Advanced Studies in Poetry: Global Haiku Tradition
IN203 Humanities Honors Seminar - Fall 2012
Dr. Randy Brooks

All writing assignments are to be submitted by email.
Send them to: rbrooks@millikin.edu

Final Exam: time tba - place tba

Several blogs provide updates on events & news in the contemporary haiku community. The links:

Aubrie Cox - http://yaywords.wordpress.com/
Curtis Dunlap - http://tobaccoroadpoet.blogspot.com/
Melissa Allen - http://haikuproject.wordpress.com/

Also, additional excellent sources of learning more about the contemporary haiku community is through the following links:

Haiku Society of America • http://www.hsa-haiku.org/
American Haiku Archives • http://www.americanhaikuarchives.org/
Haiku Chronicles • http://www.haikuchronicles.com/
The Haiku Foundation • http://www.thehaikufoundation.org/
Simply Haiku • http://www.simplyhaiku.com
Heron's Nest • http://www.theheronsnest.com/
Modern Haiku • http://www.modernhaiku.org/
A Hundred Gourds • http://ahundredgourds.com
World Kigo Database • http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/
Haibun Today • http://haibuntoday.com/

Extra Credit Opportunities:

(1) Japan House Tea Ceremonies

Japan House is delighted to announce that tea ceremonies will now be offered to the public on the third Saturday of each month at 3:00 p.m. Tea ceremonies will continue to be offered every Thursday at 2:00 and 3:00 but due to many requests we are adding these monthly Saturday teas on the third Saturday of each month to accommodate those that aren't able to attend during the week. Please join us and find a moment of peace as you experience the Way of Tea.

Saturday, October 27th is a special OPEN HOUSE event with free tea ceremonies.

Reservations are required. The ceremony begins with a brief tour of Japan House and will last approximately an hour. There are plenty of opportunities to ask questions and photographs are allowed. The fee of $8 will cover your participation in the ceremony, your bowl of matcha tea and a traditional Japanese sweet. Tea ceremonies are limited to only 20 participants so don't hesitate to make your reservation at 217-244-9934 or japanhouse@illinois.edu! Contact Interim Director of Japan House, Associate Professor Jennifer Gunji-Ballsrud for questions.

(2) Haiku Poetry Readings / Competitions

Reading in The Devil's Kitchen Literary Series, Carbondale, IL
Start: 8:00 pm, October 24, 2012
End: 9:15 pm

Wally Swist will read in the Crab Orchard Series Reading at 8:00 p.m. at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL. The reading is in honor of Swist who was selected as a co-winner for the 2011 Crab Orchard Series Open Poetry Competition by Pulitzer Prize winning-poet Yusef Komunyakaa. Swist's book, "Huang Po and the Dimensions of Love" has been scheduled to be published by Southern Illinois University Press in August 2012.

The reading will take place in the John C. Guyon Auditorium in Morris Library on the SIU campus. The auditorium is located just to the left of the library's main entrance. Parking is located all around campus, but there is a small parking lot in front of the library itself.

 

for 8/30

reading: Mayfly magazine sample

writing response: send me an email copy of your in-class response to a favorite haiku in MAYFLY 48 and select 2 favorite haiku (from MAYFLY or Peggy Lyles) and briefly write your imagined, felt response to them. be ready to discuss why you like them

haiku writing: write your first 3-5 haiku attempts on transition times—lulls of dawn, of dusk, of relationships, of states of consciousness, of between semesters). (email your 3 responses & 3-5 haiku by midnight Wednesday, August 29)

for 9/4

reading: To Hear the Rain, pages 1-64, introductions, prose (and the interview in the back of the book)

writing response: find 3 favorite Lyles haiku—write your imagined felt responses to them (one paragraph each)

writing extended memory & memory haiku: then go into more depth with a fourth haiku that especially triggered memories from your childhood or past (about a one page memoir) describing a memory from your own life. THEN write 3-5 haiku which capture different moments or feelings from within that longer memory from your experience. You may want to especially explore a childhood memory as well as more recent memories.

