Psyche tips the candle

I post a poem every day. Currently accepting prompts!

[psyche-tips-the-candle]

She loved you once, and that's the crux of it

The whole unbalanced axis on which your wretched world still turns

Pinned right through like a butterfly on a bulletin board

By the way she held your gaze, said your name

Laughed you off and dropped your hand

Left you reaching out, lonely and desperate

She loved you once, and never let you forget it

And even now, you still can't help but wonder –

[psyche-tips-the-candle]

It was always going to end this way –

Just the way it started –

Just you, alone, in your bedroom.

Staring at that closed door.

It was never going to be different –

Not noticeably different from before.

Not any better, really, not any worse.

Just you, the lamp, the door.

[psyche-tips-the-candle]

I love you, I love you, I promise I love you

Later I'll remember the meaning and the intent

Tell you why and how, the whereins and whereons,

Take this giddy joy and spin it out for some thread of purpose,

Set the reasons and the compliments out with all my arguments,

Ready myself to prove it, swords drawn and all

There's so much I could say, but the bones of it is this:

I love you, I love you, I love you

[psyche-tips-the-candle]

Keep writing your beautiful poetry. Let the spilled ink flow from your beautiful soul, it really cuts deep through our souls (at least mine). Thank you for existing!

This is such a sweet message, thank you so much. ♥️

[psyche-tips-the-candle]

I keep trying to find the divide

Between you and me, hope and dread,

What I plan and what I long for

When does a promise become a threat?

The teeth hit bone long after they sunk through the flesh

I knew your smile long before I ever knew you

Trained myself to mould around your vision

And the way your gaze would drip in one long line

Like blood, down my back, down my spine

[psyche-tips-the-candle]

I hate that you weren't there. I don't know how to forgive you for it. You said that you'd look after me; you lied. You didn't. I was alone, the whole time, wishing you'd come back for me. You never did.

You never will.

[psyche-tips-the-candle]

The past six months

Something like a scream has sat

Trapped in my throat

The tail end snakes out

Is bitten off

Bleeds out with every breath

[psyche-tips-the-candle]

This golden peace hangs over us, and I,

Almost breathless in my desire for stillness,

Want nothing more than to lean into you

Frozen in this perfect amber silence

[psyche-tips-the-candle]

Every piece of me is yours, darling

There's no reason for surprise

I always have been, always will be

As sure as the sun will rise

[psyche-tips-the-candle]

When you left, my world split in two. Your footsteps are dogged by this awful chasm, chasing you, and here I stand, one foot on either side. I'm longing to call after you, my love, longing for you to turn around - but every sound I make just dwindles into nothingness, swallowed down into that black pit of emptiness. I wonder when the distance will grow too far for me to bridge. I wonder when I will follow.

[psyche-tips-the-candle]

100 posts!

100 poems!

Wow, I really didn't expect that! What a fun start to the year! It's been wonderful seeing the reaction my poetry gets from you lovely people, and I can't wait to write another 100. As always, my inbox is open - accepting prompts, suggestions, and rants about your day (:

[psyche-tips-the-candle]

God darling

I miss you like an ache

This gap in my chest

Cracked red raw and weeping

Again and again your name gets caught

Like bile at the back of my throat

Again and again

And it burns

[psyche-tips-the-candle]

I'm right where you left me

Still calling your name

It's just like the movies

I weep in the rain

I'm right where you left me

Hoping for closure

Hugging my elbows

I wish you were closer

[psyche-tips-the-candle]

I am watching the sunlight as it filters through your eyelashes

Streaking across your face like golden honey

I don't know how to tell you you're beautiful. It never seems enough.

But I'll try anyway, and say: I love you. I love you. I love you.

[psyche-tips-the-candle]

Like so many times before

That same old rot creeps up

Blackens my door

And caves it in

Confident you shan't be chased away

Not now your spores have sunk in

With wide open smile, sweet as decay

My home becomes your refuge

There is something sick in you

A hungry sort of darkness

Desperate to eat right through

And swallow my heart

[corvidcall]

None Of You Know What Haiku Are

I'm going to preface this by saying that i am not an expert in ANY form of poetry, just an enthusiast. Also, this post is... really long. Too long? Definitely too long. Whoops! I love poetry.

If you ask most English-speaking people (or haiku-bot) what a haiku is, they would probably say that it's a form of poetry that has 3 lines, with 5, and then 7, and then 5 syllables in them. That's certainly what I was taught in school when we did our scant poetry unit, but since... idk elementary school when I learned that, I've learned that that's actually a pretty inaccurate definition of haiku. And I think that inaccurate definition is a big part of why most people (myself included until relatively recently!) think that haiku are kind of... dumb? unimpressive? simple and boring? I mean, if you can just put any words with the right number of syllables into 3 lines, what makes it special?

Well, let me get into why the 5-7-5 understanding of haiku is wrong, and also what makes haiku so special (with examples)!

First of all, Japanese doesn't have syllables! There's a few different names for what phonetic units actually make up the language- In Japanese, they're called "On" (音), which translates to "sound", although English-language linguists often call it a "mora" (μ), which (quoting from Wikipedia here) "is a basic timing unit in the phonology of some spoken languages, equal to or shorter than a syllable." (x) "Oh" is one syllable, and also one mora, whereas "Oi" has one syllable, but two moras. "Ba" has one mora, "Baa" has two moras, etc. In English, we would say that a haiku is made up of three lines, with 5-7-5 syllables in them, 17 syllables total. In Japanese, that would be 17 sounds.

