Scott Metz: A New Form and Style for Haiku
by Joe Pegura
Scott Metz is definitely the author who got my attention when we were first assigned this paper because of how different his haiku style is compared to other haiku writers. Scott Metz has become one of a handful of innovators leading the way towards a new form and style for haiku in English. The poems within represent the fruits of that labor, their depth of emotion, range of expression and creative freshness articulate landscapes of rare intimacy. In his haiku collection entitled Lakes & Now Wolves Metz uses the first third of the collection to display the normal haiku that are flying around the haiku community. Entitled "lakes," this section focuses on the calmness of nature and as well as the conventional haiku that we see every day. Metz appreciates the normality of common day haiku and is also very invested in nature, so he writes about what he sees going on in his daily activities. In the second part of this collection entitled "&," Metz shows his playfulness in this section by showing his transitional period in his haiku writings. He writes many one-liners in order to play with words and spacing because the normal haiku reader generally sees three lines. He writes these for pure enjoyment of word play, and to stress ambiguity in his haiku. In his final section, "now wolves," Metz strays farther away from the conventional haiku style. Lineation is not of importance to Metz so in this section there are many haiku with just the craziest line structure, it is almost hard to read. He is a huge fan of Japanese haiku, and alludes to its style in his collection. He writes in such an odd fashion because he wants his readers to realize the non-duality of haiku. Also in this section there are multiple anti-war haiku in the now wolves section. Because of his unique style, Metz has challenged the conventional approaches to haiku. He writes his haiku this way in order to make us think because as an audience, he feels that we need to always think of the ambiguous cases in life.
Electric wires disappear inside cherry blossoms
(15)
It is only fitting that the first haiku that I selected from Metz is a one-liner. I really enjoyed the opposition of the electric wires and cherry blossoms. This haiku is a bit dark because of the contradiction between man and nature. Electric wires are found anywhere there is civilization in America. It is something that we just brush off, they are like the trees of the twenty first century. This is why the contradict so much with the cherry blossoms. I feel that whenever I see cherry blossoms I need to stop and look at them for a while. They are just priceless parts of nature. Within the contradiction is the feeling that Metz is releasing his inner nature loving side because the wires are taken away from the cherry blossoms. The blossoms are putting away the manmade wires, which shows that nature is more powerful than any man. This haiku personally took me back home in the back roads of Wisconsin where you see nature take over, whether it is a vast amount of snow to trees swallowing up electric wires.
Moonlight the oldest trick in the book
(27)
I truly enjoyed the simplicity of this haiku, as well as the fact that it is a one-liner. When Metz uses the one line haiku, he never pays attention to punctuation because he simply likes to have his own style. He keeps his topic a bit broader in this haiku. He focuses on moonlight, but the result of having moonlight can be taken many ways. For instance, this could be used for finally hooking up with your boyfriend or girlfriend because nothing is more romantic that moonlight. The moonlight could also be used to murder somebody because it is harder to see a murder in the moonlight. The lack of sun gives murderers the perfect chance, which is why for years people have been murdered at night. I feel that when Metz uses one-liners in these situations, it may make the haiku read faster than it should be. Personally, I would have made it three lines, but this is why he is so different from the normal haiku writers of today.
While imagination is a daffodil surrounded by daffodils
(28)
This haiku made me think about life for a moment, which is why I felt the need to choose it. Of course this is another one-liner, but there is a break when I re-read it every time. I feel that there is a subtle pause in the haiku after the first daffodil. This pause makes the haiku mean so much more because of the topic at hand. It seems that imagination is so beautiful individually. However, the right idea or imagination only comes along once in a while so it is generally looked over. Just like the daffodils. Every daffodil is different and special in its own way, but when put next to all the other daffodils, one daffodil does not seem to stand out from the rest. Perhaps Metz is alluding to how mainstream ideas are nowadays and how there is no creativity anymore. Or it is the fact that as a human race we look over the needs of an individual to accommodate to a majority. Let's say that the flower is one of us in this giant field of daffodils, if we are suffering individually, it will not amount to the needs of the rest of the daffodils, or people in the field. Our imaginations are very important, but are overlooked, just like the lone daffodil compared to the field full. Alone, we can appreciate the beauty of a single flower, but in a field, we still see that it is beautiful, but there are just so many flowers it becomes overwhelming. This haiku also illuminates the love for nature that Scott Metz has because he can appreciate the value of one flower.