And have someone from your group email me your list of characteristics of the best haiku.

haiku write: 4-5 haiku on the being hot or summer's end (not ABOUT the heat but about a moment of encountering the heat—hot sidewalk, overheated car, sweaty shirt, watermelon in the sun).

(email your 3 short responses & one 1-page sensory memory writing & 7-10 new haiku by midnight Sunday, Sept. 2)

for 9/6

haiku to edit workshop

editing haiku: read each other's memory writing & resulting haiku. select your favorite one by the team member and offer a couple of edits or variations of another couple haiku. based on the haiku editing workshop with your team in class on Tuesday, send me variations or edited versions for at least two haiku from the Extended Memories handout.

reading: To Hear the Rain, pages 65-end (read the interview at the back)

haiku reading responses: select 3 more favorite haiku by Peggy Lyles and briefly write your imagined, felt response to them. be ready to discuss why you like them.

REMEMBER to cite each haiku fully (do not add capital letters or punctuation) like this:

cucumbers
soaked in vinegar—
the heat

          Lyles, THTR, 48

haiku write: 4-5 haiku on perceptions of being outdoors in the summer.

(email your 3 responses & 5 new haiku by midnight Wednesday, September 5)

for 9/11

reading: handout of haiku from Almost Unseen by George Swede (available from Moodle)

writing response 1: find two favorite haiku from the handout and write a short response paragraph to one of them AND write a longer memory response with 3-5 new haiku to a third favorite haiku by George Swede. (email your 1 response paragraph and 1 memory response with 3-5 new haiku to me by midnight, Sunday, September 9)

reading response 2: find an interesting "matched pair" of haiku (one from George Swede and one from Peggy Lyles or a Mayfly 53 author) to read side by side. write a short analysis of the writing strategies and techniquse used in these haiku. (not reader response but analysis of writing techniques such as line break, word choice, arrangement, rhythm, sounds, emphasis, break, voice, tone, attitude, etc.). one page maximum for your analysis (half a page is fine).

reading response 3: write your imagined felt responses to your favorite haiku from kukai 1 (one paragraph)

haiku write: 4-5 haiku on the nitty gritty side of college life and the angst of being human — like some of George's haiku. Due by email Sunday, September 9.

for 9/13

haiku to edit 1: based on the haiku editing workshop in class on Tuesday, send me variations and edit suggestions for at least three haiku by others from the HAIKU TO EDIT 1 handout.

reading response 1: compare the genesis of discourse for your two authors (George Swede and Peggy Lyles). why do they choose to write haiku about these moments? what is the source of significance worth turning into a literary artwork for them?

reading: Haiku Handbook Chapter 2 (handout from Moodle)

response writing 2: find 1 favorite Japanese haiku & match it to 1 favorite English language haiku—write your short imagination responses to them (one short paragraph each), then write a short comparison of differences and similarities you notice in the Japanese haiku and English-langauge haiku

haiku writing: 3-6 new haiku with a clear seasonal connection (kigo) to things happening right now (chilly night, football, foggy morning, end of summer)

for 9/18 • (email homework by midnight, Sunday, September 16)

reading: Love Haiku by Masajo Suzuki, Introduction and haiku from pages 1-64

reading responses: find two favorite haiku by Masajo and write a short response paragraph to both of them. (email your 2 response paragraphs to me by midnight Sunday September 16)

writing relationship haiku or senryu: write 6-10 love/anti-love/romance/breakup/failed love haiku. Not necessarily all lovey-dovey cliches, but love, crushes, unrequited love, just friends, bitterness about love, breaking up, homecoming dance, sock hop, blind date, romance, first date, lost love, and so on . . . Send your love haiku to Dr. Brooks by midnight, September 16.

for 9/20

reading: Love Haiku by Masajo Suzuki, haiku from pages 64-128

reading responses: find three more favorite haiku by Masajo and write short response paragraphs to 2 of the haiku. Let your third response be a more extended imaginative memory or a fictional piece about someone spinning off the third Masajo haiku as its starting point. End your short fictional piece with a haiku. One page max!

kukai responses: write about a favorite match or pair of haiku that came up in either the Matching Contest 1 - Love or the Matching Contest 2 - Angst

writing haiku: write 4-6 haiku about relationships (ninjo haiku) but be sure to include some aspect of nature or season or context-setting thing (ninjo-nashi) element in each haiku.

