Ah, the charm of haiku. A poetry form with its roots deep in Japanese culture, haiku has found its way into many of our modern, Western hearts and minds. Some present-day poets are serious about their haiku, reflecting the pure form of the old masters; others are just goofing around, setting their thoughts, complaints and grocery lists to a 5-7-5 syllable form, just for grins.
Goofy haiku has a rich history in the techie world, getting its start, perhaps, with a 1998 error-message contest held by online magazine Salon. Tech haiku tend to be witty rather than serious, and they often have a think-twice twist, such as this one from ’98 contest winner David Dixon:
Three things are certain:
Death, taxes and lost data.
Guess which has occurred.
On Twitter – that hot-and-trendy site with the 140-character message limit – haiku is all part of the I-feel-like-posting-my-words-where-someone-can-see-them atmosphere. Budding poets and bored office-workers share three-liners on everything from love and romance to beer and pizza. Here’s a sample from a Tweep named @elemsee:
How I love new shoes.
All the places we can go –
Then come the blisters.
Of course, real poets cringe at the idea of so many abject amateurs tossing out lines that have everything to do with showing off and nothing to do with art. But there’s something fun and addictive about writing haiku for haiku’s sake. It’s easy to get caught up in the madness, absent-mindedly counting out the syllables of every silly idea you want to express just so you can spend at least part of the workday in a creative, inventive pursuit.
In at least one Northern Colorado office, workaday haiku has become a shared art form as workers make a game of volleying company news back and forth. This witticism, for example came in response to a doughnut-run request from HR:
Those who eat donuts
Need to find it in their hearts
Help make Friday sweet
Of course, sticklers of all types might insist that office haiku is nothing more than a productivity sink, but clearly, creative souls are indulging in it anyway. They exercise their creative muscles while commenting on lunch, bemoaning the aesthetic state of their cubicles or reminding colleagues to keep the noise down.
In fact, maybe that’s one of the best things about writing haiku at work: Amusing verse can take the edge off a message that might otherwise seem tough or unpleasant.
Layoffs are coming
401(k) tumbling down
Haiku saves the day
i ran a haiku contest at work a couple months ago and the staff had a good time with it. i teach at a high school here in pensacola - my initial email to the staff explaining haiku and the contest is here:
http://www.rustypants.net/2009/02/23/school-haiku-contest/
the prize winning results are here:
http://www.rustypants.net/2009/02/28/haiku-contest-winners/
it was fun reading the entries and of all the contests i've put together, this was the most enjoyable.
Posted by: rustypants | July 24, 2009 at 08:28 PM