The moon delivers another child by the water
(29)
This haiku made me chuckle a bit reading it for the first time because I can just picture the movie-esque scene where the young boy and girl finally find the courage to engage in intercourse. Yes, it is a very common thing to go out the lake and do some mischievous activities. They finally go after it, but little do they know they are adding a human to the world, which just makes me laugh because this situation seems so corny and silly because we see this type of thing on TV or in the movies. I feel that there can be another interpretation of this haiku, for it could be about the birth of a child by the water. I can see a few native American tribe members and the soon the be mother on the banks of a muddy creek. The woman is shrieking for minutes, but then it is followed by cries of a newborn baby. I feel that the use of one line keeps this haiku very straight forward and easy to pick up on meanings in this haiku. This is another example of how Metz likes to keep his haiku ambiguous. There sometimes is never a clear interpretation of his haiku, which makes it worth reading.
no other words on the wind left behind pg.
(31)
I feel that this haiku is quite ominous. There is a lack of clarity, but that is just the way Scott Metz writes. I can see a woman standing out on an empty beach along the coast of Maine. The wind whipping her hair back as she walks right into the teeth of the wind. She is out of words to describe the pain she is feeling and no more words from her now-gone lover. The wind refreshers her a bit, it blows away the feelings of resentment and sadness she has. It is a fresh start that is caused because she finds herself on this walk. The wind just simply helps her blow away the nonsense in her life for a minute. The wind is gone forever, it has come and gone. Also, it is another great haiku to use a one-liner because of how short it was and also because it reads very well when in a one line scenario
I keep thinking more transparent than water
(32)
This haiku conveys a dark regret from a lover that I could just not pass up. Again, Metz uses the one-liner tactic to his advantage because this haiku did not need any pauses to get a point across. He just gets right to the points very well in his haiku, even though he does like to have haiku that are ambiguous. This haiku lets me imagine a girl that is staring into a lake, a lake full of regret. Along the shore, she cries to herself softly. She could not believe she could not have seen through his lies. Staring into the clear water, she seems the bottom, she thinks of his lies, his trickery. The water is somewhat symbolic to this haiku, or at least the way I interpreted it because we all need water to live. But we can't have the lake water to drink, maybe to bathe, but not to use for life. Maybe the water represents how we need to have the right water in our lives to be healthy. And perhaps from the useful standpoint of water, Metz could have been trying to say that she needs a drink because certain alcohol you cannot see through. And possibly when she finds that drink, she will find the man that will not be transparent like water, rather he will have nothing to hide because he will never lie to her because she really matters to him. He may be a red wine symbolically to this woman.
far enough into dyslexic spring
(32)
This haiku is quite easily one the most relatable haiku that I have ever read. I hate winter and everything that comes with it. So whenever spring comes around, I am just so hyped up, but year after year, mother nature forgets to do her job. The job which makes it warmer everyday up until summer. She takes her sweet time before it warms up for good, for Mother Nature is just playing with us. I hate the random days of brutal cold followed by a heat wave. This is why I feel that the use of dyslexic to describe spring is quite comical because some dyslexic people confuse numbers all the time. And I feel that in spring Mother Nature is dyslexic with the temperature because one day it is 73 and sunny then it flips around to 37 with a chance of hail. This haiku is my feeling every spring because it always takes so long for spring to fully come into my life by the time it does, my life speeds up and I can never really enjoy it. Rather than winter, which takes forever in my mind because there is nothing to do. Also, by using the one line technique in this haiku, Metz make it read like it is the introduction to a story in my opinion. I appreciate that Metz knows about the true struggle of late springs. He is a man from the East Coast, and currently resides in the Pacific Northwest. Both of these areas have the same problems with spring as the Midwest, which is why I really enjoyed this haiku. He shares the same hatred of late springs. Late springs are quite possibly one of the worst things about living here in the Midwest. Winter gets old around January 2nd every year for me, and I can never wait to go out for some spring golf, and enjoy some fishing off of the dock. Some years, it clears up and the golf courses are open, then we are hit with a foot of snow in April. It is disgusting, I truly hate this nonsense that Mother Nature pulls. Every day of winter is a day wasted, and the dyslexic spring gets so old, that I have come to expect spring to start in May from now on. This haiku again shows his love for the natural world, even though he does not appreciate the nonsense brought from late spring, he realizes that late springs make for better summers.