(email your 2 Masajo picks, your 1 ficition spin-off with a haiku, your favorite matched pair, and your 4-6 relationships haiku by midnight, Wednesday September 19)

for 9/25

reading: The Millikin University Haiku Anthology, pages 1-90

reader response: write response paragraphs for three favorite haiku from the MU Haiku Anthology

haiku writing: 5-10 haiku from college life perspectives or experiences

email your MU HAIKU responses and 5-10 new haiku by midnight Sunday, 9/23

• • •

for in class 9/25 - team genre analysis & presentation planning day (no class together - just teams)

in class group discussion starts this assignment on September 25: What are the essential elements of the very best haiku? What makes some haiku better than others? How would you define or describe the characteristics of the best haiku? What must a highest-quality haiku do (for? with?) for readers to be effective? How do haiku work or function as literary art? How would you characterize the essentials of the genre of haiku?

genre n 1: a kind of literary or artistic work 2: a style of expressing yourself in writing [syn: writing style, literary genre] 3: a class of artistic endeavor having a characteristic form or technique. (dictionary.com)

literary genre n: a style of expressing yourself in writing [syn: writing style, genre] (dictionary.com)

genre (zhän`r?): in art-history terminology, a type of painting dealing with unidealized scenes and subjects of everyday life. Although practiced in ancient art, as shown by Pompeiian frescoes, and in the Middle Ages, genre was not recognized as worthy and independent subject matter until the 16th cent. in Flanders. There it was popularized by Pieter Bruegel, the elder. It flourished in Holland in the 17th cent. in the works of Ter Borch, Brouwer, Metsu, De Hooch, Vermeer, and many others, and extended to France and England, where in the 18th and 19th cent., its major practitioners were Watteau, Chardin, Greuze, Morland, and Wilkie. In Italy genre elements were present in Carpaccio's and Caravaggio's paintings, but not until the 18th cent. did genre become the specialty of an Italian artist, Pietro Longhi. The French impressionists often painted genre subjects as did members of the American ashcan school. (Columbia encyclopedia)

see Wikipedia for an introductory discussion of genre at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_genre

in class group genre analysis: As a group (with your designated leader/writer), compare the essentials of another genre or type of art with haiku as a genre. What do you like best in top-quality examples of both your other art and in haiku? (Discuss at least 3-5 haiku examples in comparison and contrast with at least 2 examples of your comparison genre.)

Definitions of genres, especially literary genres, usually includes some expectations of form or structure, so our next question is to consider the formal elements of haiku. But genres also include certain expectation of content and aesthetic experience.

email your written group report plans: reading group representative write your group's statement of the essential elements, techniques, characteristics of the best, well-crafted, well-written haiku . . . what are characteristics of your favorite, most effective haiku (use at least 3-5 examples from readings so far).

for 9/27

Send me your bullet points and 3-5 haiku examples and note of your 2 other genre for Thursday presentation by midnight, Wednesday, September 26.

writing haiku: 3-5 haiku related to elements (things, reality, settings, contexts) often associated with your comparison genre. (Or just write 3-5 new haiku about anything you want to write about as an alternative.) Send me your 3-5 new haiku by midnight, Sunday, September 23.

for in class 9/27 - group report presentation IN CLASS on 9/27/2012 (PowerPoint or other means of sharing for your presentation). Bring any computer files on a flash drive or email them to yourself for easy access. Email copies of all presentation materials to me by midnight, Wednesday September 26

complete your group genre comparison report: reading group representative write your group's comparison of haiku genre to the other genre . . . similarites, differences in these performances/productions? (use at least 2 main examples from the comparison thing).

email me: your written comparison report (1 per group • 5 single-spaced pages max) by email by midnight Thursday, September 27 (that evening after your presentation)

