Poetry Form - The Hay(na)ku: a word-count form


The Hay(na)ku Verse Form, a 21st century poetry form.
by J. Zimmerman

* History. * Example. * Form.
* Eileen Tabios, mother of Hay(na)ku.
* Eileen Tabios The Singer and Others: Flamenco Hay(na)ku.
* Interview with Jean Vengua, anthologist of Hay(na)ku.
* The Chained Hay(na)ku Project
* Your Composition. * References on Form.

History.

Example.

Some of my favorites in the anthology are Dan Waber's:


   Nothing
   adds up.
   Love isn't math.  
and Craig Freeman's


   Moonshine
   And great
   Quantities of hills.  

Form.

In a traditional Hay(na)ku, there are:

Variations:

More on Eileen Tabios.

Check:

In response to my question about the co-publishing, by both her Meritage Press and the Finnish xpress(ed), Eileen says:
"That's all a function of the internet -- meeting Jukka-Pekka Kervinen who lives in Espoo, who later ends up being my publisher as well as co-publisher on certain ventures. Wonders of the internet ... which is all synchronistic, as the hay(na)ku certainly would not have spread as rapidly without poetry blogland."

The Jean Vengua Interview.

Jean Vengua made time from her book tour to talk to our interviewer Ariadne Unst about Hay(na)ku and The First Hay(na)ku Anthology. Here is the transcript.

A Last Word.

Just because you start with the intention of writing a Hay(na)ku, you do not have to keep your poem in that form if it does not work for you. Your attempt to write a formal poem may help you find words that you would not have found otherwise. And you may decide that you choose to end up with a poem in a different form, perhaps even a prose poem.

Books.

The First Hay(na)ku Anthology introduces the new poetic form, the hay(na)ku, invented by Eileen Tabios (with inspiration from Richard Brautigan, Jack Kerouac, and meditations on the Filipino transcolonial and diasporic experience). Poems and essays by 38 poets.

Linked hay(na)ku by about 100 poets and artists.

[Thanks for visiting.]