Friday, September 21, 2007

A Night in the Suburbs

Neighborhood night calm
Cutting off calls, one two three
A plumber with pipes

4 comments:

  1. Haiku really sucks for context.

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  2. I should have probably made it a haibun. In any case, here is a contex: 1) the neighbor across the street must have had a plumbing problem as their was a plumber in his truck cutting a length of pipe. 2) the 17-year-old kid up the street was wandering aimlessly arguing with 2 or perhaps 3 girlfriends. He would click between the arguments, one two three.

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  3. Or a series of haiku? I like the idea of a chain of them--implying a narrative, but fragmentary. I like your phrasing in any case--

    cutting off calls, one two three

    Do you know Ashbery's poem 32 haiku? (although I really don't remember the number . . . ) Each haiku is written as a single line. He takes the idea of a haiku and adapts it freely. I bet you would like this poem.

    Okay, it's here

    http://coursedocs.slcc.edu/engl/lbickmore/haiku%20lecture.htm

    in a "lecture" I wrote for an early version of my online poetry writing course. It's near the end. It's 37 Haiku, from A Wave.

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  4. I like the series idea, lisa b.

    I don't know Ashbery's work. Thank you for the link.

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