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Contemporary Haiku Author Study: Garry Gay
When I first began the adventure in literature that is Global Haiku Tradition, I knew nothing about haiku, much less anything about the haiku I liked. Throughout the semester I have been trying to identify with these authors; understand how they view haiku and what about their haiku makes it effective or ineffective to the reader. I found myself claiming I liked this haiku more than that haiku, but having little to no reasoning behind it. Then, we were assigned to read haiku from The Haiku Anthology: Third Edition. I read Garry Gay’s first haiku on page 48 of that book and knew immediately that there was something about his writing style that caught my eye. When I read Garry Gay, there are several things that stand out to me that make him special. First is his ability to cast a new light on everyday people or things. I think this goes well with the Zen concept of “nothing special.” Following along with that is his talent for the surprise element in haiku. Third, he is able to capture a single moment in nature, or in life, very clearly. Finally, Mr. Gay was the creator of Rengay, a style of linked haiku that I loved writing. Through reading his works I am slowly learning what makes a haiku “good” in my mind and what qualities I would like to try to emulate in my own writing.
First, I would like to give a small amount of background on Garry Gay. He was born in Glendale California, received his BPA degree from Brooks Institute of Photography and has been shooting professionally ever since. He notes that he was greatly influence by Basho’s “Narrow Road to the Deep North” and began writing haiku in 1975. He created the form of Rengay, a collaborative effort between two or more writers (from Long Way Home).
The first thing that caught me about Gay’s writing was his ability to put everyday people or events into a new light. He has many examples, but I will begin with one of my favorites from “The Haiku Anthology” on page 48:
Weight lifter
slowly lifting
the tea cup
The first two lines of this haiku seem to flow together very well. There is nothing extraordinary about a weightlifter lifting something slowly. However, the last line is what Gay does so well. “Weight lifter” puts an image in the reader’s head of a large muscular person and we assume that what he is lifting slowly is a large amount of weight. Then the last line is “the tea cup.” This is Gay putting an everyday person into a new light. I would never think to create an image of a huge body builder slowly and daintily lifting a presumably small tea cup. It puts the weight lifter into a world outside of the gym and energy drinks. Gay does this is in a number of his other haiku as well. On page 49 of the same anthology he wrote this:
Downpour
the palm reader
does her nails
Again, the first two lines do not seem out of place or surprising. In this haiku, the last line almost makes the reader laugh. A palm reader is usually intent on other people’s hands, telling fortunes. In this haiku there is a downpour so business is probably slow and for once she is intent on her own hands, painting her nails. Gay takes the palm reader out of the stereotypical image the same way he took the weight lifter out of the stereotypical image and puts them into situations or settings that the reader would normally not think about. One more example of Gay’s talent for juxtaposition and irony can be found in his book Along the Way:
Full moon…
the tide goes out
with his sandals
The full moon is usually linked with the movement of the tide, so the first two lines create a peaceful and relaxing scene; they go well together. Then the last line connects with the second line – the tide isn’t just going out, it’s taking his sandals with it. It gives the tide a human-like characteristic, like it’s purposefully stealing his sandals. Due to the fact that the first and second lines connect in one way and the second and third lines connect in a different way, the whole haiku fits together in a comical and ironic way. It changes the scene from one of peace and calm to one that is not as serious, but more playful.
These haiku all also fit into Gay’s second talent, which is for the element of surprise. I feel that this technique is similar to the irony that he uses because the irony in his haiku is always surprising and unexpected. I think that the main point is that Gay is able to create haiku that many people would not think of. For instance, on page 17 of Along the Way is this haiku:
Hole in the ozone
my bald spot…
sunburned
This haiku has the element of surprise in the fact that bald spots and holes in the ozone are not usually connected. This haiku creates nice imagery because the hole in the ozone is complimentary to the hole in his hair. Putting these two qualities together is what has gotten him, what I can only assume, is painful sunburn. I think this plays into the element of surprise for the mere fact that it is so out of the ordinary. It is not a haiku that most people would think to write about, but I think that a majority of readers can appreciate the humor, as well as the implied connections. Another one of my favorite haiku by Gay follows suit. In his online collection at http://www.brooksbookshaiku.com/ggayweb/ggayindex.html, is this haiku:
Dandelion seed--
unnoticed
in his beard
The first two lines make the haiku seem as though it is going have a natural element, as well as a seasonal element. Then, once again, Gay brings in the third line with a phrase that changes the entire image. If a different third line were the haiku could still be just as good, but it would not be as ironic or as funny. I love that he is able to capture the ordinary, mundane things, but somehow manage to put them in a light that is insightful and clever. In the “Wordless Poem,” Eric Amann talks about the concept of “nothing special.” He writes “the haiku poet does not seek out the rare and precious moments of life…does not discover God in a grain of sand, but looks at the grain of sand itself for its own sake (Amann 7).” I think that this describes a great deal of Gay’s haiku. I do not feel like the sentiments he puts across are forced or sought after. The dandelion seed is appreciated simply because it is camouflage in a beard. The weight lifter lifting the tea cup could be an everyday event so it was not sought after; rather the irony was simply and cleverly noted by Gay.