spring
like
a scab that's come off
Earth
(44)
This haiku really uses the line spacing to subtly show how a scab falls off, straight down. And when the scab is gone, hopefully it is gone for good, rather than just bleed and make another smaller scab. Clearly, I hate winter in Wisconsin. So, I find it so perfect that it is described as a scab, one of the uglier things on humans. Scabs are just so nasty in all reality, just like the black slush associated with the feet of snow that fall across the Midwest. I feel that when the scab falls off, it gets rid of the blemish and starts a fresh skin, just like when the snow melts, the earth is renewed, and able to soak in the sun. It is a fresh start for the new skin, just like us. We can finally be outside to enjoy outdoor sports, rather than being cooped up all day. And just like a scab, winter comes quick, stays for too long, looks ugly, and takes forever to leave. And we know that if we force a scab off of us, it usually bleeds, causing the healing process to start over. This is comparable to a dyslexic spring from the previous haiku because we can get our hopes up for having an early spring, but soon it is back to winter, just like the scab turning back to blood. It is truly an ugly process either way because winter and scabs are just horrible. This haiku shows the hatred that Metz may have towards winter, and again the appreciation of the freshness and beauty of spring. I feel that the moment we realize spring is here to stay is one of the most beautiful things in life to be quite honest, so picking a haiku that deals with the excommunication of winter and the beginning of spring is just such a great topic for me because I just really hate winter.
frog s
ke
le
ton
in a
field of
light
Bulbs
(46)
I feel that the use of line spacing in this haiku is used to the advantage of Scott Metz here because of the way skeleton is spaced. It makes it seem like the frog's skeleton is just hanging there in the lights, dried out, just some bones hanging around doing their thing. As a side note, there is a meme floating around the internet that could be associated with this, which is the meme where Kermit is hanging himself. He is hung by the lights in the room, so this could be an allusion to that meme. However, I highly doubt this because I have a feeling that Scott Metz would not waste his time looking at memes. The line spacing is crucial because it really made me pause and think about this haiku. The separation of "in a field of light" and "bulbs" truly gave this haiku a turn. I first saw a frog skeleton in a bright meadow, but "bulbs" makes this really weird because there is no field of light bulbs in nature. Maybe the frog is at a dump and a bunch of broken light bulbs keep the frogs remains. I feel as if the strangeness of this haiku makes it noteworthy because there are not a lot of haiku like it. From the hanging skeleton of a frog within the text, to a field of light bulbs, this haiku has it all. This haiku definitely shows Metz's unique sense of style as a haiku author.
the city's moan
phosphorescent
first snow
(52)
Well, as if I was not clear enough about my hatred towards winter and all of the fun stuff it comes with such as black ice, grey slush, frozen windshields, and below freezing temperatures, I am here to respond to another haiku about this wonderful season. Thought to be the most wonderful time of year, winter has again taken the life out of Metz. This is one of his more common day styled haiku, in my opinion. I enjoyed his word choice when in the first line it says "The city's moan" because a moan is pretty accurate to how I react to anything towards that wretched season. And personally, I die a bit inside when I see the first snow of the season, and I feel that Scott Metz does as well. Yet, in the second line which reads "Phosphorescent", I feel that it opposes our views a bit because of the fact that phosphorescent things glow in the dark and illuminate things. However, it could be viewed as the fact that the snow's whiteness will be brighter than the grass during the daytime.
• • •
Works Cited
Metz, Scott. Lakes & Now Wolves. Lincoln, IL: Modern Haiku Press, 2012. Print.
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