Matt. Eichhorn • Matt's Haiku •

Before I get into the thick of haiku by Mr. van den Heuvel, I just want you to get to know a little about who he is and what he has done in his life. After that, I will get into why I chose him, some of my favorite haiku of his and some other fun stuff. So without further to do, Cor van den Heuvel. Cor van den Heuvel was born in Biddeford, Maine on March 6, 1931. Throughout his childhood he lived in Maine and in New Hampshire. Cor van den Heuvel currently lives in New York City with his wife Leonia Leigh Larrecq. Some of his major achievements in life consist of being the former President of the Haiku Society of America and the poetry editor of Newsweek Magazine. He retired from that position in 1988. He is still very active in the haiku community. Since 1974, he has published several books of haiku. I have listed the some of these books below: The Haiku Anthology – 1974 – Doubleday Dark – 1982 – Chant Press 2nd edition of The Haiku Anthology – 1986 – Simon & Schuster Puddles – 1990 – Chant Press Geese Have Gone – 1992 – Quebec’s King’s Road Press Curbstones – 1998 – Chant Press 3rd edition of The Haiku Anthology – 1999 – Norton What I really wanted to learn when I first picked van den Heuvel was why he chose the game of baseball to write about. Why not choose other things in life, like more complicated things. He decided to choose a simple idea like a game or the description of a summer day, which we all can relate to and put ourselves into. The main reason I chose to write about van den Heuvel was because of baseball. van den Heuvel’s haiku discuss the simplicities of life; that is why he is such a great haiku writer. Mr. van den Heuvel’s haiku do not discuss God or extremely deep ideas. Instead, he focuses his haiku upon events or subjects that pertain to everyday life which all readers can relate to in one way or another. van den Heuvel’s brings the idea of simplicity into his poems and makes them seem very important. In our heads, his images create very clear pictures and we are able to see the simple things come to life in a very complex way. The first two haiku I want to talk about are the two baseball haiku that I like the best by van den Heuvel. Baseball is my entire life. I have played baseball now for 16 years and everything about the game makes me smile. That is why when I read his haiku, I can relate so well because I have been in these situations before. From these haiku is send s me back to those situations and brings back vivid memories. Some are better memories than others are, but our failures only make us stronger and we learn from them. summer afternoon the long fly ball to center field takes its time This is my absolute favorite haiku from Cor van den Heuvel. It takes such a simple thing as a fly ball, and turns it into something so beautiful. First of all, this is my favorite because it talks about center field and that is my position. Next, I am going to go line by line why this is such a great piece of work. The first line works because it puts you in a seasonal element. When hearing "summer afternoon", I feel the heat of the sun the smell of sun tan lotion, the singing of birds. The next line brings me to a baseball diamond. I now see clouds in the sky, a baseball field, and a single white ball soaring through the air while the center fielder runs back on the ball. The last line makes gives me the picture of the fielder stopping and waiting for the ball to get to him. As he waits for the ball, it seems to take forever, but since it’s such a great day out no one seems to care. My other favorite baseball haiku from van den Heuvel is: the batter looks at the placement of his feet as the strike goes by With this one I am going to talk about the whole haiku as a whole instead of individual lines. When I read this haiku it reminds me of myself in the batter’s box. When I first get into the batter’s box I dig in and draw a few lines with my spikes, it’s a superstition thing so I won’t get into that. I’ve never had a pitch come in while doing this, but I can see it happening. With my luck, it would be my perfect pitch and there is nothing I can do about it because I’m still digging in getting ready to bat. So that is the image I get every time I read this haiku. After getting into his baseball haiku, I started to read some of his other haiku. These are just as good as his baseball haiku, if not better. Below are my two favorite non-baseball haiku by van den Heuvel. after the speeches the honored dead return to their silence This is my favorite haiku of all time. Out of any haiku I have written or read by any author, this is my favorite. It is just so wonderful. Everything about this haiku is perfect. I get the image of these people being talked about and by being talked about they "come back to life". By these living people giving speeches about the dead, the living are carrying out their story. Once the speeches are done, the faithfully departed become quiet again because they living are not speaking their good word. This is just an amazing haiku and the imagery in my head is a lot better than what I explained in this paper. Another non-baseball haiku that I liked is: the evening paper on the darkening lawn first star The main reason I like this haiku is because it written about the night, and I love nighttime. The last line is my favorite of the haiku. I am going to explain this haiku line for line backwards on why this is one of my favorites. The last line is great because I am very fascinated by stars. I love to lay outside on a warm summer night and just look and the stars and clear my mind of everything. The middle line tells me that it is just about getting dark and the first bright star in the sky appears. So now I got the image still of a warm summer night just getting done with dinner and hoping that it would get dark quicker so I can go and look at all the stars. The first line is good because it gives you something else in this beautiful painting. It gives you a first image. It puts you outside, in the evening, and in the summer. I get a strong vibe from this haiku that it is summertime. Overall this is an outstanding haiku and one of my favorites from van den Heuvel. Cor van den Heuvel and his simple haiku have made a great impact on my life. He takes the simple things in life and writes them into beautiful haiku. Instead of getting deep, he goes for what people know, live and understand and then takes that to another level. That is why he is a very intelligent man and why his work is very impressive. —Matt Eichhorn