haikaiTALKS: a saturday gathering! ZIP HAIKU!

haikaiTALKS: haiku and more! a saturday gathering_under the banyan tree

host: Kala Ramesh

13th May, 2023

I have a new request and a suggestion to make.

For this week - we will take zip haiku for study. Sample poems are given. Read and internalise them. Then tell your readers how you understood them.

For your own poems: Only two zip haiku per week, per prompt, per poet.

First post: When you post, you'll make your first post as a comment on anyone's zip haiku, which is posted as an example.

You'll give your reason/s why you like it or why you don't like it. Whether you understand it or not. Second post: This will be your zip.

Third post: this will be your 2nd zip. Please give your feedback on others' commentary and poems too.

_()_

For better interaction, please stagger your posts. Only one poem can be posted per day (in 24 hours) in all our forums.

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I attempted zip haiku just four months into haiku (May 2005). Being a music student I was fascinated by its internal pauses.

So I wrote to John, at that time I hardly knew anything about him. Later on, I have written a lot of renku with him as the 'lead poet - sabaki.'

What is a zip haiku?

Created by the late John E. Carley, some 25 years back (not sure of the exact date)

The zip is untitled. It comprises 15 syllables (7+8 or 8+7) over two lines. Each line has a pause indicated by a triple space (caesura). Look at the examples given.

Zip (being similar to a two-line haiku) will have a line break.

It uses syntactic disjuncture

John says - "When writing zips the pause-weight of the line break is stronger than that

of the caesura."

"Basically, syntactic disjuncture is a break in the flow of words such as would be marked, in prose, by a period (full stop) or colon. In spoken language, it is marked by a longish pause. In terms of haiku prosody, a syntactic disjuncture is what the Japanese call a 'kire'. In the English language, three-line haiku is that point, at the end of line one or two, which is often emphasised by an em-dash and is sometimes referred to as a 'cut'. In sum, in a two-image haiku it is the point with articulates the juxtaposition."

"The prosody of the zip school seeks to mirror the expressive flexibility of the classic Japanese haiku and renku stanzas whilst preserving the key concept of strict form. This approach has no specific bearing on the subject or tone. The Zip School echoes the poet James Karkoski who stated: "Haiku is a stanza form which is able to accommodate any type of writing sensibility."

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All in John's words: -----Original Message----- From: John Carley [mailto:john@villarana.freeserve.co.uk] Sent: 24 August 2005 23:46 To: tlrelf; nonesuch (my email id in 2005 was 'nonesuch!) Subject: syntactic disjuncture

disjuncture

SYLLABICATION:dis·junc·ture

PRONUNCIATION: ds-jngkchr

NOUN:Disjunction; disunion; separation.

syntactic

SYLLABICATION:syn·tac·tic

PRONUNCIATION: sn-tktk

VARIANT FORMS:or syn·tac·ti·cal (-t-kl)

ADJECTIVE:Of, relating to, or conforming to the rules of syntax.

ETYMOLOGY:Greek suntaktikos, putting together, from suntaktos, constructed,

from suntassein, to construct. See syntax.

syntax

SYLLABICATION:syn·tax

PRONUNCIATION: sntks

NOUN:1a. The study of the rules whereby words or other elements of sentence

structure are combined to form grammatical sentences. c. The pattern of

formation of sentences or phrases in a language.

Hi both, the above is from the American Heritage Dictionary. So what does it

mean in practice? Basically, a syntactic disjuncture is a break in the flow

of words such as would be marked, in prose, by a period (full stop) or

colon. In spoken language, it is marked by a longish pause. In terms of

haiku prosody, a syntactic disjuncture is what the Japanese call a 'kire'. In

the English language three line haiku it is that point, at end of line one or

two, which is often emphasised by an em-dash and is sometimes referred to as

a 'cut'. In sum, in a two-image haiku it is the point with articulates the

juxtaposition.

When writing zips the pause-weight of the line break is stronger than that

of the caesura, therefore, in all but the most unusual of cases, where a

poem employs a syntactic disjuncture this will coincide with the line break.

the year is turned from gold to grey

this old pint pot half empty

warfare on the radio

a frog crouches in the garden

Columbia Columbia

brushing the flies from my face

One can of course play with these properties whereby the reader must decide

on the nature of the syntax being suggested

Of my own work the larger proportion are in fact 'single image' poems, at

first sight anyway. That is, they do not use a marked syntactic disjuncture

at all.

Kala, you query whether zips should read vertically as well as horizontally.

'No' is the short answer. It has been observed by a number of people that

there is a high degree of transfer between the vertical elements, and this

is my own experience too. It is a useful tool for building layers of

resonance, but it has never been my intention to suggest that the zip

functions as a kind of rebus or word puzzle. A number of people have written

entire sequences which may be read vertically and horizontally but

personally I regard such things as intellectual rather than artistic

achievements. Indeed, in order to discourage such notions I now no longer

suggest centring the poems on the paired caesurae. As you will see from the

examples above I lay my own work out in a looser manner.

I hope this makes sense!

Best wishes, John

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For me, the zip, as John designed it, has a pleasing rhythm, natural to the English language, and the two-line format with caesuras makes it visually pleasing and easy to read. When it comes to understanding pauses and silences, it's good practice material!

Would you want to try one? It's great fun!

For more information: https://whrarchives.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/editors-choice-short-verse-zip-haiku/ His essay, ZIP: Form, Freedom and Phonics; an alternative approach to haiku in English

Sample poems:

buoyed up on the rising tide 7 syllables

a fleet of headboards bang the wall 8 syllables

John E Carley (Magma No 19, 2001)

warfare on the radio 7 syllables

a frog crouches in the garden 8 syllables

John E Carley

monsoons begin with each day's rains 8 syllables

the hills turn greener greener 7 syllables

Kala Ramesh Beyond the Horizon Beyond 2017 Enjoy!