A couple blog entries ago, I tried to hammer out some haikus, partially to express to my family that I already knew about the poetic form before they all pointed me that way. Silly! I actually am grateful for their comments because they encouraged me to recognize zen and haiku elements in what I say. My initial knowledge of haiku, carried over from a Poetry class a long time ago, entails the following: haiku generally have 5 syllables in the first line, then 7 and 5 in the two lines that follow; haiku is largely about nature; and it is almost pertinent the haiku embody/ represent a season.

Who invented the form? Who invents forms? Did Basho invent the form? Basho was the poet so famous for the poem about the frog jumping in the pond. Did a cluster of poets invent the form we call haiku? Since the form was originally Japanese, what element of the form was lost in translation?

What element, haiku
was carried away in the
windy heave of time?

If I was to invent a poetic form, what shape would that have? Could I achieve a form that oscillated with the tensions and moodiness that occur so real in my life so the poem was not in lie? What would be three elements of my poetic kind? Misspellings, mixed metaphors, chaos? Maybe it would mix poetry and creative nonfiction, if they are not the same breath.

Wikipedia says haiku juxtaposes two ideas. According to Wikipedia, a haiku is not necessarily about nature, because of the seasonal element. Modern haiku tends towards dropping the 17 lines.

Maybe Arakida Moritake was the first to write haiku:

I came across Moritake's most famous poem:

A fallen blossom
returning to the bough, I thought --
But no, a butterfly.
(Translation by Steven Carter)