There are so many of Gay’s haiku that fit this description of “nothing special” or “ironic surprise,” which makes sense because he is so talented at it! The following three are all from his online collection “The Long Way Home” and the last one is from Along the Way page 27. At the risk of sounding like a broken record I wrote short responses to two of them, again summarizing the technique of Gay’s I admire so much:
Migrating whales--
from the harpoon boat
taking pictures
The first two lines paint a picture for me of “evil” men on a fishing boat about to murder innocent whales during their migration. However, Gay throws the curve in the last line and instead of harpooning the whales, the people on the boat are photographing them. It speaks to the beauty and appreciation we should have of nature and again, the irony and surprise element shows up in the third line of Gay’s haiku.
Ocean beach--
a homeless man
collecting sand dollars
The irony in this one is almost sad. I picture a homeless man walking on the beach at night. No where in the haiku does it allude to the time of day, but because the last line gave me such a feeling of sadness and even hopelessness, I imagined it at dusk, right before most people would be heading in from the beach to their condos or beach front hotels. Instead, this homeless man is aimlessly walking the beach collecting a form of “money” that will do him absolutely no good. Even though I feel bad for the man in this haiku, the fact that he is even collecting sand dollars makes me wonder how unfortunate he thinks he is. Instead of looking for a place to go, he is taking a leisurely stroll along the beach, collecting a novelty item. Again, Gay adds the element of surprise in the fact that this is not a homeless drunk man walking around and bothering people, but rather a homeless man simply taking his time and collecting sand dollars. He takes the usual stereotypical of a scary, homeless person and instead makes this man just like the rest of us, doing an activity that we have probably all done.
Antique map
an ant travels
the old spice route
Along the Way page 27
The china doll painter
carefully applies lipstick…
to herself
The other technique that Gay has a talent for is his ability to capture a single moment in nature. His online collection of photography paired with haiku aid in this technique, but I do not feel that the photos are necessary to see the image that he trying to relay. For instance, in his chapbook The Silent Garden is this haiku:
Sundial shadow:
a butterfly lands
and changes the time.
He does not directly state what season this haiku is set in, but I get the feeling of summer or maybe late spring. This haiku almost literally captures a moment in time with the use of the sundial. However, I also like how he really only focuses on two things: the butterfly and the shadow. The butterfly and its shadow are the two things that make this haiku work and they tell the story. The fact that the shadow belongs to the butterfly is what gives it the seasonal element. I used this haiku to illustrate Gay’s ability to capture a moment in nature, but it also speaks to his cleverness and irony technique as well.
From Gay’s online collection comes this haiku:
Sitting on driftwood
listening to the seagull's cry . . .
the end of summer
I really like this haiku and it illustrates my point as well. This is a very simple scene of someone sitting on a piece of driftwood just listening to the seagull’s cry. I imagine it being dusk on the beach or on a dock. The end of summer is always such a sad time to me and perhaps that is why I imagine it being dusk. In some haiku, the authors lead the reader to a next line or to finish the story. The technique I am trying to explain is the fact that Gay does not lead the reader to another line. Of course, anyone can create another line if they want to, but for this haiku all that the reader has to see is this one moment in time when a man is sitting and hearing the cry of a seagull.
Again, this haiku is taken from Gay’s online collection:
Moving day--
cherry blossoms fall
into unpacked boxes
The fact that it is moving day in this haiku makes it seem as though it would not capture a single moment in time, but rather a series of events or activities to accomplish the move. However, it is not focused on the act of moving, which is made clear in the second and third lines. It is only capturing the cherry blossoms journey to the bottom of this empty box. There does not have to be any action after this haiku to make it work.
The yellow lily;
in the water
in the rain
This haiku is from Gay’s chapbook Silent Garden. It can also be found in his online collection where he paired it with an amazing photo he took of a yellow lily in the rain! However, as was previously stated, his haiku do not need to be paired with the photo for the reader to appreciate them. Even though this haiku is shorter, it is still able to accomplish great imagery. I like the use of repetition with “in the” and the fact that he colored the lily. This haiku describes a single moment when it is raining over a lake or pond where the lily is located. It creates a very calm, serene image.
