Julie Forehand • Julie's Haiku •

Karen Sohne’s Fun-filled Haiku For my contemporary author essay, I have chosen to study Karen Sohne because of her light-hearted and fun-filled approach to the art of haiku. When I first read a few of her haiku from The Haiku Anthology, I realized that her approach was different than those of authors I had read earlier in the semester. In the e-mail response I received from Karen, I noticed her vivacious inspiration to her writing was herself and her experiences. When reading an author’s haiku, it’s difficult to get a feel for his/her personal relationship to a haiku; whether it’s an outsider looking in, or whether it’s someone directly involved. However, after personally hearing from Karen, I was able to get a better feel for her true personality, and that since high school, she has written haiku. I believe that if Karen has been writing since haiku, the tradition is deeply rooted within her, and it truly shows in her work. One of my favorites from Karen was an entry from The Haiku Anthology that really caught my attention because of the unsuspecting last line of the haiku: horror movie commercial break my son follows me into the kitchen The reason I was caught off-guard by the last line was related to me personally. When I was a child, I was never allowed to watch scary movies, even with my parents. My first reaction to this haiku was a woman (possibly Karen) and her young boy. However, the interesting angle that I took from this haiku was the possibility that the mother was scared of the movie and the boy was following her because he was making sure his mother was okay, not the fact that he was scared too. Also, by implying a horror movie, not just a “movie” automatically sets a night theme (because most people do not watch scary movies in the day…it might take away from the affect). However, above all of my hypotheses about this particular haiku, I really enjoyed it because it’s so relatable for so many people, regardless of their interpretation. What I consider to be a good haiku, is a situation or event that I can relate to personally, and I think that is why is find Karen’s work so incredible. Since studying haiku, I have been a stickler for claiming that only three-line, specific format haiku are “true” haiku. However, my earlier approach to that idea has shifted since then. Maybe it depends on the author composing the haiku and the content of the haiku, but for some reason that following haiku is the “poster” haiku for the non-traditional approach to the art: androgynous stranger winks at me When first reading this two-lined haiku, I wanted to automatically disqualify it for not fitting my criteria for a haiku. But in reading Amman’s approach to Zen and in relation to Matso Basho’s work, I have come to believe that too much description in a haiku is destructive to the art. If Karen had written any descriptive elements to this work, I think it would have taken away from the intended point. I consider “androgynous” to be a playful and creative alternative to “ambiguous,” in describing the person mentioned in this haiku. Yes, it is unclear as to what/who the person is, but it allows the reader to contemplate and formulate his/her own idea as to what exactly this person represents. Automatically, though, the reader is captivated by this opening and almost risqué adjective for this person. Also, I think it’s interesting that this haiku is all around ambiguous because we do not know if the person being winked at is male or female (earlier mentioned Karen’s insider/outsider approach) or do we know the gender of this stranger. Even though this haiku is only two lines, it offers a great deal of abnormality yet a relative amount of contemplation for the reader. An element of haiku that really goes to the core of the art is the naturalistic facet of the work. I have never been a fan of the traditional “cherry blossoms” and “white chrysanthemums” (even though Karen has written about white chrysanthemums). However, the following haiku does not include either preceding objects, but is set in the heart of nature: encircled by mountains the train station where we spent all afternoon In reading this haiku initially, I envisioned a single person out in the middle of the mountains, maybe on a hiking or camping trip. I think that “encircled” really grasps the enormous mass of mountains that surround a little city that is at the base of the mountain, where the train station happens to be. My reaction to this haiku was about the couple, who might have missed their train back home, but really didn’t mind because they were in awe of the mountains and their glorious presence. This haiku is one of the reasons I enjoy Karen’s work so much: great visuals and amazing developments are what make her haiku real for a reader. Almost all of her haiku seem to be in the first person (whether an insider or outsider in the situation) but still open the reader to different possibilities as to where he/she fits in or how he/she can relate to the event. This specific reasoning is why I became an instant enthusiast for Karen Sohne’s work. The one haiku that grabbed my attention and remains my favorite out of the haiku I’ve been exposed to is as follows: the haiku completely gone by the time I’ve dried my hands As I mentioned before, one of the reasons I enjoy Karen’s work, as why I think so many other people would too, is the element of relating her work to one’s own personal life and experiences. However, this haiku not only describes a great haiku, washed down the drain, but the everyday forgetful nature of all human beings. So many people seem to think they have the greatest and most useful for idea for something important or pertinent in their lives, but something else distracts them momentarily, and it’s gone; and Karen does a great job of encompassing that moment in every person’s life. But the great thing about this particular approach is how it specifically relates to her life and experience. After reading the first line of this haiku, I was placed in a bathroom, not a kitchen or another place water or a sink might be located. But by the end, I can almost feel the haste and frustration she feels to try and remember what she was going to write down. For all we know, she could have thought of the greatest haiku to come to her mind since she began writing, and lost it. However, the great twist with this is that this haiku was a product of that forgetfulness, and that forgetfulness is what I consider to be an outstanding haiku, even if accidentally. Sohne’s ability to capture things in the moment and make every one who reads her work share and experience it, is testimony for not only how down-to-earth and original Karen’s work is, but also how her personality comes out in her work. Haiku, typically, is a non-fictional work and supposing that this element is true, then the author must be able to relate realistically to the situation that is being written. Karen keeps her readers on their toes with her writing because whether nature or simple, everyday occurrences are the focus of a haiku, the author must be able to convey the image successfully; Karen Sohne does this perfectly; look at the following: looking straight into the sun dandelions The first line, which is the main chunk of the haiku, has a great image . . . the sun. Bright, hot, enormous, and any other adjective that could describe the sun seems to be fitting for this particular line. I initially imagined that after looking at the sun, my eyes would be victims of the brightness of the sun, and have those dark specks that everyone gets from looking at the sun for too long. But what is the comforting element of this haiku is the image of the dandelions that are in the grass that seem to console the eyes of the sun-gazer. One other idea I had from this haiku was the comparison of the sun to the dandelions and how spectacular both are, but the size is so disproportionate. However, both objects hold the beauty in their own right; as does everything else is life. I think that is why Karen Sohne’s work has become so interesting to me in my experiences with haiku this semester. Her approach is so original and entertaining that Karen’s work could touch and affect any reader that would pick up any of her haiku. The incredible imagery that her haiku offer to the audience is what make her haiku real and pleasing to anyone that has the pleasure of being able to read. I find Karen’s work to be inspiring to anyone who writes, or simply reads haiku because of her magnificent approach to an art that many people can produce, but not always achieve successfully. Karen Sohne’s pleasurable and remarkable work has made a great impact in my haiku experience simply because of her own personal approach and how she conveys so many great events in such a real way. —Julie Forehand