Haiku North America, 8/16 continued

Senryu: Refreshing the Human Spirit  by Sunny Seki & Judy Seki

While Judy was indeed present at this panel, she seemed to serve more as introducer for Sunny than co-presenter. Sunny was the main speaker on the topic of senryu this afternoon.

Sunny Seki began by comparing Basho to Senryu, making the following points

Matsuo Basho

• ·       High class (Former Samurai, Zen Buddhist)
• ·       Focused poems on Nature
• ·       Literary Style
• ·       Emphasized the Four Seasons
• ·       Philosophical, Admiration, eternal, etc.

Karai Senryu

• ·       City manager, Literary Promoter – never wrote poems
• ·       Focused on poems about Human Nature
• ·       Conversational Style
• ·       Emphasized the Human Predicament
• ·       Humor, Cynicism, Parody, Satire, Irony, Politics, Society

Senryu didn’t travel like Basho, but stayed in the city. He was the city manager. Published senryu anthologies that were read by the common people. as opposed to Basho, who was part of an upper class literati.

Modern senryu is often based on contests, much like those Senryu himself ran. The editor or editors come up with a theme or topic, and people submit their poems. There is a long tradition of this, starting with Japanese immigrants in the 20^th century, and Sunny Seki presented this history with many examples.

He explained that Japanese immigrants started to come to Seattle in the 20^th century, and travelled South to LA.

As the ship rocks hard

I notice my neighbor saying

the same prayer

Seki explained that even during hardship, when they’re miserable, Japanese poets used senryu to look at the brighter side of life.

Japanese were not allowed to buy property until 1952, and so senryu like the following were written to capture life and explore human relationships with humor and irony.

I learned basic English

from my child

and then went out to find work

From the 1940s:

I am forced to polish apples

even though I have

a college diploma

From the Japanese internment camps during WWII:

lucky sage brush

growing

outside the fence

1950s, many Japanese in California became gardeners. The bulk of Seki’s talk focused on these senryu, which he translated from archives of gardener newspapers and publications:

The smell of fertilizer

no longer strange

to my wife

my husband’s sweaty laundry

tells me how hot

the day was

I expected a new job

but all he wanted

was directions

my wife waited for me

in front of the liquor store

because it was payday

One more payment to go...

my lawn mower

was stolen

Together

my lawn mower and I

built my sweet home

With my lawnmower

I made my offspring

grow into doctors

Seki ended his talk by advocating that writers explore and experiment with senryu. So, your assignment after you read this--write a senryu! ;)