Children in Haiku

All things start off as something small. Whether it is the tiniest blade of grass, a skyscraper that is hundreds of stories tall, or an essay on haiku, each of these things still begins with some form of a tiny nucleus that grows into something larger and, in most cases, more radiant than it was before. This same concept applies to two other things: children and haiku. In this essay, I will be analyzing several different haiku that are related to children in some way or another while also responding to those haiku in a personal manner. Through these responses and analyses, it is my goal to connect the reader of this essay to the haiku and to his or her own personal memories that are drawn up by reading the haiku, as well as to bring about a new connection between children and haiku.

A haiku begins with an idea that the author wants to convey. While it is not necessarily finished right away, it slowly builds and evolves with time, just as a child does from the moment of conception. This particular haiku seemed to be the perfect first haiku to bring into this essay, especially since every child starts with a pregnancy.

Sunday after lunch . . .
    the secret of her pregnancy
                             on each sister’s face

Randy M. Brooks, School’s Out, 38

This haiku, without a doubt, symbolizes the beginning of a brand new life that is forming inside of the woman in this haiku. The way the ellipses are placed at the very beginning of the haiku seem to draw a bit of mystery into the haiku and makes the reader wonder right away what the secret is. As soon as the second and third lines of the haiku are read, the reader immediately understands the hesitation that seems to flow from the first line. The woman has obviously not told anyone about her pregnancy yet, but somehow her sisters can just tell. Perhaps they can tell because of the radiant glow that the mother-to-be has about her. Perhaps they can tell because as soon as she ate lunch, she was sick due to hormones. Perhaps they know because they have been pregnant before and know the look or the air that one seems to give off when expecting, but maybe they just know, as only sisters can know. This haiku makes me picture the pregnant sister trying to keep a straight face, especially if she is not planning on telling anyone about her pregnancy yet, and then the other sisters glancing knowingly at each other because they can tell something is up. Most of all, I love the way that this haiku lets the me as the reader in on the secret that only the sisters and the pregnant woman know. It makes the reader feel as though they are a part of the special bond that is shared between sisters as they grow and love together about all different types of events in life.

Time has passed, and soon that haiku is born, as we say in a kukai session. The haiku that the author has created on paper or in his or her mind suddenly is recognized by others, and it becomes alive in the minds of others. Similarly, a child in the womb is a mere thought and dream of life, and then suddenly, it is breathing on its own, eager to take in a world of new faces and places. This next haiku is especially fitting for this occasion that we call being born.

mother & child
lie in bed—
rosebud on her breast

Randy M. Brooks, School’s Out, 43

This haiku brings forth the perfect image of a new life in the world. The picture created by these beautiful words and symbols draws warmth from the my heart as I picture laying in bed with my first newborn baby on my chest, cradled in my arms. The image of both the mother and the new child in bed is heightened by the image suggestion of a rosebud on her breast. A rosebud, so small and tender, yet so vividly beautiful seems only fitting to that image of the child, who is also so small and tender and so beautiful in the eyes of all who see it. In my mind, the rosebud is bright pink and so full of life and beauty, and it brings out the color in the mother and baby’s cheeks as it lies next to them. Of course, I also thought that the author might look at the rosebud on the mother’s breast as the little child itself. If you think about a rosebud, it is very tiny and very wrapped up in its own petals, protected from the outside world in a blanket of its own floral beauty. In the same way, a baby is very tiny and often times wrapped up in a soft blanket that protects it from the harshness of the world it has just entered. I like the idea of the baby and the rosebud being one in the same. It gives the whole haiku more life and more of a central focus, but it is still very flowing because of the word choice of “rosebud.” Word choice and usage have a very strong impact in the art of haiku because there are so few words per line and per poem. Each word has been selected for a specific purpose so that the reader gets a strong feeling based on what words have been used. Along those lines, a child’s name is very much the same. When a child is born, a name that has been well though out by the parents is given to the baby, and that name grows with that child as well.

