Pravat Kumar Padhy provides an in-depth study into the world of one-line haiku
Introduction
Monoku is a one-line poem featuring brevity and clarity of expression. The term
was coined by Jim Kacian in his essay “The Shape of Things to Come,” and weds
a Greek prefix (mono, one) with a Japanese suffix (ku, poem) to create a new
English term. The concept of one-line haiku in English developed in the 1970s.
Japanese haiku are written in a single vertical line with 17 on (sound units, not
syllables). There may be subtle pauses in monoku corresponding to speech rhythm.
(In conventional 3-line haiku, there is one pause (kireji) between the fragment and
phrase of haiku.) Monoku can be interpreted with multiple pauses (kireji)
depending on how it is parsed. Some one-breath monoku cannot be expressed in
conventional 3-line haiku. Hence a poet may opt to use monoku to create imageries
with the shortest speech.
Alan Summer suggests there is a white space, as though some words have been left
unsaid in monoku which readers nevertheless divine. In conventional 3-line (s/l/s)
English-language haiku, there is a single kireji, and the contrast of images is
explicit. Monoku, however, may create multiple stops. It is worth mentioning that
monoku are not sentences.
Historical Perspective
Monoku has been called monostich, one-line ku, a one-liner, one sentence ku etc.
This casual usage is often inexact if not totally wrong. The word ‘monoku’ might
have been derived from, ‘Epigram’, a Greek poetry style.
Monostich were first penned by the ancient Roman author Marcus Valerius
Martialis (c. 38 and 41 CE–c. 102 and 104 CE). Edward Hirsh, in his A Poet’s
Glossary, states “As [per] the Greek Anthology (tenth century), it is said that the
monostich can be a proverb, an aphorism, a fragment, an image, an enigma.” Here
are some contemporary examples:
Valery Bryusov (Russian, 1894):
Oh, cover thy pale feet! (translated by Babette Deutsch and Avrahm
Yarmolinsky)
Guillaume Apollinaire (French, Poems 1898–1913):
And the single string of the sea trumpets (translated by William Meridith)
Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore (Bengali, 1916, The Stray Birds):
If you shed tears when you miss the sun, you also miss the stars.
K. S. Venkatramani (English, 1921, Paper Boats):
the corners cut paper boat I float again.
Ralph Hodgson (1871–1962)’s one-liner:
‘Skunks,’ the squirrel said, ‘are sent to try us.’
is an early attempt at a one-line poem. Walt Whitman included one monostich
(though with a very long line) in the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass. In 1893 and
1894 Edith Thomas, possibly in collaboration with an amateur author Samuel R.
Elliott (1836–1909), anonymously published several one-line poems in The
Atlantic Monthly intended as a joke. Guillaume Apollinaire is known as the first
poet to write a one-line poem in his 1913 book Alcools: Poems 1898-1913 in
French. Lafcadio Hearn, one of the earliest translators of Japanese haiku into
English, published his results as one-line poems. Emmanuel Lochac published one-
liners in French under the title Monostiches in a literary magazine in 1929 and
included some in his collection with that title in 1936:
Schooner bearing away the sun in its arms (translated by Breunig)
In the 1920s one-line poetry was rediscovered in the US by Yvor Winters, Edwin
Ford Piper, Charles Reznikoff and others. Later John Ashbery (“37 Haiku”), Allen
Ginsberg (American Sentences, 1995-1997; each with 17 syllables (“Death &
Fame: Last Poems”), and Ian McBryde pioneered the concept through their
published work.
Jack Kerouac was the first to experiment with a single-line format in the 1950s. He
has been followed by John Wills, M. Kettner, Jim Kacian, Janice Bostok, Chris
Gordon, Scott Metz, Stuart Quine, John Barlow, and many others. William
Higginson's “Characteristics of monostichs” has enumerated the historical
perspective of one-line haiku. Michael Segers in the early 1970s and subsequently
Matsuo Allard and Marlene Mountain shaped the art of monoku writing in English.
