Poetic Reflections: horror haiku

There is an art to brevity. For once I shall strive to be brief, though my poems are generally anything but that. As are these perflaffly, pregumptuous, extracapitulated, conundrum-hummous intros. Bet I made you slow down there and ponder either the pronunciation, meaning, my sanity, or all of the above. But I think I’ve proved my point. And if anyone’s left reading this . . . it may shock you that in conversation I am not a big breeze-shooter. I’m kind of an introvert. I’ll talk if there’s something to talk about; otherwise I can be quiet by nature, busily engaged in creative pursuits, involved in thinking up plots, or dreaming of writing when life speeds up and I’m too busy to think. On the page as in life, a poet or proser, I tend to aim my words with precision and believe in getting to the point. Sooner or later.

Not that I haven’t been known to get distracted, ramble, go off on tangents, joke and chit-chat, even digress. There are such moments between the bursts of contemplation, the rapturous madness, the drive and focus and delighted chuckles when the pieces fit.

While some of my books or short stories may be long, I usually refrain from crafting extensive drawn-out sentences. I prefer balanced lines with a sense of rhythm and flow, whatever the length. Incomplete ones when they fit. I’ll use big words, uncommon words, reinforceful words, and inventive words. But I don’t like to be redundant. In other words, I have my own style. And that may vary a lot, from layered and exaggerative to compact and straightforward. Yes, I can be concise. I just don’t always want to be. And I especially don’t care to be told that I ought to be.

I am a staunch believer in poetic license even in prose. Of course, doing something “wrong” with intention doesn’t always make it right. But sometimes it works. As an artist and wordsmith, I like to tinker. Whether telling a story, speaking in riddles, alluding to the abstract, conveying a message, making a statement, making you think, or simply endeavoring to entertain and amuse. I have to do it my way.

Most struggling authors like myself desire to stand out from the crowd. That’s getting harder and harder to do since the crowd has overflowed and seems to be everywhere. With me, it’s not that I’m trying to stand out from the crowd. Nor do I write to please the crowd. Mostly I am off over here away from the crowd, doing my own thing. Which brings me to the topic at hand, which is trying my hand at a deceptively simple form of poetry. I am referring to the economic tersity of Haiku. Not just any Haiku: Horror Haiku. Naturally, I have to make it my own, hence the horror.

When homeschooling my sons, I would assign them to compose Zoo Haiku after trips to the local one in San Diego. I loved reading theirs yet did not really pen much Haiku myself, if any. So I’ve decided to give it a whirl. The goal is to capture an emotion, moment, or essence in as few words as possible. To someone like me with a desire to be vivid and descriptive, and for whom there are never enough words, this presents quite a challenge. Fortunately, I love a good challenge . . .