Despite this, English writes of haiku insist upon the 5-7-5 format which is perfectly acceptable for Japanese but not so in Western haiku. We are a wordy bunch and distilling haiku to bare essence is almost impossible using that form but still it persists. Drives me nuts! Nuts to the point that I don't even want to read the stuff that is out there anymore.Learn the rules, then forget them...Basho
Gosh, I would hate to piss off all the haijin out there, especially those that I love and respect otherwise but that is my feeling on the matter. I am, believe me, no authority on haiku but I know what touches me and I surely don't see much of it. Good haiku is a rare and fine thing, me thinks.
Of course, I know that the ubiquitous 5-7-5 is good practice for the new haijin and can be fun to work on but most just stop there or more likely believe that is what haiku is. It is not.
Okay, I seem to have lost my humor here, I know but after years, most literally years, of writing about haiku and its Western form and the arbiteurs of that form, I guess my exasperations have risen to the surface. Big time... Big enough that I only write haiku in my head mostly like a water strider writes on water or a sand painting by a Navajo medicine man.
Pay no attention to this post...