Allan Burns in his Montage for the week of May 3, 2009 (and also as Gallery
Three in Montage: The Book) writes:
“English-language haiku tend to be written in three lines, corresponding to the
metrical division of Japanese haiku, but Japanese haiku are actually usually
printed in a single vertical column. By way of analogy with this form, poets such as
Matsuo Allard and Marlene Mountain began writing English haiku in a single
horizontal line—and thanks to their efforts that form has become established in
English as the major alternative to the typical three-liner”.
Hiroaki Sato was the pioneer of translating Japanese haiku into one line in English.
Mountain (formerly Wills) wrote collaborative linked one-line haiku sequences
(known as Mountain Sonnets, each consisting of 14 one-line haiku).
The definition quoted in Whiptail Journal (eds. Kat Lehmann and Robin Smith):
“Unlike poetry with line breaks, single-line poetry does not rely on physical
enjambment to enhance the meaning of the poem. As such, one-line poetry can
have more than one break in syntax to create multiple meanings. Single-line poetry
can be a slippery lizard or a long-necked swan.”
Some of the memorable examples of one-line haiku:
A dandelion seed floats above the marsh grass with the mosquitos.
Allen Ginsberg, “Following haiku”, White Shroud: Poems 1980–1985
in the eggshell after the chick has hatched
Michael Segers, Haiku Magazine, 1971
a dixie cup floats down the Nile.
Cor Van den Heuvel, EO7, 1964
old woodcutter rests on the rings of the oak
Marlene Mountain, the old tin roof, 1976
an icicle the moon drifting through it
Matsuo Allard, Bird Day Afternoon, 1978
cry of the peacock widens the crack in the adobe wall
Elizabeth Searle Lamb, Harold G. Henderson Haiku Awards 1981
my head in the clouds in the lake
Ruby Spriggs, Frogpond 6:2, 14.
Some star or other went out, and you, thank you for your book and year
John Ashbery, “37 Haiku”, 1984
Kind of Blue the smell of rain
Allan Burns, Acorn 20, 2008.
stone before stone Buddha
Karma Tenzing Wangchuk, Stone Buddha, 2009, 54.
Schooner bearing away the sun in its arms
Emmanuel Lochac, Monostiches, 1929
pig and i spring rain
Marlene Mountain, Frogpond 2.3-4, 1979
the thyme-scented morning lizard's tongue flicking out
Martin Lucas, Presence 39, 2009
i hope i’m right where the river ice ends
Jim Kacian, Frogpond 35.2, 2012
in the dark of the kitchen with the fridge door open winter solstice
Oliver Schopfer, Under the Basho, 2015
envelope my thumb slips open the seal of his tongue
Janice M. Bostok, Amongst the Graffiti: Collected Haiku and Senryu 1972-
2002 (2005)
dusk from rock to rock a waterthrush
John Wills, The Haiku Anthology (Ed. Cor Van Den Heuvel) 2000
Techniques of Monoku Writing
William J. Higginson, Jim Kacian, Alan Summers, Jacob Salzer, and others have
broadly dealt with the techniques and styles of monoku writing. Artful placement
of words, creating multiple options by the use of the word as verb and noun,
sometimes avoiding the use of verb and expressing in condensed form, and
resonating multiple meanings with more than one pause (kireji) are just some of
the most common techniques. The poetic use of the images, juxtaposing images of
nature and the sense of human behavior, etc constitute the art of monoku
expression.
Abruptive Techniques, as suggested by Alan Summers, is a term for sharp changes
in directing the reader. It is one method for breaking up normal syntax/semantics.
Summers writes, “Whether the author wants these monoku read rapidly or a little
slower, we touch on just some of those where velocity with quality of language as
sound, not just meaning and content, can play its part, and produce from velocity
and quality something I will call veloquality. Does one-line haiku echo the one line
image of the fragment/section and phrasal (two-line imagery) sections that creates
sparks, bringing together an altogether different and extra overall image? Or does
it do something different to the technique of juxtaposing imagery? Above all it’s
the invisible text that counts as much as the visible text, as a catalyst for
everything, including the vertical layers of alternative, additional, and
complementary meanings from the horizontal surface meaning.”
The broad techniques of monoku writing such as haiku in one-breath, classic style
of one-line haiku and one-line haiku with classic multiple meanings have been
described by William J. Higginson.