Sometimes, however, the haiku that the author has chosen to write does not turn out the way he or she had hoped. The author might think the haiku is perfect and the best in the world, but sometimes the readers at the kukai session will not find it pleasing, and therefore it is not born. Sadly, in the real world, the plans for a child do not always work out either. Some people wait a lifetime to have a child, and it is taken from them before they get the chance to meet it. Other times, having a child takes the parents by surprise and it ends up being the most wonderful part of their lives. These next two haiku illuminate both ends of that particular spectrum.

crisp autumn chill                               
the ultrasound shows nothing          
I pack the booties away

Angie Short, Millikin Haiku Anthology, 24    

after months of trying
the blue line appears
Good Friday

Crystal Lutz, Millikin Haiku Anthology, 51

Each of these haiku have a very unique perspective. While they both have to do with children and babies, they each take a completely different side on it. The first haiku uses descriptive words such as “crisp” and “chill” to emphasize the coldness in both the air outside, but more importantly the coldness in the heart of the mother who lost her child. This haiku breaks the heart of every person who reads it, which in my opinion makes it a beautiful haiku because it so quickly grabs the reader by the soul and makes he or she hurt right along with the woman who has lost the child. At the same time, the last line seems to give off just the slightest air of hope by saying that the booties have been packed away. Even though this statement is sad because the baby is no longer on the way, it also leaves room for the future children that might come along. By packing the booties away rather than returning them to the store or throwing them away, the mother has told herself that someday those booties will be needed again by a new child who has not even been created yet. In the same manner, these two haiku are a perfect pair to compare because the next haiku is all about that process of trying to create a future. The person in this haiku has been trying for so long to conceive a child, and one day, she finds out that she is pregnant. Not only is this haiku filled with hope and joy, but it is also very carefully set up in word structure. At the very end, the simple words “Good Friday” insinuate a few things. It most likely refers to the religious holiday of Good Friday where Jesus Christ died on the cross so that we might live, but it could and does hint at the fact that it is literally a good Friday. The good comes from finding out that there is finally going to be a baby on the way. I think that the way the author adds that last line gives the haiku a more personal feel to it. While both of these haiku are very similar in how they have been written, each of them is different because of the perspectives that are taken. However, I believe this is a good comparison pair because the core content is the same, and that allows the reader to make a solid connection between the two.

After some revising and careful attention, an author can create very pleasing haiku that not only are emotionally moving and connectable to readers, but also are carefully thought out and enjoyable. A child is the same way. A parent cares for, corrects, and lovingly embraces his child and helps him to become a carefree youth who is able to enjoy life to the fullest. These next few haiku illustrate this concept in several different ways.

yellow leaves
a girl plays hopscotch
by herself

Peggy Lyles, To Hear The Rain, 33

I really like this haiku because of the sweet childlike image it brings to my mind. I can perfectly picture this adorable little girl with cute little pigtails and a little yellow dress with Mary Jane shoes skipping along a cracked sidewalk full of chalk markings that she put there herself. Some people might think that the last line “by herself” means that the little girl is lonely playing by herself, but because I am an only child, I took it a different way. Growing up, I often played by myself, and most of the time I did not mind doing so at all. I was the person to set the rules and to be in charge of the game, so most of the time I actually enjoyed being alone while playing. I think that this little girl in the haiku is simply entertaining herself while her mom makes dinner inside. Maybe she is even biding time playing hopscotch until her dad pulls into the driveway from work as I used to do as a child. The fact that yellow leaves are included in the haiku also makes the scenery very beautiful for the reader. It is most likely fall because the leaves are yellow, so the little girl might have just gotten home from school and might be playing by herself until dinnertime. This haiku generates an overall pleasant feeling for the reader, and I love that about this one.
           
