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I have understand that our last Haiku Writing Techniques "Sabi and Wabi" wasn't easy to adjust to, so I have decided to make another episode of our Haiku Writing Techniques about this "Sabi and Wabi" idea next Wednesday.
I have asked Jane about this "Sabi and Wabi", but she couldn't tell me more then I already had done in our Haiku Writing Techniques episode. So I will dive into this matter myself and will write a second episode of Haiku Writing Techniques on "Sabi and Wabi".
I hope that I can answer all of your questions on this Haiku Writing Technique.
It's almost Wednesday again and that's "Haiku Writing Techniques"- day. As you maybe know we are exploring haiku writing techniques and this week I love to look closer at, what is called "Sabi" and "Wabi". For this week's Haiku Writing Techniques I have dived into Jane Reichhold's "Bare Bones School of Haiku", which you can download as an e-book at our Haiku Kai.
In "Bare Bones School of Haiku" Jane explains the origin and writing of haiku and (as you have read it already) in one of her lessons in this book she explains "Sabi" and "Wabi". I love to share that part of "Bare Bones School of Haiku" here with you all.
The
Technique of Sabi
I almost hesitate to bring up this idea as a technique
because the word sabi has gotten so many meanings over the innumerable years it
has been in Japan, and now that it comes to the English language it is
undergoing even new mutations.
As fascinated as Westerners have become with the
word, the Japanese have maintained for centuries that no one can really, truly
comprehend what sabi really is and thus, they change its definition according
to their moods. Bill Higginson, in The Haiku Handbook, calls sabi –
"(patina/loneliness) Beauty with a sense of loneliness in time, akin to,
but deeper than, nostalgia." Suzuki maintains that sabi is
"loneliness" or "solitude" but that it can also be
"miserable", "insignificant", and "pitiable",
"asymmetry" and "poverty". Donald Keene sees sabi as
"an understatement hinting at great depths".
So you see, we are
rather on our own with this! I have translated this as: sabi (SAH-BEE)-
aged/loneliness - A quality of images used in poetry that expresses something
aged or weathered with a hint of sadness because of being abandoned. A
split-rail fence sagging with overgrown vines has sabi; a freshly painted
picket fence does not." As a technique, one puts together images and verbs
which create this desired atmosphere. Often in English this hallowed state is
sought by using the word "old" and by writing of cemeteries and
grandmas. These English tricks wear thin quickly.
rocky
spring
lips taking a sip
from a stone mouth
or
coming home
flower
by flower
The Technique
of Wabi
The twin brother to sabi who has as many personas can be defined as
"(WAH-BEE)-poverty- Beauty judged to be the result of living simply.
Frayed and faded Levis have the wabi that bleached designer jeans can never
achieve." Thus one can argue that the above haiku samples are really more
wabi than sabi – and suddenly one understands the big debate. However, I offer
one more ku that I think is more wabi than sabi because it offers a scene of
austere beauty and poignancy.
parting fog
on wind barren meadows
birth of a lamb
As I look at these two very different ideas sabi and wabi than to me both describe a kind of atmosphere that has to be seen (or read) in the haiku. But that atmosphere isn't easy to catch with a few words, maybe these two ideas are more in use for Tanka, because than you have two more lines to give words to the atmosphere of the moment which you love to catch in your poem. However as I look closer to wabi and the example Jane gives in this description of the jeans than a haiku which I wrote for one of our older prompts "blue" comes in mind immediately.
sign of happiness and freedom -
bleached with stones
bleached with
stones
jeans almost falling apart
can't throw them away
But this can also be sabi, because all new designer jeans are ragged or ripped ... and they sell ... So for these "torn apart" jeans I think you can use both ideas sabi and wabi.
Well ... it's a little bit strange Haiku Writing Technique, but it will challenge you I think. The goal is to write new haiku with sabi and/or wabi. Have fun!
This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until February 13th at noon (CET). I will (try to) publish our next episode, poppies, later on. Than will go on with the exploration of impressionism in haiku idea as impression.
Try to write/compose all new haiku with this sabi and wabi technique and share them at our Haiku Kai. Have fun!
