

And no period after the first line will look good.
Opalescent foam,
cradles broken bits of shell.
Seagulls ride the wind.

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Jan's Poetry Class: HaikuModerators: mikeedwards, glorybee
Pooey! And I was counting! I think I was thinking of using the word "ride" instead of riding.
![]() ![]() And no period after the first line will look good. Opalescent foam, cradles broken bits of shell. Seagulls ride the wind. ![]()
Ahhhhh. You're bringing back beach vacation memories, Pat! I'm feeling much more peaceful now. ![]() Catrina Bradley
FaithWriters Profile Scattered Seeds Jewels of Encouragement "God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes." Psalm 18:24 (The Message)
I'm warming up to writing "Red" too, so I thought I'd try another Haiku - the "off-beat" type. Then I logged in and read Steve's wonderful post, so I'm going to have another go at it.
![]() Thirteen pounds of speckled black Hurtle down the lane Ten pins explode on contact (Guess what I was doing tonight? ![]() Catrina Bradley
FaithWriters Profile Scattered Seeds Jewels of Encouragement "God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes." Psalm 18:24 (The Message)
Cat, it's adorable and cute--and you got the syllable count mixed up. This is 7,5,7--but it's supposed to be 5,7,5. Oops. Jan Ackerson -- Follow me, friend me, give me a wave!
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![]() I was doing the 2nd part of the homework - going outside nature and playing with the syllable count. ![]() I guess I played way too much. BUT the juices started flowing, and I've started "Red" now! I'm still planning to write a very serious haiku- can you tell more about "objective" and "subjective"? I'm not sure I understand the difference. Love, Cat Catrina Bradley
FaithWriters Profile Scattered Seeds Jewels of Encouragement "God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes." Psalm 18:24 (The Message)
Steven's really the expert on that, and I'm hoping he'll chime in--but the way I understand it, "objective" deals with things that are actually observed (or perhaps heard, felt, etc.), but "subjective" deals more with feelings, emotions, etc.
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So ... Objective is an external stimulus and subjective is internal? Catrina Bradley
FaithWriters Profile Scattered Seeds Jewels of Encouragement "God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes." Psalm 18:24 (The Message)
No, Jan, I think you should teach the class....you're good at bringing complicated ideas "down to earth". I had to read his points a couple times over before I understood....plus I'd be afraid of the homework Steve would assign! ![]() ![]() More fun I came up with in the shower today.... ![]() Really bad haiku.... A warning for all who read: Author lacks a point. ![]()
Yes, that's it in a nut shell. "Objective" (in the haiku context) basically means related to the five senses. Some folks have said that the heart of haiku is showing, not telling. What good practice for writers! Also, avoiding subjective words will mean avoiding many types of adjectives and adverbs. More good practice for writers! The key is to use objective WORDS to create either an insight or a SUBJECTIVE RESPONSE. Beyond that it is hard to say much without going way deep. One website that provides some guidance on this and other haiku issues and that is pretty short is here. However, if you read it, you will be introduced to the "haiku should not be limited 5-7-5" thing. Yes, yes, it's true, but I haven't wanted to let myself off that hook yet. Unfortunately, I don't know of any websites that show draft haiku that use objective words, followed by re-writes using objective words. And it doesn’t help that when you read some of the really great haiku, the masters sometimes break this rule on purpose. In addition to the example I gave in an earlier post (I changed "joy of mother's heart" to "a new mother's smile" and later "mother smiles"), maybe we can do a few with nature. One of the most famous haiku is : Old pond... frog jumps in water's sound Here are a few ruined versions EVEN THOUGH THEY MIGHT REPRESENT THE WRITER'S SUBJECTIVE RESPONSE: Old pond... a frog jumps in delightful sound OR Old pond... a frog jumps in jarring sound Or how about this one (a made up one of mine) about a deer emerging from the edge of the woods into a soybean field: cautious deer peers out soybeans draw, overcome fear gun blast echoes loud I think the subjective IMPACT is OK. Perhaps the reader gets an insight about temptation. Or perhaps a hunter has a subjective reaction. Or perhaps an animal lover or vegetarian has a reaction. BUT there is still a problem with subjective WORDS in the first two lines. How about: deer at edge of woods soybeans: one step, stop, two steps gun blast echos loud OK, an obvious but tempting one (mine again): blue sky, yellow sun eagle soars majestically thunderhead rolls in So get rid of majestically: blue sky, yellow sun eagle rides Fall thermals thunderhead rolls in One last one--another temptation (putting the emotion in the third line): kittens nurse, then sleep round bellies, quiet purring complete contentment How do you fix it? I don't know. Besides the emotion in the last line, there's also no juxtaposition or "ah-ha" and no season word. Ignoring the fact that I am making this up instead of observing it, maybe: kittens nurse, then sleep round bellies, quiet purring field mouse scurries past Or (just pretend I was watching kittens all day), to get more seasonal (and changing from kittens to kitten), kitten nurses, then sleeps round belly, quiet purring dragonfly on nose These examples are not great, but I hope you can see the difference between objective and subjective in a bit of context. Steve
nlf.net ________ "When the Round Table is broken every man must follow Galahad or Mordred; middle things are gone." C.S. Lewis “The chief purpose of life … is to increase according to our capacity our knowledge of God by all the means we have, and to be moved by it to praise and thanks. To do as we say in the Gloria in Excelsis ... We praise you, we call you holy, we worship you, we proclaim your glory, we thank you for the greatness of your splendor.” J.R.R. Tolkien
I agree Jan should keep teaching the class . . and I've already told her so. It's not just that I can't afford the time (which is certainly true), but it's also that as you say, Leah, she's so good at bringing things down to where it's understandable by everyone. And that's just one of the things that makes her such an incredible teacher! Steve
nlf.net ________ "When the Round Table is broken every man must follow Galahad or Mordred; middle things are gone." C.S. Lewis “The chief purpose of life … is to increase according to our capacity our knowledge of God by all the means we have, and to be moved by it to praise and thanks. To do as we say in the Gloria in Excelsis ... We praise you, we call you holy, we worship you, we proclaim your glory, we thank you for the greatness of your splendor.” J.R.R. Tolkien
Here goes Jan - my attempted.
Icy chrystals surrender. Thawed, by natures source of light. A mutual connection. Glad you are back with your class.(This is not part of the un-rhymed poem). Colin Swann
Jesus’ love is constant and never wavers.
I love it! Made for my first morning smile. Jan Ackerson -- Follow me, friend me, give me a wave!
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Steven, thanks for your examples of objective and subjective words. That helps a lot!
I love the one with the dragonfly. Jan Ackerson -- Follow me, friend me, give me a wave!
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Hi, Colin! This puts a nice, chilly image in my mind, and I love thinking about the "connection". I think your syllables are just a tad "off", though. Ice crys-tals sur-ren-der (6) Thawed by na-ture's source of light (7) A mu-tu-al con-nec-tion (7) Remember that a haiku should be 5,7,5. British pronunciation may account for some of the differences (How do you pronounce "mutual"?), but not enough; you're a few syllables over in lines 1 and 3. Care to attempt a revision? The concept of ice crystals "surrendering" is really fine. Good job! Jan Ackerson -- Follow me, friend me, give me a wave!
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Between you and Steve, we will definitely improve our poetry skills. I think I understand the OBJECTIVE vs. the SUBJECTIVE. Objective is observing- subjective implies opinion. (side note to Steve- I wish we could use poetry in our CWF contest, but seeing your contribution here, you'd win it hands down!) Vonnie Return to Jan's Writing Basics Who is onlineUsers browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests
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