Neater, tighter

Yesterday was our writers’ group meeting. Last night I wrote here about how our get together went. The writing topic was “biscuits”, which we explored in our individual ways. Halfway through the meeting, while we recharged our coffee mugs and teacups, some of us taking the opportunity to literally ‘take the biscuit’, The Poet Macaque gave us a fifteen minute exercise to write haikus. 

I know what a haiku is, but I’ve googled a definition just to make sure – it’s a short Japanese poem of three lines with seventeen syllables which does not rhyme. In its purest form the first line has 5 syllables, the second 7, and the third has 5. What I didn’t know, or had forgotten, is they often depict a moment in time and include a kireji, a word which has no specific or accurate translation, and I’m not exactly sure I complete;y get it,  but its purpose is to create a sense of closure or a pause. Macaque wasn’t expecting such expertise or refinement, but wanted us to think about our language, and economy of use and being particularly specific. I do tend to ramble on and add more and more to what I write, my imagination becoming rampant, so anything which brings me back to being more controlled and writing in a neater, tighter way must be good.

In a similar way, the 50 word story competition from the Scottish Book Trust asks for imagination and control. This months competition requires a 50 word story on ‘Party’:

https://www.scottishbooktrust.com/fifty-words-competitions/write-a-story-about-a-party

Back to haiku, here are my attempts – the first lines were supplied by Macaque: