croaked, trying to sit up, but jordan quickly shook their head.
“don’t move. just rest,” they assured her, placing the coffees on the table between the two beds. they turned their attention to her, sitting on the edge of the bed and reaching out with a gentle hand so they could press the back of it to her cheeks, then her forehead, “you’re burning up.” they murmured, frowning.
"is that bad?" she asked, having grown up in a facility, she wasn't used to being sick. maybe once or twice as a teenager. she'd forgotten how awful it felt, how it made your bones ache and your throat feel like it was coated in needles.
"you'll be okay." jordan's voice was full of care as they smiled, wiping some budding sweat off of marie's forehead, "might feel like shit for a couple days, but you'll be okay. i promise."
marie gave a weak smile up to jordan, already feeling better in their presence. "i don't want to get you sick."
"who cares?" they quipped back,” let me take care of you."
marie didn't answer back, she only nodded.
jordan did exactly what they said they would. they took the day off from their t.a. work and ran around grabbing everything they could find after googling 'cold remedies': chicken noodle soup, orange juice, cold and flu medicine, lozenges, hot tea and a fuck ton of water bottles.
it wasn't until sunday night that marie began feeling better, able to sit up in her bed with jordan as they watched some stupid vought romcom. their hands were intertwined, jordan's hand a bit larger than her own as they held her against their side close to keep her warm.
"thank you." marie whispered, tilting her head back to look up at jordan with a tiny smile.
jordan's lips cracked into a smile as they met her gaze, answering with a kiss to her forehead and a gentle squeeze of her hand.
151 notes
·
View notes
The fact that they have the EXACT opposite color palettes and everything fucks me up so bad
And I just know that Sanji's suit had to have been designed and made for him right before they gave it to him...like it was all so fucking planned.
Even the canister is different with the yellow 3 just for Sanji and his belt has an S for Sanji (also presumably for Stealth too but whatever) it gives off the vibe that it was a newer model that they had to have made just for him recently.
But also, like, why would they have even made this for him if they weren't planning on welcoming him into the family? If he was just a pawn in Judge and Big Mom's deal?
In their weird fucking way they really did keep saying throughout all of WCI that they were family and lets be family again. Like it was implied that Niji kept bringing up Sanji on the way home and he was mad that he didn't come out to greet them. Yonji went to personally go pick him up. Ichiji smiled when Sanji said he was a Vinsmoke but then frowned when he took it back.
Yonji took Sanji to a secret area that they all tried to get into when they were kids and revealed a huge family secret to him, trying to let him in on it and they all showed up but it just didn't go as planned because obviously Niji was a bitch right before and Sanji kicked his face in but presumably that was the moment when the brothers were probably trying ???? to bond with him ??? over Germa's ~great technology~ or whatever. Maybe. 😒
It did not go as planned and they suck at expressing jack shit and they're assholes but it's obvious that they did kind of miss him and wanted their little brother back and not just as the punching bag like they said.
They said they talked about him for YEARS just to theorize if he's dead and how but lets be fuckin real...they talked about him for years. Because he's part of them and they're missing part of themselves without him.
The fact that Sanji's raid suit was even at the wedding means that the brothers were probably going to give it to Sanji as a wedding present. They kept trying to bond with him but they fucking suck at it. They just suck💔
Also I think Ichiji definitely either designed or had heavy input into Sanji's raid suit design because it's just SO specifically the opposite of his.
The white knight and the dark knight.
Plus Ichiji always has to be the most specialist little girl in the room and won't let his brothers wear his colors. ever. so he can stand out more. His brothers weren't allowed to have fuck all when it came to their color scheme but that means something all the more.
The fact that Sanji has 1:1 matching colors but just inverse of Ichiji means Ichiji was basically sharing his spotlight with him when he could have just given Sanji a hideous yellow and black combo but he wasn't given just yellow and black, he was given Ichiji's white and red as well. Which is a big deal for Ichiji, the most specialist princess after all...
(And then he gave him a mask as a way of saying "hey remember that time when you were forced to wear a mask alone for 6+ months in the dungeon...that was funny" just to be a dick one last time 😔💔)
But it's something ok. It was Something!
133 notes
·
View notes
There are many jokes floating around the shadowgast nation about the nature of Caleb and Essek's relationship (eggplants and winky faces abound), and most of them are good natured and perhaps true (eventually or at some point). I find most of them entertaining and sweet, but some of what I have stumbled across post-reunion have highlighted that it's only a joke up to a certain point to me.
