Welcome

May 1, 2011

This blog is entended as a place to show and develop the so-called monostich haiku or the 1-line haiku. Many Western poets writing haiku, senryu and related short form poetry writes monostichs from time to time. The 1-line haiku often arises from a reluctance to break up an image in 3 lines - a desire to compact the haiku further. Sometimes it is used to cut away what is not needed in the poem – a discipline most short-form poets use more or less consciously in their daily practice or they take it on in an effort to make their language even more precise. But there can be all sorts of reasons for why a poet chooses the monostich form.

Haiku as such is generally written in one line in its native Japanese form. But the life of haiku in the West - where it is usually written in 3 lines – has made it undergo various re-interpretations mainly due to the differences in Western and Japanese culture.

True, many Western poets have written minimalistic poetry of various kinds through the ages, but the aim for this blog is to show forth monostichs written by poets rooted in haiku and related forms.

The monostich can present itself as extremely condensed. It is apparently fast read, but it can be intriguingly complex despite its shortness, “lack of words” and is easily overlooked. They can linger on in your mind as very complex images with the same magnetism as the childhood pictures-within-pictures.

The monostich thrive in the underwood of the haiku forest. The purpose for this blog is to provide an extra place for the monostich to grow and hopefully show forth its worth and special character.

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