I. Haiku in One-breath: The poem starts and finishes in one stroke without any
pause or break in between (poetics of caesura). It has to have a vivid interplay of
image and poetic sense. Otherwise, it would appear more like a sentence or a
prosaic expression.
Jim Kacian’s Where I Leave Off is both a collection of , and a primer on the
writing of, one-line haiku (as well as one-line haibun!). Kacian illustrates with his
own monoku:
“One-line one-thought”:
“Rather than a piling up of images upon the imagination, a single image is extended or elaborated into a second context, stated or implied.”
Similarly, Jim Wilson describes, “What distinguishes the monoku from the haiku is
that the single line of the monoku has no breaks; it just goes from the first to last
syllable.” The monoku is instead one “complex statement with overlapping parts
forming a complex whole.”
reading the time-travel novel into the next day
Jim Kacian, Where I Leave Off, 2012
crow caw shatters the silence between composers
Janice M. Bostok, Amongst the Graffiti, 2003
snow on the sun navigating childhoods
Alan Summers, Yanty’s Butterfly Haiku Nook: An Anthology, 2016
Regarding the single image concept of his own monoku, Cor van den Heuvel in
‘My Haiku Path’, writes that he tried to find another element to resonate with
‘the shadow in the folded napkin’
but “finally decided, with the encouragement of Anita Virgil, that the image could
stand alone. It didn’t need anything else”. He writes “I began to think of one-image
and one-line haiku as a part of my approach to haiku. There is almost always
something else in the experience of the reader that will resonate, if only sub-
consciously, with a single image-if that image is striking and evocative enough.
One may think of it as an invisible metaphor.”
Commenting on the above one-line of Cor van den Heuvel, Robert Gilbert writes:
“It seems van den Heuvel’s “the shadow in the folded napkin” hovers in its own
shadow: as though the text shadows its representation — imagistic fusion
combines with one-line brevity to create a sense of insubstantiality in the read
text.”
Regarding short one line poem he further adds, “Imagistic fusion compresses
semantic meaning, images, rhythm, and sometimes orthography, irrupting the
reader’s habitual means of parsing phrases and images…. Imagistic fusion works
quite effectively with the single line and shorter haiku, as the velocity of the eye
scanning across the text often enhances the technique.”
leaves blowing into a sentence
Bob Boldman, Cicada 4.4, 1980
Richard writes: “…the object cannot possibly satisfy the subject. …. In Boldman,
we can see the outer reality of leaves blowing into a shape, say a line, but to
become semantic stretches the sense of subject-object agreement.”
II. Classic Style of One-line Haiku: Here the expression follows the classic
internal rhythm pattern with three phrases. It allows, unlike the three-line pattern of
haiku, to be expressed all in one breath.
i open the door darkness letting in a strange moth
Matsuo-Allard, Bird Day Afternoon, 1978
Higginson comments: “A quick first reading suggests isolating "darkness" as the
object encountered when the door is opened, intervening between the actions of
opening the door and letting in the moth. But a haiku reading, sensitive to the
normal short-long-short rhythm of a classical haiku, reforms the center of the
poem as 'darkness [is] letting —an action that certainly increases the
strangeness of that moth and the poem's chill.”
III. One-line Haiku with Classic Multiple Meanings: This style embodies the
surrealistic beauty of monoku writing. It is written in such an artistic way, it
exhibits different meanings when read in different ways. This is perhaps unique in
one-line writing with the liberty of white space facilitating a reader to evolve
different interpretations by switching the different syntactic elements (multiple
stops as defined in Kacian). The poem depicts different meanings and it is the real
beauty of this style of monoku writing.
A haiku, with fragment and phrases having formal line breaks, can not be simply
written in an unbroken format or one-liner. Johannes S. H. Bjerg says the “one-line
haiku seems to be a discipline of its own. What I have discovered is that it
represents another way of thinking, perceiving (sensing), of “speaking” than a
three-line haiku and often with more energy in it as it’s even more condensed in
thought and sensing than a three-line verse.”
It is interesting to note that how a one-liner can be characterized by multiple breaks as exemplified in the below analysis of Hla Yin Mon's poem by Kat Lehmann and Robin Smith in their article, “ Haiku: Walking the Fine Line.”
