Haiku, Tanka, and Related Poetic Forms

Blue Dasher Eyes (Photo by Jean LeBlanc)The freedom and discipline of haiku and other “small poems” is a practice to which I try to devote at least a few minutes each day. I infuse all my poems—no matter how many lines long—with the haiku aesthetic: austere elegance, simple complexity, melancholy celebration. Haiku are peaceful and still, yet they tumble off the page. Haiku do not “seize” a moment—rather, they brush up against a moment and watch with longing, as the moment becomes memory.

One of my proudest professional honors was being asked to contribute an essay to a book on the haiku of Sayumi Kamakura. Kamakura's work moves me deeply, and I am proud to be a small part of The Haiku of Sayumi Kamakura: A Critical Study (edited by Santosh Kumar, published by Cyberwit.net, 2010).

In any poem, something is said, but more is understood. This is the essence of the haiku aesthetic.

A sampling of my own haiku and haiku-related poems...

a crossword puzzle

a crossword puzzle
side by side my parents

© 2011 Jean LeBlanc
– Published in tinywords, August 18, 2011, Issue 11.2

a new path

a new path
little bones
around the fox's den

© 2011 Jean LeBlanc
– Published in tinywords, October 27, 2011, Issue 11.2

this smooth pebble

this smooth pebble
how many thousand waves
did it take?

© 2009 Jean LeBlanc
– Ambrosia: Journal of Fine Haiku, edited by Denis M. Garrison, issue 2, winter 2009. Modern English Tanka Press

Two or So Brushstrokes

The pearl earring – two
brushstrokes, one expert avers.
I don't believe it.

But do we call it
Girl in Turban? Of course not.
It's those two brushstrokes.

Or her eyes: hazel?
Blue? Brown? Who can remember?
Shadows, highlights, both

or light and not light,
two or so, our expert says –
a dab doesn't count?

If I could paint you
what would my two brushstrokes be?
Cheekbone. Clavicle.

This is how to live –
keep what you love most
two or so brushstrokes away.

© 2010 Jean LeBlanc
– This haiku sequence was published in Off Line: An Anthology of New Jersey Poets, South Mountain-Watchung Poets, 2010

when I park close

when I park close
to the entrance
you insist
it's the way out
that matters

© 2009 Jean LeBlanc
– From The Stream Singing Your Name: Tanka and Sijo, Modern English Tanka Press 2009

bluebirds already

bluebirds already,
earlier and earlier
each year —
impossible
but I let myself believe

© 2009 Jean LeBlanc
– From The Stream Singing Your Name: Tanka and Sijo, Modern English Tanka Press 2009

on the wooden footbridge

on the wooden footbridge
dusted with snow
you lean on my arm
as if I were
the steady one here

© 2007 Jean LeBlanc
– From Just Passing Through: Tanka, Haiku, Haibun, Paulinskill Poetry Project 2007