Some Penny Haiku, Outside the Stall...

[Steve Plonk]

"Take Out Penny Haiku"

We like Chinese,
If you please,
We like Chinese,
If you don't please...

We like scrumptious food
From China,
No other take out
Could be finer.



"Hummingbird Penny Haiku"

Hummingbird watcher
Hummingbird watcher
Glimpses birds buzz by
As they fly...

Hummingbird detector
Hummingbird detector
Watches birds sip nectar,
As we play "I spy"...

[eugeneherman]

haiku it don't rhyme...many many syllables...haiku ain't the blues... BTW haiku is a 'Japanese' form of 17 syllables, line of 5, line of 7, line of 5. Just cuz' you mention hummingbirds and an Asian country don't make it haiku... I'm just sayin'!

[Steve Plonk]

Authors note: To Whom it may concern: This is my own personal invention: "Penny Haiku". It is a non-syllable short poem with biographical or antedotal narration. I try to break out of the restriction and asiatic tightness of the
current format of the so-called "haiku". I am quite aware of the
poems "non-syllable" appearance.

I've been posting these for many years and only a few critics have
been astute enough to realize or care about the difference.
I used to call them "graffito" or "graffiti" or "shortening poems".
Some of the poetry rhymes, some has rhythm and some have
syllables--but not necessarily. Most are uplifting narration and
use whimsical references to nature, songs, and nursery rhymes & life style.
Some are even like maxims. I sometimes even call them "Cantos" or "Blues".
My canto is has more autobiographical & lifestyle info. Ezra Pound would
turn over in his grave.

In fact, I deliberately posted them here instead of in the "Haiku" forum for exactly the reason you used in your criticism. Someone once thought they should be called "Two-cent Haiku". I also have posted them in my standing column, "Life in the Horse Lane", and on Litkicks.com's "Action Poetry". My column, at Studio Eight, lets me "horse around" a little more. I like this blog.

"Bog-Gob", a now defunct local magazine, published a few of them here in Chattanooga, TN. I used to also publish commentary there and elsewhere. My heading used the same name:
"Life in the Horse Lane". My "muse steed" is rather like a "rocket horse" or like "Mr. Ed" and also very astute. I take these poems "straight from the horse's mouth"... Pegasus ain't got nothing on me... A rocket horse for a "rocket age".
But the Pegasus is still a great metaphor for my brand of physical poetry and prose. If it wasn't for Hunter Thompson inspiring me, my prose would not be possible.

One of the first poems that I used the phrase was used with an
abbreviation: "P. Haiku". People thought it was more clever to
simply say "Phaiku". That title phrase wore out after a while and I soon
started calling them by their full name: "Penny Haiku". These poems
have a thirty year history behind them. I was inspired by T.S. Eliot, "King Lear"
Gary Snyder, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, & John Lennon.

Thank you for stinting so well & inspiring me to write this impromptu history of "Penny Haiku". I may even post a copy of this, in my standing column. Make it so...

[joel]

I liked the poems (sucker for rhyming)...but I loved the history! Thanks for sharing!

[eugeneherman]

I like this piece of yours... ...
We see thick
Dark gauze of clouds
Hide the blue sky
All is grey...4 pm.

Storm has been
Going on for
More than an hour...

Time is compressed
Yet awareness
Is still fleeting...

Thoughts come &
Go as daydreams
Of other days &
Storms of past...
...It seems to have less and flow more than what I would call your 'blues ditties', with the repeated lines aka 'call and response' of these Chinese food and hummingbird pieces.

[Steve Plonk]

Joel, glad you liked these pieces. I really appreciate your poetry also.
I am certainly also pleased that you liked my impromptu history of
"Penny Haiku".

I made a reprise of this piece on my column "Life in the Horse Lane".
Oh, I should like to name my "rocket horse muse" : "Stewball". So, you are the first person to hear of it, outside my immediate circle of friends. I "knew my song well before I started singing..." to paraphrase Bob Dylan in a "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall"... Would you believe Bob Dylan will be seventy next May? I can't omit Bob Dylan in my influences. But then I absorbed it like a sponge and I have a legion of influences. Like it was once said: "Build a dock and a ship will come in".

[Steve Plonk]

Glad you forebeared the axe, Eugene... A quote from my "Sixtieth Summer Penny Haiku, Page 8",on Litkicks "Action Poetry" ...It was from a different mood and a different time...The poetry flowed from the inspiration of blustery summer days...it was a magical moment. Don't forget the quotes...

Some folks like rhyme and some don't...That's why I write my "penny haiku" in different styles and formats depending the "muse of my steed", as one could call it. I like to call it a "Vatic Voice" after the guy who first coined it--see earlier topic in my column...

Think of my standing column as a dock or a landing strip... I've really enjoyed
the people and posts here at Studio Eight. I welcome criticism and thrive on it.
Hopefully, the more positive, the better. We all can't be Shakespeare. I would settle to just be a "Steve Plonk". I've got my own potpourri of style, and hardly ever gave it a critical thought until just recently. Not everyone "gets me" every time...

[Steve Plonk]

Twin Penny Haiku (Cats)

Puddy tat watcher
Kitty cat watcher
Feeds cats their chow
As they meow...


Kitty kat keeper
Putty tat keeper
Gives treats to chew
Hears them mew...

[.Lucy.]

Very cool!

[Steve Plonk]

Thanks, Lucy. Glad you liked my whimsical "penny haiku".
A bit of encouragement always helps. (Like your poems, too, and your
humorous advice column. )

[emel.scott]

I think these are a chopstick in the eye of haiku writers everywhere and you should be ashamed! On the other hand, they are witty and fun and haiku writers should get a sense of humor.

[Steve Plonk]

Emel.scott, thanks for your comments,
Herein are more "penny haiku".


Twin Autumn Penny Haiku

Chopstick in eye,
Paints on mascara,
It only cosmetic...
Metaphor intended.

Soon crows will sound
A wake up in October,
Louder than next field rooster--
An elder will wake to fry
Family hot cakes...

[Steve Plonk]

"Festival of Life, 1971, Penny Haiku"
By Steve Plonk

(1)
We dreamt of a burnt out castle,
The gypsy gal & I,
Holy, holy, holy
We prayed ourselves to sleep--
In the burnt out castle keep...

(2)
We shivered in a heap,
In that past time,
Within our acrylic blanket
Sleeping bags, on straw mats,
Our pillows were our hats...

(3)
The castle turned into the DC mall,
The castle was just our dream,
Coupled in an old canvass pup tent,
But the night caused us to shiver:
That was no imagine...

(4)
We'd lost our permit and had to vacate,
Could no longer demonstrate that morn,
Yesterday's final demonstration was for
Clean air, clean water, save the forests &
End the Vietnam war,
Soon we'd leave to get outta harm's way
We caught a ride by "The Hand of Glory"...

[Steve Plonk]

"New Misc. Haiku"

Cats meowed
A loud meow,
Heard a thump--
Something is
Out of place,
As cats play chase...


Girl, don't worry
'Bout nuthin'--
We got plenty of pizza,
With lots of stuffin'...
Come on down.

[Steve Plonk]

"Bicycle Penny Haiku"
(1)
My bike broke a sprocket,
In the town of Woonsocket,
So we went down there
To get a repair...

(2)
Once we got our tires
Filled with air,
We were ready to bike
Right out of there...

(3)
I used to ride my bike
More than ten miles a day,
It was good for the psyche,
It was the summer of 1966,
I never wrecked it or had
To have it fixed.