Team Genre Comparisons

for 10/2

reading: The Millikin University Haiku Anthology

reader response: write response paragraphs for three favoriate haiku from the MU Haiku Anthology email your responses by midnight 9/30

writing haiku: 5-10 new haiku ANY topic or approach. Send me your new haiku by midnight, 9/30

for 10/4

kukai 2 response: write your imagined felt responses to 2 favorite haiku from kukai 2 (one paragraph each)

team kukai: each team sends me guidelines for a kukai or matching contest you will run (topics, rules, etc.)

writing haiku: 5-10 new haiku on homecoming or coming home . . . from past memories or current events

send me your kukai responses, team kukai plans, and new homecoming haiku by midnight Wednesday, October 3

for 10/9

Team Kukai Guidelines for 10-9-2012 - please submit directly to the team member & copy your email to Dr. Brooks. All submissions are due to teams and Dr. B. by midnight, October 7.

(1) MATCHED PAIRS CONTEST (Jarred, Ryan, Hannah, and Danielle Davis)

Write 2 to 3 matched pairs of haiku on any subject and submit them to <jleeper@millikin.edu>.

(2) HOMICIDE KUKAI GUIDELINES (Ewald, Farris, Gentle and Potter)

For this kukai, members will send 3-5 homicide haiku to <sgentle@millikin.edu>. The first two lines of the poem can be about absolutely anything, but the last line of the poem should be only the word "homicide." Our group will chose one or two haiku from each person for kukai. Those most likely to be chosen are haiku that are creative or funny. This will be a tournament style kukai. Authors cannot vote for their own haiku.

(3) FRIENDS & SIGNFICANT OTHERS KUKAI (Austin Brettschneider, Austin Myers and Seth Harshman)

Submit 3 to 5 haiku on friends or significant others. We plan on doing a kukai about experiences with friends and significant others. We will also have people select 10 of their favorites individually. Email your submissions to <abrettschneider@mail.millikin.edu>.

(4) FOOD HAIKU KUKAI (R, Danielle Mohrbach, Geoffrey)

Submit 3-5 food haiku to <rspurling@mail.millikin.edu>

for 10/11

reading: Chapters 1-2 of Matsuo Bashô by Ueda (pages 1-68). Select three favorite haiku by Bashô. Write a paragraph response to these 3 favorite haiku.

response writing: Find a matching English haiku to one of Bashô's haiku. Write a paragraph comparing the English haiku with one by Basho.

writing haiku: 5-10 new haiku about autumn chill, coolness, October light . . . (sesonal without using the word autumn)

for 10/16

reading & response writing 1: Bashô (Chapter 3 The Renku), pages 69-111 and email a ¶ me about one favorite link (or pair of links) in one of the renku examples. email by midnight Sunday, October 14.

response writing 2: Find two matching English haiku to Bashô's haiku—one representing the aesthetic of sabi and one the aesthetic experience of karumi. Write a paragraph for each pair comparing these English haiku with those by Basho. One sabi haiku not by Basho compared to one sabi haiku by Basho. And one karumi haiku not by Basho compared to one karumi haiku by Basho. send your two comparison pairs to me by email by midnight, October 14.

Read the student kasen renga by Bri Hill and students from Spring 2003 Global Haiku Traditions at: http://www.brooksbookshaiku.com/MillikinHaiku/haiku/studentrenga/Grasshoppers&Tobacco.html

haiku writing: Write a "free-for-all" sequence of 5 to 17 links with some friends. Send it to me by midnight, October 14.

in class handout: How to Write Rengay. (bring it to class on your computer or on paper!)

for 10/18 FALL BREAK

for 10/25

reading: The Haiku Anthology, pages 1-60 including the introductions. select 3 favorites and write your short memory responses to them. Then write a full page memory response to 1 more favorite haiku ending with 3-4 new haiku attempts coming out of or extending beyond your memory. send your response writings and memory prose to me by email by midnight Wednesday, October 24.

for 10/30

Plan a haiku writing gathering with classmates and/or friends (groups of 4-7). This can be any day with the resulting kasen-renga (36-links) due midnight, Sunday October 28.