Please keep in mind that everything in this post is my opinion and my opinion only. I'm not asking that anyone agree with me. This post is mainly for me because I felt like I needed to make it.
I have seen several comments/posts/tags in many different places talking about Essek and Caleb and that scene in the reunion, and describing it as horny or saying they can't keep their hands off each other or following up that conversation with sexual intimacy. I know a lot of these comments or conversations are not malicious or ill-intentioned, and I understand that people are excited for the first new content in nearly 2 years.
But, one thing I have appreciated about Critical Role is the variety of sexuality and genders represented, including various asexual and aromantic identities. Essek is confirmed by Matt on Twitter to be demi (romantic or sexual is unclear to me so it could be taken as either. If anyone has any other sources I would greatly appreciate them). As someone who identifies as aspec, I deeply appreciate the representation that Critical Role has given me.
The shadowgast scene in the reunion was not sexual to me. It's only been six months since the end of c2, which granted, I have not completed yet. As of this writing, I am in the middle of episode 133. Whatever is going on between Caleb and Essek is still very new, especially for two people who thought they would never have love. An aspect of being demi is that it takes time and closenes and a strong emotional bond for romantic and/or sexual feelings to develop. Six months, to me, feels like an incredibly short time for those feelings to take root for Essek even if he is on the path of developing them.
Seeing people make light of Essek's sexual attraction or feelings for Caleb or treat them as common place or casual, even innocuously, has made me feel as though this aspect of Essek really is ignored or forgotten about sometimes. Not by everyone nor, I would even doubt, the majority. Maybe not intentionally or maliciously or maybe it's a lack of understanding about demisexuality or aspec identities.
This is a feeling I have had for a while, and I mean this about nothing in particular but rather a sum of the parts I have encountered over the months.
In addition, I think Essek's sexuality can be overshadowed by how sexual Caleb can be/is. He makes comments throughout the entirety of the campaign that directly or indirectly reveal his sexuality, and that part is clearly important to him, even if he has not acted on it in a very long time.
I am not saying that Essek is NOT sexually attracted to Caleb or that their relationship does not involve sex at some point or at the time of that scene. I do think, at the very least, that Caleb and Essek would have a conversation about it as some point, and I find it likely it would turn sexual. At the very least, Caleb is attracted to Essek. Liam has confirmed that. I would guess those feelings are a combination of romantic, sexual, platonic, etc.
But I cannot imagine, and again this is my opinion, that feeling sexual attraction or acting on it for the perhaps first or second, maybe third time, is not a life-altering moment for him, let alone acting on it. From what see of his character, he's extrmely gaurded, extremely lonely, extremely shameful. Showing his emotions and attraction to Caleb, or to anyone really, is an extreme show of trust and vulnerability, and I don't think it should be taken lightly.
Treating it, at least in those early months, as though it is common or casual, something taken for granted, feels, to me, as though it undermines the importance and gravity of Essek's feelings, whatever they may be. Further, it undermines aspec identities, relegating them to sidelines if it is even acknowledged at all. I feel as though a lot of the jokes ignore Essek's demisexuality and how integral it is to how he builds relationships and interacts with people.
As someone who is aspec, I find it disheartening to see these sort of jokes and offhand comments being circulated about a character who is confirmed, canon aspec whose identity centers on deep bonds that take time to develop. Applying sexual under/overtones to scene where a small chaste kiss and an innocent pet name are shared feels like, in a way, a forced sexualization of a new, developing relationship that may never turn sexual.
There is such little aspec representation in media, and Critical Role does a fantastic job of showcasing a variety of aspec identities which is so, so rare. To turn around and have the fandom ignore or disregard these identities (intentional or not) that the cast and crew work hard to incorporate feels bad. It makes me feel as though I still have to fight for my identity to be seen and understood by people who, theoretically, support and want to understand and respect various identities, who claim to love Essek and Caleb and their relationship. It hurts.
I have spent a lot of time convincing myself that I and my sexuality belong in the queer community, that I deserve to have a voice, that I deserve to be respected and heard. With my feelings about Essek and his demisexuality, I didn't feel right standing by any longer and remaining silent when these portrayals were bothering me.
I am not asking anyone to change their opinions, to agree with me, to change the fic they write, the art they draw. The Critical Role fandom is beautiful and amazing and absolutely incredible. I have met so many kind, caring, wonderful people since joining. It's an experience unlike any other. But, I needed to make this post for me and anyone else who was feeling like me.
464 notes
·
View notes