autumn sea
a little girl’s love
of small brown shells

Peggy Lyles, To Hear The Rain, 112

In a similar fashion to the haiku I last referenced, I enjoy this haiku because of some of the words that are used to introduce the reader to the environment of the haiku. In this case, the little girl is at the sea, and apparently she loves small brown shells. Not the big ones or the medium ones, but the small ones. This makes me picture a little girl with blonde hair in a light pink swimsuit with ruffles around the waist happily plodding her way down the beach as she carefully stops to inspect the area around the shore, hoping to find some shells that are just her size. Because it is an “autumn sea,” it might be her last chance to go to the shore before it is too cold to go out shelling, so maybe she just wants to collect them as she and her mother walk from one end of the beach to the other. I can almost hear the light crashing of the waves hitting the sandy shores as they walk along, hand in hand, looking for the prettiest of shells to collect. I can see this little one handing each one to her mother as a special gift that she picked out just for her. I also love the simplicity implied by this haiku. The way that the author has worded “a little girl’s love” makes me feel like loving something simple like small brown shells is something that adults do not tend to do as they grow older, but to this little girl, this love of the shells is something wondrous. It truly makes me want to look even more simply at some small things in everyday life that make me happy and appreciate them, simply because they make me happy.

Just as a haiku can surprise a reader with its ability to touch his or her heart, a child can often do the same at the most unimaginable time. This next haiku is a great example of this.

traffic jam
my small son asks
who made God

Peggy Lyles, To Hear The Rain, 57
           
Just when you think little ones are not paying attention to the things you talk about as an adult, someone will peek his little eyes into the rearview mirror, kick you lightly with his miniature tennis shoes, and ask where God came from. As you choke on your coffee, you suddenly realize that all those times talking to him as a baby even though he could not respond are starting to pay off and that you are having a real conversation with your child. The question is, how do you answer him? When I first read this haiku, this was the thought process that went through my head. It is so strange to think about what the first time a child asks you a serious question will be like, especially if it is your own little one. I think it will be a bittersweet moment as a parent to have this occur. I will certainly want my children to grow and develop and become intelligent in every way, but at the same time, I already know how much I will want my baby to stay my baby, not my “big kid.” I know my mom always refers to my “terrible twos” in which I changed clothes ten times a day, always was talking, and always wanted to know the answers to everything. She always tells me that she wanted an independent girl, and that she definitely got one! I hope that someday I will have the chance to watch my children grow and become critical thinkers, and hopefully they will think for themselves, just as I do now.

In this study and analysis of different haiku having to do with children, I have found that this particular children’s genre is overall very gentle. Nearly every haiku that involved children was very simple, yet very moving, all while keeping a gentle rhythm in the poem itself. In many of the haiku, there were points of color that helped to paint a mental image for the reader, such as leaves, flowers, or seasons. Many of these haiku also gave some type of environmental information that made it a little easier for the reader to identify what season or place the author had in mind for each haiku. This seemed to help create more vivid images while reading the haiku, and therefore made the responses more extended because of the memories that were drawn up due to seasons, places, and times that were apparent in the haiku.

Haiku and children are a lot more alike than meets the eye. Though each of them looks slightly unpromising at first glance because of their size, it is unwise to underestimate them. For within each of these little bundles of joy lies thousands of uncharted emotions, new ideas, and a creative center that, once opened, is able to move people in ways unimaginable. Above all, the two never stop changing and growing. From conception onward, each takes a place in the hearts of many people. Both are never completely finished, for where there is room for thought and creativity, there is room for change and betterment. Just as an author never wants to put a haiku to rest and leave it closed for good, a parent does not want to stifle the growth of his child, and therefore, he lets him grow wings and fly on his own. Though books are compiled and copies are made for people to buy, an author’s work is never finished, for he is always looking for ways to connect to his readers. In the same way, a child is never finished growing, and he is always reaching out to others as he grows. In conclusion, children and the art of haiku are not so different after all.

Works Cited

Brooks, Randy M. School’s Out. Foster City: Press Here, 1999. Print.

Lutz, Crystal. Millikin University Haiku Anthology. Ed. Dr. Randy Brooks. Decatur: Bronze Man Books, 2008. Print.

Lyles, Peggy. To Hear The Rain. Decatur: Brooks Books, 2002. Print.

Short, Angie. Millikin University Haiku Anthology. Ed. Dr. Randy Brooks. Decatur: Bronze Man Books, 2008. Print.