This is a gathering for writing linked verse—if it's nice out you could gather in the park or at Rock Springs or at someone's place. Allow the spirit of the place where you gather to be a springboard for the haiku, but don't limit yourself to that place once you get into the linking. Let your links go out through time and seasons moving from person (ninjo) focused to non-person (ninjo-nashi) focus to avoid too much continuity of persons or scenes. Try to avoid more than three ninjo or ninjo-nashi links in a row. Remember, every two links make a new poem.

Using the following guide, try writing a kasen-no-renga.

(1) ninjô verses—people or emotion or human environment verses (self, other or both)
(2) ninjô-nashi—non-people or things or place or nature-only verses

Write a 36 link kasen-no-renga:

(1) hokku—sets tone, greets all, establishes season, quiets guests to join in
(2) wakiku—builds on unstated elements of the hokku and maintains season. ends in a noun
(3) daisanku—ends with open-ended image (often transitive verb ING)
(5) usually moon shows up here for the first time
(6) concludes the first page (jo) often written by the official scribe
(7)-(29) heats up the links and leaping (intensification)
(13) moon appears again
(17) blossoms usually show up here
(29) moon’s third and final appearance
(30)-(36) kyû—the slow down finale (quiets back down into calmness)
(35) cherry blossoms always here
(36) end with openness and reverberation

Publication fold/design questions?
The paper is folded into 4 panels for each side (cathedral door style).
Panel 1 (outside cover) – title, date, place, copyright, (sometimes authors)
Panel 2 (first fold inside left panel) – first six links
Panel 3 (further inside far left panel) – next six links
Panel 4 (far left inside page panel) – next six links
Panel 5 (right center page panel) – next six links
Panel 6 (far right inside page panel) – next six links
Panel 7 (last fold inside right page panel) – next six links
Panel 8 (back outside cover) – acknowledgments & author links
optional obi (paper belt around the folded renga)

email me your kasen-renga due Sunday, Midnight October 28. and bring one copy to class (properly folded and belted using the following Microsoft Word kasen template) for sharing in class on October 30

for 11/1

reading: The Haiku Anthology, pages 60-157. select 3 favorites and write a paragraph response to 2 favorite haiku and write a haiku technique analysis to 1 favorite. send me your three paragraphs by email

haiku writing: 5-10 new haiku (Halloween or responses to THA haiku favorites)

for 11/6

scheduling day (no class)

for 11/8

reading: Chapter 4 "Haiku Prose" from The Haiku Handbook by William J. Higginson. Also read the sample haibun by Bob Lucky from Haibun Today:

http://haibuntoday.blogspot.com/2009/04/bob-lucky-dr-livingston-you-presume.html

And read the following haibun by Millikin students and alumni:

Watching Out

     by Brian Blankenship

Over the summer as a kid, and lately, over Thanksgiving, my family and I would make a trip to visit my grandparents. Without access to a swimming pool, there wasn’t too much to do during the summer in Maubury, Alabama. With the heat, the insects, and the snakes, my grandparents’ property became a regular cesspool for disease and dehydration. But during the fall, things would cool down enough so that it was too cold for the snakes and bugs, but just habitable enough for us Chicagoans to enter these untamed, Alabamian outdoors.

My brothers and I found our way to the pine thicket just beside the house. In the summer months, a bed of needles or an overturned branch could be home to a giant banana spider or an aggravated copperhead, but during the cool weather, we could wander the brush without worry of toxins entering our bloodstreams and, with the closest hospital being a good hour and a half drive away, killing us any time soon. Over the years, Josh, Ben, and I had become adept at spotting which saplings were on the verge of crashing down to the dry, forest floor. We would fly through the woods, knowing the exact point of contact and the perfect amount of force at which to kick the trunks of these lifeless conifers, causing them to fall to the ground as we stood tall, one hand clenched heroically in a fist at our hip, the other, cupped at our mouth, echoing our “Timber!” across the entirety of the eighty-eight acre plot. Often times, a tree would split at the point of impact, the top half toppling down to earth in our direction. We would escape by diving from the path of the careening pine branches, shielding our eyes from the projectile splinters of kindling.

