James Brett Haiku from Paintings: Edward Hopper

Haiku was an entirely new experience for me this semester. I had never written, nor ever read haiku before now. As I began to write and experiment with themes and ideas, I really began to enjoy writing haiku. I don't think I really have an overall direction with my haiku. I write whatever comes to mind in whatever form it comes. The type of haiku writing I have come to enjoy the most are those that are inspired out of people watching. I really like observing people and their interactions, while they are "alone", and their mannerisms, etc … I would like to write more about nature, and bring more nature into my haiku. Though I don't feel that my haiku is fatally lacking in nature, but I really enjoy the outdoors and would like to further incorporate that into my writing. I think my haphazard, on the whim inspired haiku leads to a wide range of different types of haiku. I have really enjoyed this introduction and I look forward to continuing writing and reading more haiku in the future. It is a unique and highly expressive literary art form. —James Brett Introduction James’ writing is, for the most part, versatile in the haiku form. He doesn’t often venture outside of the three line format and his haiku are generally not abstract in nature. Some of his poems are very specific and don’t leave a lot for interpretation, though not to say that those aren’t good haiku, they are very rich images that he specifies with just a few words. Common themes in his work are childhood and the process of growing up and solitude/being alone, though some are also very vibrant and full of inspiration. Overall, I feel that James does a little bit of everything with his haiku. —Anna Emmel Student, University of Minnesota