Currently, the end of the school semester in the USA is upon us. As one of the last sections in とびら that have been selected by my instructor for this semester, we have been looking at 川柳 and 俳句. We were tasked to create multitudes of both, and this had me thinking: why not create a topic in which we can all create and share 俳句 and 川柳?
I took a class called “Senior Seminar: Haiku” in college with a really great professor who has, unfortunately, retired from the scene named Yoshinobu Hakutani. Having him in class was a really rewarding and eye opening experience towards the ways of the haiku masters such as Basho, Issa, Buson, and Shiki.
Now, I’m not saying that we must create something in line with those great poetic masters. However, what I am asking is this:
Why don’t we try out making 俳句 and 川柳 together? Whether it be in English or Japanese, all is welcome. The traditional form for both is 5, 7, 5, but even the masters sometimes added an extra syllable or two. Let’s try our best and see what we can come up with! I’ll start:
目の前に
桜のように
夢が散る
夏の中
鳴き声聞こえ
蝉のゼミ