Austen-ku

A few years ago, a friend posted a little haiku on her Facebook page on May 1, and called it her Mayku. When I asked, she said a friend had started writing a haiku each day of May, and hoped it would catch on. My friend never did it again, but I was hooked.

I’m not a huge poetry person, although I can revel in a beautifully-turned phrase as much as any afficionado. But there’s something about haiku that really appeals to me. It’s poetry in miniature, an oeuvre distilled to seventeen syllables, sentiment in crystalline form. An excellent haiku can be as moving and poignant as any heart-rending epic.

I won’t claim such profundity in my own dabblings, but I have, indeed, been writing my daily haikus all May, as I’ve done the last few years. You can see them on Facebook or Instagram with the hashtag #mayku2023.

For those whose memories might be a bit cloudy, a haiku is a short three-line poem of seventeen syllables.

The first line has five.
The second line has seven.
And the third, five more.

Easy, right? Yes and no. Finding the right syllables is a delightful challenge, and one that often takes far more time than the brevity of the piece would suggest. There are other “official” rules as well about the nature of the poem and the subject matter it is supposed to describe, but I’m not quite that zealous. Instead, I just have fun, and if people enjoy my daily attempts, that is enough to make me happy.

With haiku in mind, what else could I do but envision Austen’s lovely novels as reflected in this lovely Japanese form of poetry. If you have your own ideas, I’d love to see them, so please share in the comments section.

Happy Mayku, everyone.

Pride and Prejudice

Five daughters, single
Each free to a good husband
Please inquire within

Emma

Picnic on Box Hill
Not an overwhelming hit
Hard lessons are learned

Sense and Sensibility

Sometimes the White Knight
Is not the one on the horse
But the one waiting

Persuasion

The flame they smothered,
Persuaded me to snuff out,
Burns brightly once more

Mansfield Park

The play is the thing
That exposes far more than
Just the king’s conscience.

Northanger Abbey

The black veil is raised
To reveal the real monsters,
Not fiction, but flesh

If the haiku bug bites, please join in the fun. If you’d like to respond to my posts on Facebook or Instagram, I’d be delighted. Otherwise, start your own posts. There can never be too many random acts of poetry.

You can find me here, among other places:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RianaEverly

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rianaeverly/

I really would love to hear what you have to add to the Mayku-conversation.