The other distinction Garry Gay has from other authors is his invention of Rengay. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed writing Rengay because at first I thought it would be hard to write with another person. On the contrary, it turned out to be interesting to play off of another person’s thoughts and haiku links. When I chose Garry Gay for my author study I didn’t realize that he had created this haiku form, but it made me appreciate him even more. For class I wrote one with Ryne and then another with my younger brother. I really liked the Rengay that Gay wrote with Cherie Hunter called “Snapshot.” It is also published in his online works. The haiku I wrote with my brother was more or less a jumpstart from Gay and Hunter’s Rengay. I really liked the way that the two of these authors wrote about pictures and the different ways that we can view them. It is a little ironic that the title of one of Gay’s rengays would be “Snapshot” since I believe his ability to capture a snapshot in time with his haiku is so strong. I paired Gay’s Rengay against the one that I wrote with my younger brother:
“Snapshot”
cropped photograph—
leaving my shadow
on the darkroom floor
from the bottom of the tray
your smile slowly develops pulling me closer
in front of the camera…
first date
pinned
on the bulletin board
your snapshot
a roll of negatives…
the brightness of your dark eyes
self-timer
I join you
in the photograph
•
“Rainy Day Discoveries” quiet eyes
stare back
from the tattered photo
rays of sunshine
spotlight the soldiers
the unfamiliar faces
next to grandpa
longing for home
tears spill
from his baby blue eyes
only eighteen
hail on the window
machine gun fire
buried in old army fatigues
photographs and secrets
grandpa’s attic trunk
The last thing that was beneficial for me in analyzing Gay’s work was comparing it and contrasting it to other author’s. In my first comparison I chose a haiku from the book, A Hidden Pond: Anthology of Modern Haiku, on page 38 by the author Mizuhara Shuoshi and paired it against a haiku from Gay’s chapbook:
Pansies-
with what artless simplicity
spring has begun
Shuoshi, THP, 38
Impending storm;
again another shower
of plum blossoms
Gay
I chose to compare these two because they both capture the delicacy of the beginning of spring. In the first haiku by Garry Gay, “impending storm” made me originally think of a harsh thunderstorm. The following two lines completely switched the feeling of the haiku because the word “shower” was used in conjunction with the plum blossoms. This changed the impending storm from something sinister to something delicate and cute. A spring shower of petals is much better than a huge thunderstorm. I felt that the haiku from Hidden Pond went well with Gay’s haiku because it also captured the feeling of delicacy. Obviously, a pansy is considered a very small and weak and delicate flower. The “artless simplicity” adds to that feeling of delicacy that I think both haiku capture. There is also an unexplainable feeling brought out by both of these, which is my favorite thing about comparing haiku. I like when there is an unidentifiable element that bring the haiku together, even if I cannot articulate it. I think that is what makes a great haiku as well: an inarticulate element
My next comparison was between the infamous “bag of kittens” haiku from The Haiku Anthology by Nicholas Virgilio and a haiku from Along the Way:
autumn twilight;
the stray I feed every night
missing…
Garry Gay, ALW, pg 20
the sack of kittens
sinking in the icy creek
increases in the cold
Nicholas Virgilio, THA, pg 259
I paired these two together because they have a similar subject with contrasting views, but they fit together at the same time. In the first one, the stray cat is viewed almost as a friend. The last line brings a sad feeling to the haiku with the one word: “missing.” Also, the second line lets the reader know that the author feeds the cat and therefore has an attachment to it. In the second haiku, the sadness enters from the very beginning with the sack of kittens. The mood changes slightly from sadness to coldness. Because the feeling of cold and sadness is present, the setting almost immediately seems to be at night. In the first haiku we are told it is at night, but we simply feel it in the second one. Both haiku have something bad happening to cats, which is another reason they are paired together. We do not know what happened to the stray in the first haiku; we just know that it is missing. The second one almost gives a possible explanation for the stray’s whereabouts. There is an unexplainable quality that these two haiku have when paired together…somehow they just fit!
My author study of Garry Gay was very insightful to my own personal feelings about haiku. I love the element of surprise and the way he puts ordinary people or events into a different light. He is very talented at capturing one single moment in time and not necessarily leading the reader to go anywhere after the last line. On the back of his chapbook Gay wrote: "The discipline of becoming aware is called: haiku."
This honestly sums up the way that Gay writes. He makes the reader aware of the little things, from the lily in the water to the weight lifter drinking tea Gay shows his readers the extraordinary and sometimes ironic things in everyday life and nature. I especially admire him for creating Rengay because I personally enjoyed writing in this form. Gay is probably one of my favorite authors that we have read, but beyond gaining an appreciation for him, this study has taught me how to analyze and pull out the qualities in other authors’ writings. I am by no means anywhere near fluent with haiku and all its quirks and idiosyncrasies, but this study has helped me gain a confidence not only in my reading of the craft, but also in my own writing.
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Works Cited
Amann, Eric. The Wordless Poem. 1969 ed. Toronto: Haiku Society of Canada, 1978. 1-15.
Gay, Garry. Along the Way. Liverpool: Snapshot Press, 2000. 1-36
Gay, Garry. The Long Way Home. Brooks Books. 1999. 28 Apr. 2006 <http://www.brooksbookshaiku.com/ggayweb/ggayindex.html>.
Gay, Garry. The Silent Garden. Kentfield: Smythe-Waithe P, 1982.
Kato, Koko, ed. A Hidden Pond: Anthology of Modern Haiku. Trans. David Burleigh. 2nd ed. Japan, 1997. 1-248.
Van Den Heuvel, Cor, ed. The Haiku Anthology. 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1999. 1-363. |