Kat Lehmann and Robin Smith enumerated with explanation: “The different
readings of the poem can add new depth or dimension, add meanings, extend, or
juxtapose one another to create several interrelated poems. The result can enhance
the reader's enjoyment and be quite magical.”
frog inside the bamboo so tiny the moon
Hla Yin Mon, whiptail, Issue 1, 2021
frog inside the bamboo so tiny the moon (flow of ideas)
frog inside the bamboo so tiny / the moon (emphasis on the moon)
frog inside the bamboo / so tiny the moon (emphasis on the moon's smallness)
frog / inside the bamboo / so tiny the moon (relation between frog and moon)
frog inside / the bamboo so tiny / the moon (location of frog)
frog / inside the bamboo / so tiny / the moon ( chopped meaning and broken
cadence)
Similarly, the following monoku can be interpreted in more than one way by
introducing multiple pauses or kireji in between.
no moon last night I remembered you are gone
Jim Wilson, Shaping Words Blog, 19 July 2010
shadows darkening three-sevenths of her face in sunlight
Elizabeth Searle Lamb, in this blaze of sun, 1975
the zero-shadow moment I am with myself
Pravat Kumar Padhy, The Heron’s Nest Vol. XXI, Number 3, 2019
There are a few other methods generally followed to write monoku. They are as
follows.
Words Arrangements: This is a technique of one-line haiku, more of with the
mere close flow of writing of words. It appears as if a single word by way of
overlapping the words embodies the poetic spell.
Tryingtomakeheadortailofanearthworm
Rafal Zabratynski, 16th International Kusamakura Haiku competition, 2011
Jampackedelevatoreverybuttonpushed
John Stevenson, Frogpond 25:2, 2002
Broken Monoku: Ichthys has composed haiku, essentially, in two lines and is
referred to as ‘Broken monoku’. The monoku is expressed in two lines with a
break or caesura in between. The following is a line expression with a single pause
with characteristic juxtaposition.
footsteps in the street -
echos of a distant youth
Monoku Blog, 31 Dec 2007
Structural Pattern and My Experience
A simple sentence consists of SVO (Subject, Verb, and Object). The arrangement
of words, sublime juxtaposition, internal musicality, and often layered meanings
justify monoku with literary values. It may be emphasized that monoku is certainly
not a prosaic sentence. The poetic effectiveness of the one-liner becomes diluted if
the haiku can be expressed in a conventional short/long/short format.
The variations of structural style along with the use of syntax elements facilitate to
express monoku with a poetic spell. Arrangement of words and internal phrases,
use of gerund, use of the word as both a noun and a verb, subject-object
interrelationship, semantic agreement, subtle expression of relative clauses, and
artful application of similes, metaphors, alliterations, resonance and internal
rhythm could be modulated as different techniques of writing monoku. Sometimes
the techniques of the structural arrangement of verbs at the beginning and towards
the end, placing the image within the image (repetition of the noun) and tonal
musicality give rise to the elusiveness of the brief poem. Monoku is written with a
subtle soft pause (speech rhythm) between the fragments or subject and object.
This white space acts as a pivot for exhibiting the sense of juxtaposition or
disjunction. The technique of one-word images with opposite senses at the
beginning and at the end of the one-liner can be an innovative way of writing
monoku.
Based on the observation and experience, I try to classify the following techniques
based on the variation of structural styles along with the use of syntax elements.
All the examples cited are from my published monoku.
1. Syntax: Artful arrangement of words, subject and object in poetic spirit with
strong internal juxtaposition can be an interesting technique. The arrangement of
words is an important component of monoku in particular.
an aid I curve skyward for the temple tree, The Helping Hand Haiku Anthology,
2020
Here, if we omit the word ‘skyward’, it would be a simple prosaic expression with
subject, verb and object. Here the introduction of the word ‘skyward’ acts as an
action-based link-word to render a more meaningful insight into the monoku.
reaping darkness a sickle moon, Akitsu Quarterly, Winter Issue, 2021
The prosaic form is read as ‘A sickle moon is reaping darkness’. Here the word
phrases are arranged to enhance the poetic spell of the monoku.
