Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,
Today the first Carpe Diem Preview of November. I will introduce to you a whole new (as far as I know) form of haiku, Troiku. Later on I will tell you all about this new form, but first I love to look at other haiku forms you and I know.
First the classical form of haiku:
In the middle ages Renga, Renku, Linked verse or Bound verse was a game at the Royal Emperor's court. Renga was a so called 'linked verse', a chain of verses based on the early middle ages form
waka. The waka was a five line verse with a strict syllable count 5-7-5-7-7. This form we know nowadays as
tanka. In the renga this waka was split in two parts the
hai (5-7-5) and the
kai (7-7). How did this work?
One player (poet) composed the starting verse called
hokku (5-7-5). Through association the second player (poet) wrote 'the answer' (7-7).
E.g.:
all day sunrise
what a joy to live in
my orange house
(c) Chèvrefeuille
This verse (hai) gives enough to associate on e.g. day, sunrise, joy, orange or house. It can go in several ways. Let's look at an association for 'the answer' (kai) on orange.
at the end of the day
white chrysanthemum turns orange
(c) Chèvrefeuille
A third player (poet) wrote the next hai and a fourth player (poet) wrote the next kai and so on. Sometimes renga became a long chain of poems, verses, of at least one hundred links. The longest known renga had over ten thousand links.
Renga is the mother of haiku so to say.
Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) was a great haiku poet and - master. It was he who took the hai out of the renga and made it a new form of writing verses. The classical haiku (by the way it was Shiki (1867-1902), the fourth great haiku master, who gave haiku it's name. It's a re-done name of the starting verse of renga 'hokku'.) was born.
As you may know there are several rules to write a classical haiku. First there is the syllable count 5-7-5; second it has to have a
kigo or seasonword, a word that places the haiku in a certain season; third a haiku describes a moment as short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water; fourth a deeper meaning based on the philosophy of the poet. The classical haiku has several other rules, but these four I have mentioned are the most common ones.
In the classical haiku the syllable count is the most important rule and made it known as 'counted verse'.
walking along the beach
heads bend into the Northern wind
a boy with his girl
(c) Chèvrefeuille
Not a strong example, but it will fit the purpose. Let's look closer to this one. Is it a classical one? Yes it is, the syllable count is 5-7-5, there is a seasonword (Northern wind, Winter) and maybe there is a deeper meaning. Yes there could be 'you have to be strong and confident to walk in a Northern storm, maybe these youngsters are in deep love notwithstanding thoughts of their parents who don't like this relationship'.
As you may know I write my haiku mostly in the so called Kanshicho-style in which the syllable count isn't strict. E.g.:
lonely flower (4 syll.)
my companion (3)
for one night (3)
(c) Chèvrefeuille
And than we have the Piku based on the mathematical number
pi 3,14 so this piku has three lines with 3-1-4 syllables. E.g.:
balloon fight
run!
not that way, fool
(c)
John Governale
or
at the ball
she
waltzed without shoes
(c) John Governale
It's not my 'cup of tea', but I have once tried to write a piku for Few Miles' Haiku Challenge last February.
the Thinker
lone
no more thoughts
(c) Chèvrefeuille
Another form is the Acrostic haiku e.g.:
This acrostic haiku by
Lilmoon Godess on the acrostichon SUN
Shining orb of light
Under which we cultivate
New leaves and new souls
(c) Lilmoon Godess
Another acrostic form uses a Acrostichon and a Liaison. This one you may know. I have written it for Wonder Wednesday of Poets United. In this one the Acrostichon is AUTUMN and the liaison is TUTU.
A rainy day
Under the umbrella
Tears of joy
U
T
United again by
Music of the Swanlake
Newly weds
(c) Chèvrefeuille
Well ... it's a wonderful poetry form, but not an easy one to write.
Let's look at a different haiku form called
Naisaiku.
In this haiku form you give a title to your haiku (one of the sentences) and place that at the end of your haiku and than backwards your haiku again.
lonely flower
my companion
for one night
lonely flower
for one night
my companion
lonely flower
(c) Chèvrefeuille
It makes a wonderful new poem. It's important in this form that the first and third sentence are interchangable. (By the way interchanging the first and third line is also one of the rules of a classical haiku, but that rule isn't commonly known).
OK 'till so far several other haiku forms. Back to the subject of this Carpe Diem Preview. As I said in the beginning of this Preview I have created a new haiku form Troiku and I think it's fun, but not an easy form. First I have to tell you something about the source of the name Troiku.
It goes back to 17th century Russia.
A troika (meaning: triplet or trio) is a traditional Russian harness driving combination, using three horses abreast, usually pulling a sleigh. It differs from most other three horse combinations in that the horses are harnessed abreast. The middle horse is usually harnessed in a horse collar and shaft bow; the side horses are usually in breastcollar harness. The troika is traditionally driven so that the middle horse trots and the side horses canter; the right hand horse will be on the right lead and the left hand horse on the left lead.
The troika was developed in Russia during the 17th century and could reach on full-speed 45-50 kilometres per hour, which was at that time a very high speed on land for vehicles.
OK ... up to the Troiku. Compared with the troika, haiku counts three lines and the troika was driven by three horses. A troika was (mostly) a sleigh and that ... my dear haijin, visitors and travelers is what a troika made a troika.
In the Troiku, the sleigh is the base haiku from which we will start.
E.g. the 'sleigh' of our Troiku is a haiku written by a classical (or modern) haiku poet.
For the introduction of the Troiku I have chosen a haiku by Basho. A very well known one written by him ... namely 'frog pond'.
furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizo no oto
old pond
frogs jumped in
sound of water
In this Troiku form it's the intention to write three new haiku (the horses of the troika) starting with the seperated lines of the 'sleigh'.
In this example you have to write a new haiku with 'old pond', 'frogs jumped in' and 'sound of water'. Let's give it a try heh ...
The 'sleigh':
old pond
frogs jumped in
sound of water
The horses:
Horse one:
old pond -
the scent of the Lotus
overwhelmes me
Horse two:
frogs jumped in
the sound of rain far away
thunder and lightning
Horse three:
sound of water
dripping from the gutter
after the hurricane
Nice way of writing haiku isn't it. For closure I will give the 'lay out' as I love to use; this 'lay out' looks somewhat like a troika:
I love it. I hope you, my dear haijin, do like this new Troiku too. Let's do another one. This time I will use a haiku written by myself. This haiku I published on Carpe Diem orange on November 5th.
When I was writing this preview another thought came in mind.
Maybe two or three sleighs' and six or nine horses? Wouldn't that be something? Maybe it is! I will give it some thought and if I have succeeded ... than I will publish them in a new Carpe Diem Preview.
'Till than? Have fun writing Troiku and if you like this form ... please share your Troiku with Carpe Diem. I have included a linking wizard that will remain open 'till end of this year.
Namaste, Shalom, Blessed Be,
or in Russian
Do Svidaniya
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