FIRST ROUGH DRAFT OF AN ONGOING ITEM
For me, haiku is a personal diary and a way of life. It holds in it's compass everything I ever got into along the way. it's a nexus point. The idea of submitting my babies to the caprice of God knows who, you know, this expert and that expert, is anathema to me. nd I'm not alone in this view. Now, I'm not knocking the long tradition of social intercourse and sports and publications and all the rest. Just saying, that there is a danger of a perverse backlash to the intrinsic spirit of beautiful haiku, here in the west. Because, and basically, there is no consensus as to what is what. It is such a banal shambles that we don't even get recognised in the literary hall of fame. Oh, maybe a mention as a footnote. The reason for all this, I'd say, is that we simply don't have the living tradition. That's all gone. We are citizens of science and consumerism and speed. Therefore, it's up to the individual to reclaim what has been stolen by the our synthetic modernity. We need to dive deeper into the pool than the blingy surface of a glossy magazine. We need to stop being clever, We need to stand and stare. To deepen ourselves. If you see what I mean. When we read a haiku let's do it stationary and not as a drive-past. Forget the fast-food thing. practice meditation on an obect. This also applies to when we write haiu. Let's ponder the world and let the world inspire us with little enlightments.
We do not see things as they are, we see them as we are.
— The Talmud
Haiku is the person, affectation is useless.
— jp
28-09-11
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