2. Word as noun and verb: This is a technique to create multilayered meanings
by using the word either as a noun or as a verb.
ink spots the colour of cleanliness, Otata 14, February 2017
space rocks the strange visitors near the entrance, Proletaria, Dec 2019
In the above monoku, ‘spots’, and ‘rocks’ can be used as both nouns or transit
verbs to portray different meanings.
3. Art of speech rhythm: Monoku is written with a subtle soft pause (speech
rhythm) between the fragments. This white space acts as a pivot for resonating the
juxtaposition.
the moon behind the shyness your crescent smile,
A Hundred Gourds, December 2015
moonrise the sky from the oncology wing,
Presence 61, 2018, a hole in the light:
The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2018
Here there is a subtle pause between ‘the moon behind the shyness’ and ‘your
crescent smile’; and between ‘moonrise ’and ‘the sky from the oncology wing’.
Moreover, there seems to be a poetic reversal of the object and the subject while
writing the monoku, ‘the moon behind…’.
4. Use of gerund: A gerund is a non-finite verb (the ‘ing’ form of a verb). The
artful use of gerund makes one-liner a one-breath poetic expression.
obituary column messaging silence into the sky, Under the Basho, 28 th August 2017
winter morning splitting the silence from the cuckoo’s nest, Under the Basho, 2019
In the above monoku, the use of gerunds, ‘messaging’ and ‘splitting’ is artfully
placed.
5. Subtle expression of relative clauses: The relative clauses such as who, whom,
which, whose, etc. can be used in an implied way.
a stone in her tiny hand once a mountain, Wales Haiku Journal, Summer 2022
The one-liner is read as a stone (which) is in her tiny hand once a mountain. By
not explicitly mentioning the relative clause, ‘which’, the one-liner portrays a one-
breath expression with the element of juxtaposition. Here the technique of
‘Narrowing focus’( mountain to stone) has been applied
6. Figure of speech: Generally in haiku we seldom use figures of speech. But
these can be applied in the form of implied style while composing monoku.
streamflow of another milky way, Heliosparrow Poetry Journal, 27 th October 2020
Here ‘streamflow’ is correlated with ‘milky way’. But the word arrangements have
been articulated in such a way, that the use of simile ‘like’ has been kept as an
implied sense so as to impart the haiku spontaneity and brevity.
7. Sense reversal: The technique of one-word images with opposite senses at the
beginning and at the end of the one-liner can be an innovative way of writing
monoku.
bright sky still holding half of the darkness, Blo͞o Outlier Journal, Winter Issue,
2020
The word ‘bright’ at the beginning and ‘darkness’ at the end of the monoku
exhibit a sense of opposite images which can be termed as disjunction in haiku
characteristics.
Similarly the word phrase ‘who I am’ is repeated in the opposite sense in the
following monoku.
who I am the body contours who I am not,
Whiptail, Issue 4, 2022
8. Words of correlative images: Here the structural style is modulated with the
help of a few stand-alone words, mainly nouns. They are arranged in a way to
create an image with internal juxtaposition.
sun, sea, sand and the footprints, Modern Haiku, 50:3, 2019
In the above monoku, only six stand-alone words are used and interestingly the
interrelation between them portrays a comprehensive image with the repetition of
the sound ‘s’. The ‘footprints’ express a zen feeling by linking the images of the
seashore.
9. Linking of common word phrase: This is a technique to share or link the word
phrase as a common component in the monoku.
granddaughter with office bag my half-way smile,
The Haiku Foundation,
Here ‘with office bag’ can be combined to granddaughter as ‘granddaughter with
office bag’ and can as well be linked to ‘my half-way smile’ as ‘with office bag my
half-way smile’.
10. Use of verb: One can use a verb at the beginning of a one-liner to render a
different kind of approach to monoku writing as mentioned below.
googled for a word full of twinkling stars, The Haiku Foundation, Workplace,
Theme: Lost in Translation, 8 th March 2017
11. Use of pair of verbs: The technique of use of two verbs, one associated with
the first part and the other with the remaining part of monoku.
a tiny bird flies past Mt. Fuji my ego disappears,
The Zen Space, Autumn 2018
Here the verbs ‘flies’ in the beginning, and ‘disappears’ at the end are used in such
a way that the structural arrangement of verbs imparts elusiveness to the haiku.