All the while, my grandfather (whom we have always referred to as JB – my dad, my uncle, my grandmother, I’m convinced his own father never called him by anything other than the initials to his birth name) would sit idly by on the patio – his grey slacks hiked up far higher than designed to, exposing a few inches of ankle flesh, permanently tanned to a crisp from the years of farm work he had been subjected to as a child and the Indian blood that runs through his veins – and he would watch the road. The far side of the gravel was completely wooded and had been fenced in long ago to maintain three goats he had purchased at the flee market in a buyer’s frenzy, which my grandmother made him return shortly after. Just shy of the natural-made gutter that ran the length of Yarbough Road (a road that was just recently dubbed worthy of a street sign), was JB’s simple garden – just a small cornucopia of a few beans, squash, and pumpkins that Grandma and he would harvest annually – almost a scaled version of those their parents had built and tended to years ago.

He would wake at the crack of dawn, and after breakfast, make himself comfortable as the remainder of the morning dew droplets evaporated into the humid November air. And there he would stay until dusk, until the placid-blue Alabama night had covered his home and made it too difficult for him to make out the yellow clay road any longer. All day long he’d watch that road, turning to have a conversation or start a fire from time to time, but always returning back to his road.

I never knew what exactly JB was looking for. The mailman would drive by on occasion, sticking an open hand out from his van as drove off down the dusty hill. But other than that, nobody came, and JB still watched. Were he a whittler, I’m sure JB would have whittled as he passed the time. A musician, he would have played his harmonica. But since he’s not, he doesn’t. And if you go to Maubury, Alabama today, and take a walk down Yarbough Road, underneath his fig tree, beside his garden, next to his pine thicket where his grandsons play, you’ll find JB. Just sitting. Just waiting.

grandfather waits
for a better yesterday
the fallen sapling

• • •

Troll

     by Aubrie Cox

Life under a bridge is renowned to be that of a troll, and that it is. Floods on occasion make the home a bit wet, but a little mold and algae never hurt anything. Fresh fish daily, a billy goat if lucky; however, this is not prime real-estate—it's just beneath the price of a cardboard box. Stones wedged together with natural mortar arch overhead and shade the muddy water so that one can barely see the fish going by. They come up to the surface, their fishy mouths gaping, gasping for air; their glazed eyes never see warted hands, or fishing rods coming for them. (I hate fishing rods, by the way.) Trash is littered everywhere—lost treasures from passerbys. Rain matters little when every spring the neighborhood gets carried downstream.

wagon over head
rubble plops
in
the cracked teacup

• • •

Write 2 haibun - One a memory of a lived experience (capture the sense of being there—the sensory experience as well as the overall atmosphere or mood). 1 page max. The second one can be a fictional imagined piece (you may want to start off from a favorite haiku you've read), and let your imagination go into it to make it seem like you are there, living the moment. (Include at least one haiku per haibun - you may want to write 3-4 and select only the best 1-2). Email your 2 haibun to me by midnight, Sunday, November

for 11/13

reading: Haiku Guy, pages 1-80

writing response 1: Practice the exercise of stop, look, and listen as described in the book. Find something, whether it be in your dorm, on campus, or somewhere where you can sit quietly without distraction and observe a particular thing, area, or person. Then, write about what you observed, describing what stuck out to you.

haiku writing: write 3 haiku from this stop, look & listen exercise.

Think about the source of your haiku. Where do your haiku originate? Why do you notice, observe, feel, reflect or focus on those things for immediate impact and lasting significance? Where do your very best haiku come from? What's your haiku muse? Your inspiration to write?

writing response 2: Compare the advice given to Buck-Teeth of poets Mido and Kuro. What do you think of each of their advice? Which appeals to you more? Explain why. Write 3 haiku following Kuro's advice, and 3 haiku from Mido's.

Extra credit: bring to class one haiku written following Shiro's advice.

