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Global
Haiku Tradition Dan
Temkin
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The haiku of Jeffrey Winke diverges from the traditional Japanese haiku to provide a feeling that can be seen both as contemporary and American. As Winke observes, "I like to write haiku with a Beat sensibility, in more colloquial English. Trying too hard to imitate the Japanese masters often sounds strained to me," (Winters). He puts a new and imaginative twist to all of his haiku, especially in his erotic and wordplay poems. In his book, what's not there a collection of both haiku and senryu, Winke is able to write along a wide range of topics yet is able to maintain the ability to continually lead the reader to new and unexpected levels. Each haiku feels well crafted and worded to its full effectiveness as shown in the above haiku. As with any art form haiku is a form of personal expression that develops out of ones own experiences and background. The background of which Jeffery Winke pulls from is expansive giving his haiku an edge and perspective all truly all his own. Winke's has been publishing his haiku since the early 1970's getting published in books and literary journals from a regional to international level. Some of the literary texts he has been published in, but not limited to, include: Frogpond, Mainichi Daily News, Raw NerVZ, Wind Chimes, Heron Quarterly of Haiku and Zen Poetry, Dragonfly, High/Coo, still, Acorn, and Brussel Sprouts. For several years he was the associate editor of one of the leading English based haiku periodical, Modern Haiku magazine. As a earlier pioneer of the English haiku movement Winke was the co-editor with Charles Rossiter of Third Coast Haiku Anthology, one of the first English based anthologies. He has also experimented in the digital haiku experience with his work Chances an dynamic online collection, though at time of writing the site hosting Chances was down. Jeffery Winke's book, what's not there, was also a 2002 Merit Book Award winner, which is an award that recognizes the best haiku book published in that year. Over the years Winke has read his haiku all around the world from Canada to Russia and has shared the spotlight with the like of Beat poet Allen Ginsberg. Jeffrey Winke received his B.A. and M.A. degrees in Communication from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The extensive academic and literary background of Jeffrey Winke is only part of what contributes to his haiku. He has highlighted on his personal website, winkearchives.com, an assortment of unique points of personal history which can be easily described as eclectic. A few of personal favorites that he Winke points out include his love of traveling, which is quite extensive, and the mention of his two moving violations for speeding and driving with an expired license plate. Other activities that have aided to his outlook on life have to include singing tribal work songs with two anthropology PhD candidates while unloading semi-trailers for Marshall-Field & Co. If that is not enough his experience cleaning toilets at the headquarters offices of Harley-Davidson, paint stalls for a marine motor manufacturer, and an industrial exhaust chimney stack while working for a janitorial service must be mentioned to fully understand his background. Currently, Winke lives with his wife and three children, four cats in Milwaukee Wisconsin. With only a slight understanding of Winke's life, I do suggest you take a look at his site and read more of his biographic bullets, it makes it easier to see where the amazing collection of observations ranging from the fall of shadows to the blues musicians and city life verse country pleasantries. "I write about subjects I know." said Winke, " I’ve never seen a plum blossom in my life, frankly. I live and work in an urban environment and as a result my haiku often mirrors those subjects," (Winters). This perspective does not always give his haiku the timeless nature of the more traditional haiku but has produced greater insights into our current society as seen in the following haiku:
This image is exceedingly simple and perfectly ordinary, that is for us who have taken a commuter train during rush hour in a metropolitan area. Though with this image or better yet sound comes further thought, for when a train pulls away from the station usually there is a bell or chime mirroring the chiming of the laptops. It is its power to make the reader look at something that normally would have passed through their lives without a thought that makes this a excellent example of Winke's ability to point out the ordinary. Another author who writes in both a similar style and insight of the world is George Swede who was also a active member of the English haiku movement in the seventies.
This commentary of the modern office environment also known as the cubical is quite similar to Winke's observations of modern life. Though, while Swede is quick to use the ironic imagery of the fly tapping the glasses, Winke is a little more indirect, at least in this example, on pointing out the deeper levels of the observations. If one part of Jeffery Winke's abilities as a writer of haiku that stood is his ability to play with the English language. This makes his haiku more powerful when read first hand and not read out loud as shown with these two well worded pun:
Certainly, you can see that much would be lost in the oral reading of these haiku but when read on their own become the puns that they are meant to be. No other haiku author that I have read, as limiting as that might be, has played with the English language with such ease Winke seems to portray. These haiku do not seem forces or stretched as other writers who have tried the same type of word play. As pointed out in the forward to what's not there, Charles Trumbull does provide the link between the works traditional Japanese poets and Winke's works. It is this sense of nostalgia and the beauty of the past or absence known as sabi. The following by Kyorai a student of Bashô is a excellent example of this feeling of the absence and a example of one aspect of the idea of sabi.
While many of Winke's haiku point out the details of what is there in the our worlds, he also makes an effort to point out things absent as pointed out in the title of his book what's not there. In this Winke often points out the shadow created by items or the mark things left behind.
In the general mishmash that creates and clutters our world, Winke takes a moment to point out the void that something as simple as a black billboard causes. It is this basic emptiness and moment of piece that we are drawn towards. While at the same time this void causes a disruption and relaxation from the general flow of information bombardment that we become so use to, a true paradox in modern life. As with any haiku author they can only hope that when the reader picks up their work that a connection is made. That after finish a haiku the reader is able to gain an insight or make a connection or extension from the haiku to their own life. Jeffery Winke’s is able to bring to focus both the absent and overlooked aspects of our lives while often taking a witty twist with the English language. It can only be hoped that Jeffery will continue to provide unique insights into our modern lifestyles with his truly American approach while still paying homage to the past and the Japanese heritage of haiku.
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©2005
Randy Brooks, Millikin University, Decatur, Illinois || all rights reserved
for original authors
last updated:
May 12, 2005