My first encounters with Haiku were in elementary school(many, many years ago). I considered it to be more of a mathematical exercise than an aesthetic one. We were assigned to compose "poems" of three lines, with a 5 by 7 by 5 syllable breakdown.
My son was introduced to haiku in first grade, and as much as I adore him, his compositions reminded me of my own. I was not impressed. Please do NOT tell him that I've said this. His Haiku are surely better than mine!
Recently I received an email with some "Jewish Haiku". Regardless of syllables or brevity or my distaste for all things mathematical, these were laugh out loud amusing. I have a hunch as to the author, and if right and this person doesn't object, I will post two or three of them here.
My mother sent me a wonderful book. I haven't finished it, but I am ready to blog about it!
Baseball Haiku:
The Best Haiku Ever Written About The Game
Edited by Cor Van Den Heuvel And Nanae Tamura.
I love baseball and poetry and learning about Japanese culture. This little volume offers all of that. There are no watercolors or cartoons or illustrations, save for the front cover. The introduction is remarkable."Japanese poets have been using baseball as a subject for their haiku since 1890."
This book is published by W. W. Norton, New York ' London, copyright 2007. $19.95.
Here is one by Michael Fessler:
change of pitchers
the right fielder puts his glove
over his face
I have 4 minutes left on this computer. More later!