Email your haiku, your edited haibun, your Mido/Kuro/Shiro advice response by Sunday midnight. November 11..

for 11/15

reading: Haiku Guy, pages 80-end

writing response 1: Give your reading of Issa's snail haiku.

writing response 2: Rewrite the ending of "The Tattoo" chapter (p. 134)? How you think that scene should have happened or ended?

email your 2 writing responsesby midnight Wednesday, November 14

Creative Writing: As you read Haiku Guy, develop a character who writes haiku. Write a short short story in which the character encounters problems with creativity or love or inspiration or life or . . . (you fill in the blank). Include at least three episodes/scenes. Include 3-5 haiku in your haiku story scenes by characters in your story. Leave it open-ended with a haiku!

Email your short short short haiku story by midnight, November 18

haiku author study proposal: email your proposal to study an author or a type of haiku you plan to study by midnight Wednesday, November 14

haiku author or topic study: A formal essay introducing a particular contemporary author to contemporary haiku readers, discussing this author's approach to writing haiku, including response-discussion of 6-9 examples. You may choose to write about a haiku topic instead of an author. Matching comparisons with haiku by other authors are always valued. This can focus on one book by the author in the form of a book review essay or on a particular theme or approach to haiku by the author.

o focus on a point of insight or question about that author’s unique contribution
o include response discussions of 6-8 haiku by the author
o include at least one matching comparison to a haiku by another author (or more)
o may include email or phone or in-person interview questions to help address
   the haiku writer's poetics

Length? 5-10 pages single-spaced. Citations? Full citation of each source within text first time mentioned (followed by haiku citation convention of author, publication title abbreviated, page number) for subsequent mentions. Yes, include a works-cited page. Plan proposal due November 14. Essays are due December 6.

for 11/20 • THANKSGIVING BREAK

for 11/27

reading response writing: Share 10-20 of your best haiku with family and friends over Thanksgiving break, and see which ones they like the best. Write an email to me about favorites selected by your family and friends. Which ones did they like best and why? email due by midnight, Sunday November 25

haiku writing: write 8-10 Thanksgiving break haiku, email due by midnight, Sunday November 25

for 11/29

reading: The Haiku Anthology, pages 158-327. select 3 favorites and write a paragraph response to 2 favorite haiku and an extended memory response to 1 favorite (ending with 2-3 haiku from your memory).

writing response 2: Write about your favorite pair from Matching Contest 4. Email your responses by midnight November 28

haiku project proposal: The purpose of the haiku project is to apply haikai arts to something that means a lot to the student—usually something related to their major field of study. Bring your passion to this project and connect it to haiku (photography & haiku) (music & haiku) (history and haiku) (psychology & senryu) (a kasen renga) (baseball haiku) (a collage of haiku) (haiku web site) (anthology of love haiku) . . . have fun with this. make it your dream assignment. email me a paragraph explaining your project plan by midnight November 28. Haiku projects are due December 11.

for 12/4

reading: Matsuo Bashô by Ueda, Chapter 5, The Critical Commentaries, pages 147-169.

reading response: using Bashô's technique of matching pairs of haiku, find two haiku you want to place side by side for discussion and comparison (at least one by your author). Write a short paragraph discussing them and why you like one better than the other. due Sunday, Midnight December 2

reading & responding to your author/haiku study topic: write a paragraph response to 3 more favorite haiku by your author. share these haiku (or 5-10) with friends and collect a variety of responses to them.

write 5-10 haiku on any topic (could be related to your author or haiku project)

for 12/6

reading: School's Out by Randy Brooks

writing response: write a reader response to your favorite haiku from School's Out by midnight, December 5

contemporary haiku author study due. email a copy to me by midnight Wednesday, December 5. bring a print copy of your study to class Thursday. We will do author presentations on December 6 and December 11.

contemporary haiku author study presentations December 6:

Austin B. - Garry Gay or Stan Forrester
Austin M. - analysis of asofterside by Joey Comeau as a haiku-like art
Christopher - George Swede
Danielle D. - Penny Harter
Danielle M. - Chiyo-ni
Geofrrey - Issa
Hannah - Alan Pizzarelli
James - Peter Yuvo
Jarred - Peggy Lyles
Morgan - Clement Hoyt
R - Michael Dylan Welch
Rob - Banya Natsuishi
Ryan - Mark Brooks
Seth - Jack Kerouac
Skya - J. W. Hackett

for 12/11 - Final Kukai & Haiku Project Presentations

Final Kukai submissions due (can be revised earlier haiku, new haiku, previous haiku not yet born in kukai or matching contest, or any of your favorites not selected previously). Send 10-20 haiku for our final kukai by midnight, December 9.

