Global Haiku • Spring 2013 |
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The Black Knight by 2nd place: "The Black Night" by Heidi I'm a bit of a sucker for stories featuring a student-teacher relationship. I like the way Heidi portrays the relationship both in a specific, yet universal way (much like in the way haiku resonate with the individual and universal experience). ~Aubrie Cox |
The Black Knight "How difficult can it be to write a three line poem?" The Student glanced over at the Teacher, who was quietly looking at the Student's collection of books. "Hush and write what comes to mind. Don't try so hard" Teacher replied.
He showed Teacher his masterpiece. She stared at it for a long time, clicked her tongue, then said, "you can do better than this. We'll meet again tomorrow, at the same time." Student was exasperated. When the huge presence that was Teacher came flying into his house earlier that day, he had begun to introduce himself. She quickly interrupted him, saying, "names do not matter. You are Student, and I am Teacher, and we will refer to one another as such." So Anonymous Student, as he had come to think of himself, sat at his desk, opened his computer, and began to write. Teacher had stopped him multiple times, telling him to begin again. Finally, after an hour and zero words on the document, she told him to try Haiku. "Oh please!" he said. "How difficult can it be to write a three line poem?"
The Next Day "You must feel your surroundings." Teacher and Student had traveled to the city. They stopped on the sidewalk just outside the train station. "Don't just look, but see. Don't just hear, but listen. Try to make sense of the white noise." Student spun in a circle, indecisive of where to begin. "Stand still, Teacher explained, "take three deep breaths, then say your haiku." Student stood, breathed, then spoke
"Better. You still have a long way to go, but you have much potential." The two strolled up the street towards the lake. All the while, Student composed silent haiku that he dared not share with his overly-critical Teacher. She was silent as well, probably thinking of hundreds of haiku. After a few blocks, Student broke the silence. "Why is haiku so difficult?" It took a moment for Teacher to respond. When she finally did, she said, "Haiku is not about words. Haiku is about feeling. It's about creating a snapshot of a scene using as few words as possible. It's like those pictures that are zoomed in so much that all you see is the texture of something. You have to guess what the big picture is. The only difference is that in haiku, there is no wrong answer. You may write a poem with one thing in mind, and I may interpret it completely different. That doesn't mean that my interpretation is wrong. It just means that I looked at the texture differently." Student paused for a long while. It wasn't until they reached the lake that he finally spoke,
"Just like that." Teacher said.
That Night Student sat at his desk once more, thinking about what Teacher had told him that day. Don't just look, see. He looked at his wall, full of comic book posters, and tried to master this concept. How does one differentiate between looking and seeing? Teacher hadn't told him that much. Student moved to his bed, never taking his eyes off of his poster. It was a Batman poster from the latest movie. The only colors were blacks and whites, but the Student saw more than that. The longer he looked at it, the more he saw. He saw the cowl lying on the street. He saw rain. He saw Bane. He moved closer to the wall, focusing on one point in the poster. He kept moving closer, until his nose touched the paper. He let his eyes focus, then thought
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© 2013, Randy Brooks • Millikin University
All rights returned to authors upon publication.