Zip Haiku

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=1 BGCOLOR="#006600" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="0ac0ff81dwnpjk.jpg"> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=340 BGCOLOR="#FFFBF0" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0af72733.gif"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Owen Lees Web Site"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>ZIP's by j.e.c.</B></div> <div> <B>   </B></div> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="0" WIDTH="242" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 226 ><NOBR><div>  the lambs leap up   like foolish children</div> <div>                unaware   they are sheep</div> <bR> <div>      orange and tan   tan orange and tan</div> <div>        the butterflies   beat on</div> <bR> <div>             at my feet   a blackened penny</div> <div>          dark enough   to buy my thoughts</div> <bR> <div>            high above   the little town </div> <div>          I find myself   in everything </div> <bR> <div>                  adrift   in a long forgotten town</div> <div>         the vagrant   wears my face</div> <bR> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.villarana.freeserve.co.uk/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.villarana.freeserve.co.uk/"><U><B>Click to visit John's Web Site</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>or</B></div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:john@villareal.freeserve.co.uk" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:john@villareal.freeserve.co.uk"><U><B>e-mail</B></U></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#990000" FACE="Arial" > john@villarana.freeserve.co.uk</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Owens Haiku"><U><I>return to Owen</I></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=479 BGCOLOR="#FFFBF0" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0af72733.gif"> <div> <B>ZIP Haiku</B></div> <div> <B>Questions & Answers by John E. Carley</B></div> <div> <B>The first ZIP haiku ever written:</B></div> <div> <B>            </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" ><B>          slowly I search   a field of flowers</B></FONT></div> <div> <B>                      finding nothing   but beauty</B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><B>John E. Carley </B><B>1999</B></div> <div> <B>First poet to publicly adopt the style:</B></div> <div> <B>                    </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" ><B>     autumn walk   without his net</B></FONT></div> <div> <B>                                and now   so many butterflies</B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#003366" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><B>Owen L. Burkhart </B><B>2000</B></div> <div> <B>First winner of a Zip kukai </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#006600" FACE="Arial" >(contest)</FONT><B>:</B></div> <div> <B>            </B><B>          </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" ><B>  this morning   the plush peonies</B></FONT></div> <div> <B>        and your warm breath   in my hair </B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>                                       </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Tempus Sans ITC" ><B>Marjorie Buettner 2000</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div>  <div align="justify"> <B> Q: What is a 'zip'? <Br> A: </B> A 'zip' is a formal pattern for writing short, Japanese style, verse in English. It is an alternative to the three line - 5/7/5 - pattern. <Br><Br><B> Q: Why an alternative? <Br> A: </B> In linguistic terms the three line - 5/7/5 - pattern has very dubious antecedents. Fatally, it tends to be both less elegant and more constrained than its Japanese counterpart, and in recent years has been largely abandoned. <Br><Br><B> Q: Is that a problem? <Br> A: </B> Yes. And No. Though there is a 20th century body of 'free verse' haiku in both Japanese and English, the skilled use of 'strict form' (in Japanese<I> 'teikei' </I>) has always been integral to the aesthetics of the genre. <Br><Br> Few dispute this. However the three line - 5/7/5 - approach has proven so unsatisfactory that many poets have concluded that it is impossible to write teikei haiku in English. <Br><Br><B> Q: So what's this new approach? <Br> A: </B> The 'zip' does not try to mimic the Japanese stanza directly. Instead it attempts to perform in English those functions which the Japanese stanza performs in that language. <Br><Br> The 'zip' has a fixed total of 15 syllables deployed at will over two lines, each line broken by a triple space (caesura). The layout centres on these caesurae. <Br><Br> The total (15) reflects the relative density of English to Japanese; it also ensures that the stanza does not fall too readily into a facile rhythms<Br><Br> Following the Anglo Saxon convention the pause-value ascribed to each caesura is weaker than that of the line break. The pause pattern is therefore weak/strong/weak. <Br><Br> The interaction between pause structure and syntax paces both the semantic and phonic movement of the stanza. The layout encourages a degree of non-linear eye travel. No other punctuation is used. <Br><Br> Unlike much minimalist verse the 'zip' does not use overly abbreviated, forced or notational syntax. The presence of articles and principal verbs is therefore more frequent than otherwise. <Br><Br> The 'zip' has regard for the phonic properties of English, but rejects obvious versification. Complex figures of speech are avoided. <Br><Br><B> Q: What about seasons and so forth? <Br> A: </B> The 'zip' is style of prosody, a way of constructing a verse. What goes <I>in</I> the verse is a different issue. <Br><Br> </div>  </div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Owens Haiku"><U><I>return to Owen</I></U></A></div> </td> </tr></table></body>