haiku projects due (to be shared on both 12/11 and 12/13). email the contents of your projects (the haiku at least and introduction & photographs or power point, etc) by Midnight December 10.

haiku project presentations December 11 and December 13

Austin B. - haiku and sports
Austin M. - haiku-like comics strip
Christopher - zen meditation & haiku (Shiro style)
Danielle D. - haiga (art or photography & haiku)
Danielle M. - haiku fiction
Geofrrey - haiku andmusicals
Hannah - community service activities creating haiku designed for particularly groups of people
James - haiku on loss and illness
Jarred - haiku lesson plan
Morgan - collection of animal haiku
R - vocal jazz haiku
Rob - haiku definitions & boundaries
Ryan - haiku & ecological preservation
Seth - parallels between live musical improvisation and kasen renga
Skya - ghost haiku

for 12/13 - Signature Gift Exchange & Sharing Haiku Collections

(1) Signature haiku gift exchange and haiku chapbook collections are due Thursday, December 13.

The signature haiku process—a haiku to give to others when they ask about haiku that can be used to teach them about haiku and to share some of your work with them. A haiku you want to be known for or known by—one that works with a lot of readers. A gift of a haiku insight . . . often presented as a gift of some sort such as a bookmark, a small haiku stone, etc.

(2) Haiku Collection Booklets due December 13: Select and organize your best haiku & senryu & haibun & renga into a collection. Make a little booklet, or print them in a binder, or write them in a blank book.

Select and organize your best haiku & senryu & haibun & renga into a small booklet or collection. Give your collection a title and a © 2012 page. (Often signature haiku are connected to the title.) Include a dedication page if you would like to.

Be sure to write an author's introduction to your collection which explains your title and expresses your approach or why these are the ones you have included in your collection (your poetics preface). Ask a reading partner to write a short introduction to your collection, maybe pointing out one or two favorites—or their observation about something unique about your haiku (the reader's introduction). The reader's introduction should help strangers appreciate and value your collection.

Don't forget to e-mail a copy of the contents of your collection including your introductions to Dr. Brooks by midnight, Wednesday, December 12!

Don't forget to e-mail your short bio statement to Dr. Brooks by midnight, December 12. This bio statement will be used at our Global Haiku Reading program.

(3) Final Kukai - voting for favorites on final kukai. You get five votes, by listing 5 favorites, and up to 5 double votes for writing a paragraph response to favorites. So that is a total of 10 votes Maximum (5 by listing & 5 by response). All votes and written response votes are due by Midnight, December 16

Final kukai winners will be read and announced at the FINAL EXAM.

for FINAL EXAM on December 18 Global Haiku Reading @ 2pm (FIREPLACE ROOM)

Extra credit is available for bringing 2 or more guests to the reading, or for helping with one of our haiku reading tasks.

(1) Global Haiku Reading at Fireplace Room - RTUC, Tuesday December 18 from 2-4pm. I will bring your chapbook collections and return them to you at the final Global Haiku Reading.

Geoffrey Eggleston - M.C.

Danielle Davis - program design (introductions & bio notes) send your bio notes to Dr. Brooks

Danielle Mohrback - publicity & promoting the event on facebook

Christopher Potter - poster/flyer for the reading & snacks

Skya Gentle - signature haiku book & reading greeter

(2) Submissions to Haiku magazines Final. (one email submission copied to me & one snail mail submission brought to the final exam)

Type a selection of 5 of your best haiku with your name and address on the upper left hand corner of the page. Also bring an envelope with your name and address in the upper left hand corner. Also include a self addressed envelope with your name and address in both the upper left hand corner and the addressee spot. Include one dollar or two stamps for postage in one of the envelopes. (Many will be submitted to magazines overseas, so please don't stick the stamps on the envelopes.)