Do You Senryu?

Tomorrow – April 17 – is Haiku Poetry Day,? but I have just returned from a humor conference, which means I feel compelled to focus on light verse, making Senryu, what Kimiko Hahn calls Haiku’s comic cousin, a perfect topic choice. ?Here’s an example from Kathy Lippard Cobb:

Men o pause . . .

The men suck in their guts

As a blonde walks by

The simplest way to differentiate haiku and senryu is to note that while both are a form of Japanese poetry, haiku comments on Nature, while senryu comments on human nature, with the latter often having an element of humor. English poet Michael Dylan Welch (who now lives in Seattle) has written a lot of senryu examples and a lot about the form. He describes how it differentiates from haiku like this: “if haiku is a finger pointing at the moon, senryu is a finger poking you—or someone else—in the ribs.”

Many years ago, Mr. Welch was the judge of a senryu poetry contest . Below are a few more examples, including one from my friend James Williams in honor of next week’s Earth Day.

Both haiku and senryu usually consist of three lines of unrhymed poetry with the rules of capitalization and punctuation often suspended. When described in English, we say that both forms consist of three lines of 5 – 7 – 5 syllables, but the Japanese are more strict than English speakers about their version of that form. The bottom line: English haiku and senryu frequently have fewer (often 10 – 14) syllables, and that’s just fine.

At this time of year, Japanese citizens concentrate mostly on cherry blossoms. Take however many syllables you wish to appreciate them.

Kathy Laurenhue, M.A, C.H.P., creator of Wiser Now, Inc. , dedicated to fostering wellbeing in people of all ages through training and publications, is the author of the 4-time award-winning weekly e-newsletter Wiser Now Wednesday, now renamed Wait Lifters – uplifting content for every kind of downtime. This post is a partial excerpt. Her secondary website, Creating Delight.com , is especially focused on creating fun and goodwill. ?Reach her at [email protected] .