For an example of the difference, the word "haiku", in English, has 2 syllables (hai-ku), but in Japanese, はいく has 3 sounds (ha-i-ku). "Christmas" has 2 syllables, but in Japanese, "クリスマス" (ku-ri-su-ma-su) is 5 sounds! that's a while line on its own! Sometimes the syllables are the same as the sounds ("sushi" is two syllables, and すし is two sounds), but sometimes they're very different.

In addition, words in Japanese are frequently longer than their English equivalents. For example, the word "cuckoo" in Japanese is "ほととぎす" (hototogisu).

Now, I'm sure you're all very impressed at how I can use an English to Japanese dictionary (thank you, my mother is proud), but what does any of this matter? So two languages are different. How does that impact our understanding of haiku?

Well, if you think about the fact that Japanese words are frequently longer than English words, AND that Japanese counts sounds and not syllables, you can see how, "based purely on a 17-syllable counting method, a poet writing in English could easily slip in enough words for two haiku in Japanese” (quote from Grit, Grace, and Gold: Haiku Celebrating the Sports of Summer by Kit Pancoast Nagamura). If you're writing a poem using 17 English syllables, you are writing significantly more content than is in an authentic Japanese haiku.

(Also not all Japanese haiku are 17 sounds at all. It's really more of a guideline.)

Focusing on the 5-7-5 form leads to ignoring other strategies/common conventions of haiku, which personally, I think are more interesting! Two of the big ones are kigo, a season word, and kireji, a cutting word.

Kigo are words/phrases/images associated with a particular season, like snow for winter, or cherry blossoms for spring. In Japan, they actually publish reference books of kigo called saijiki, which is basically like a dictionary or almanac of kigo, describing the meaning, providing a list of related words, and some haiku that use that kigo. Using a a particular kigo both grounds the haiku in a particular time, but also alludes to other haiku that have used the same one.

Kireji is a thing that doesn't easily translate to English, but it's almost like a spoken piece of punctuation, separating the haiku into two parts/images that resonate with and add depth to each other. Some examples of kireji would be "ya", "keri", and "kana." Here's kireji in action in one of the most famous haiku:

古池や　蛙飛び込む　水の音 (Furu ike ya　kawazu tobikomu　mizu no oto) (The old pond — A frog jumps in The sound of the water.)

You can see the kireji at the end of the first line- 古池や literally translates to "old pond ya". The "ya" doesn't have linguistic meaning, but it denotes the separation between the two focuses of the haiku. First, we are picturing a pond. It's old, mature. The water is still. And then there's a frog! It's spring and he's fresh and new to the world! He jumps into the pond and goes "splash"! Wowie! When I say "cutting word", instead of say, a knife cutting, I like to imagine a film cut. The camera shows the pond, and then it cuts to the frog who jumps in.

English doesn't really have a version of this, at least not one that's spoken, but in English language haiku, people will frequently use a dash or an ellipses to fill the same role.

Format aside, there are also some conventions of the actual content, too. They frequently focus on nature, and are generally use direct language without metaphor. They use concrete images without judgement or analysis, inviting the reader to step into their shoes and imagine how they'd feel in the situation. It's not about describing how you feel, so much as it's about describing what made you feel.

Now, let's put it all together, looking at a haiku written Yosa Buson around 1760 (translated by Harold G. Henderson)

The piercing chill I feel: my dead wife's comb, in our bedroom, under my heel

We've got our kigo with "the piercing chill." We read that, and we imagine it's probably winter. It's cold, and the kind of cold wind that cuts through you. There's our kireji- this translation uses a colon to differentiate our two images: the piercing chill, and the poet stepping on his dead wife's comb. There's no descriptions of what the poet is feeling, but you can imagine stepping into his shoes. You can imagine the pain he's experiencing in that moment on your own.

"But tumblr user corvidcall!" I hear you say, "All the examples you've used so far are Japanese haiku that have been translated! Are you implying that it's impossible for a good haiku to be written in English?" NO!!!!! I love English haiku! Here's a good example, which won first place in the 2000 Henderson haiku contest, sponsored by the Haiku Society of America:

meteor shower . . . a gentle wave wets our sandals

When you read this one, can you imagine being in the poet's place? Do you feel the surprise as the tide comes in? Do you feel the summer-ness of the moment? Haiku are about describing things with the senses, and how you take in the world around you. In a way, it's like the poet is only setting a scene, which you inhabit and fill with meaning based on your own experiences. You and I are imagining different beaches, different waves, different people that make up the "our" it mentioned.

"Do I HAVE to include all these things when I write haiku? If I include all these things, does that mean my haiku will be good?" I mean, I don't know. What colors make up a good painting? What scenes make up a good play? It's a creative medium, and nobody can really tell you you can't experiment with form. Certainly not me! But I think it's important to know what the conventions of the form are, so you can appreciate good examples of it, and so you can know what you're actually experimenting with. And I mean... I'm not the poetry cops. But if you're not interested in engaging with the actual conventions and limitations of the form, then why are you even using that form?

I'll leave you with one more English language haiku, which is probably my favorite haiku ever. It was written by Tom Bierovic, and won first place at the 2021 Haiku Society of America Haiku Awards

a year at most . . . we pretend to watch the hummingbirds

Sources: (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

Further reading:

Forms in English Haiku by Keiko Imaoka Haiku: A Whole Lot More Than 5-7-5 by Jack How to Write a Bad Haiku by KrisL Haiku Are Not a Joke: A Plea from a Poet Who Has Had It Up to Here by Sandra Simpson Haiku Checklist by Katherine Raine

[psyche-tips-the-candle]

I'd like to stay right here

Wrapped up in you

That breathless moment

Before the fall