Bethany Tabb

Reflections: Selected Haiku by Bethany Tabb When I first signed up for a haiku class, I was very hesitant. The only haiku I had ever read were in elementary school, and they were hardly of any literary value. I assumed that writing a haiku would be nothing more than slapping down a few words in a 5-7-5 syllable pattern. As a writing major, I knew I had to take whatever writing class I could get as a freshman. Writing roundtable was nothing more than an X on my advising checklist. I didn't expect to learn anything that would apply to my own style of writing. After my first week of class, I decided to open my mind and learn whatever I could from this class. I had no idea how much I would gain.

Before I started writing haiku, my own work lacked simplicity. I never thought about leaving things things to the reader's imagination. I was very wordy in trying to express my ideas. Writing haiku taught me that less truly can be more. Expressing half a thought and leaving the rest to the imagination of the reader can be a real art. By leaving out bits of information, you can make a haiku applicable to anyone and everyone. People can interpret the haiku however they want without compromising the original intent of the author. Readers many times like drawing their own conclusions rather than being told everything. The discovery of simplicity helped me to write better haiku, and it improved my writing in other genres as well. Though I thought writing haiku would be easy, I soon learned how wrong I was. Simplicity is the desirable end, but it isn't always easy to attain. I would sit for long periods of time trying to find the right way to phrase something without ever really getting it right. Other times I would hurriedly dash off a haiku and said exactly what I meant to say. This taught me to rely on my own instincts and not think too much. More than likely, the first thing I'll think of it right, and over-analyzing usually hurts more than it helps. All of these lessons have helped me to grow as a writer. This collection will give you a taste of this past semester.