Can anybody write a haiku with interchangeable short lines that also flows naturally with exactly one cut? Not me. But I can do it with two cuts. Another poet can do it with one cut that moves when the short lines are swapped.
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Rules 1 and 2 of Carpe Diem’s
Writing and Enjoying Haiku #3 classical haikurequire a season-word and a cut, which is not the same as requiring exactly one of each. (Guess who has a math background.) Dunno how to write a haiku with interchangeable short lines (per Rule 6) that also flows naturally with exactly one cut, but I try to remember that there is a big difference between saying that I cannot do it now and saying that nobody can do it ever.
Hmmm. Suppose there is exactly one cut, that it is made by punctuation, and that moving the cut is allowed when interchanging the short lines. This permissive interpretation of Rule 6 did not occur to me until I saw Virginia Popescu’s beautiful haiga, where the haiku still flows naturally with exactly one cut, if we move the dash from after “stone” to after “sun” when interchanging the short lines. Her response to this episode is also a gentle reminder that my most dangerous assumptions are the ones I do not know I am making.
Maybe I can satisfy Rule 6 with a single stationary cut some time in the future. Maybe not. For now, I cut in both places where one line follows another.
This Haiku Is Kosher
No mosquitoes fly.
Basho’s frog just meditates.
The pond stays silent.
Not Quite Kosher
|Zen frog bronze sculpture
|(credit lost, like casting wax).
|Dunno who to thank.
Mellow Curmudgeon 