12. Use of prepositions:
the sound of silence into Shinto shrines,
Akitsu Quarterly, Winter Issue, 2017
In the above example, the preposition for direction ‘into’ infers a movement or
action with abruptive technique.
13. Use of hyphen: Generally hyphen (-) is not used in maonoku. However, it is
often applied to infer a pause or in the form of a word phrase. Alan Summers
defines it as ‘unfulfilled hyphen technique’.
melting away my pain-- garden dew,
The Heron’s Nest, Vol. XV, No. 4, December
2013, tinywords, 18 th January 2018
In the above monoku, the deep pain is subtly hidden or expressed and is compared
with a quick disappearance of dew.
14: Interrogative technique:
what reasons for the trees aggressive wind, Under the Basho, 2018
Here one can feel an expression of the question pattern in the monoku and it ends
with a sense of sprint action.
15. Image within the image: This is an interesting style of expression to create the
image within the same image by repeating the words.
layered shadows mountain behind mountain, Mamba, Issue 9, 2020
dune after dune the migrating songs, Presence 60, 2018
Repetition of words like ‘mountain’ and ‘dune’ in the above monoku renders a
soothing resonance.
16. Multiple images: Monoku with multiple images can be stitched together to
compose a linked version. Such a type of amalgamation of complex images drives
the reader to leap from one setup to the other before arriving at the imagistic fusion
of the expression.
on the back of a refugee a pregnant dog thrashing the shore current, is/let,
21 st March 2020
a piece of chalk in my pocket first day of retirement,
Frogpond, 41:2 Spring–Summer Issue, 2018; Mann Library 15 th February 2021
In the first example, the five images (on the back of /a refugee/a pregnant dog/
thrashing/ the shore current) are embedded together in a flow of expression with
internal rhythm, coherent relationship, and anxiety. Similarly, in the second
example, the three images (a piece of chalk/ in my pocket/ first day of retirement)
culminate into an expression of emotion by interlacing the images.
17. Speculative imagination
children cross one bridge and the other migratory birds, whiptail, 2022
Sometimes technique of ‘speculative’ imagination creates a contrast monoku. In
the above, is it that the children cross one bride after the other or one bridge and
the migratory bird perched on a tree or along with the children also the migratory
birds, etc? Are the children immigrants like migratory birds?
18. Expanded correlation:
friendship day how thoughtfully birds live with the trees, Presence # 73, 2022
Monoku, in its minimalistic style, is characterized by artful use of internal
juxtaposition and poetic rhythm. In the above monoku, the expanded friendship
with the coexistence image in the form of birds with the trees is manifested.
Similarly, in a gentle flow, the melting of thoughts has been demonstrated in the
following monoku.
dew-wet the thought gently melts, Otata, June 2019
19. Historical and cultural reference: The place of interest and cultural
references including literature, sculpture, art, etc sometimes enhance the literary
milieu of monoku. Here Basho’s iconic travel diary, ‘The Narrow Road to the
Deep North’ which symbolizes an exploration of self, nature and divinity, is
referred to with reverence.
Anemone on Basho’s Narrow Road leading the way,
Asahi Shimbun, 5 th March2021
The word ‘Anemone’ in Japanese denotes early spring wildflower. It epitomizes a
symbol to enjoy the moment Here the narration of the phrase ‘Basho’s Narrow
Road leading the way’ has been correlated with the objective identification or
assimilation of the image of the flower.
Artfully one can attempt a one-liner senryu with an element of wittiness and
internal juxtaposition.
a noble thought the last page of the book,
Bamboo Hut Journal, Autumn 2019
coins our ancestors exchanged a great length of time,
Under the Basho, 2017,
Mann Library, 6 th February 2021
Conclusions
James Longenbach says, “Poetry is the sound of language organized in lines.
“More than meter, more than rhyme, more than images or alliteration or
figurative language, line is what distinguishes our experience of poetry as poetry,
rather than some other kind of writing.” The fundamental line is “an idea isolated
by blank space,” Paul Claudel opines. In a one-line poem, more than any other
form, perhaps the blank space holds much significance in exploring the deeper
meaning beyond the boundary of words. I recall one of my recent publications
(October 2021) in MahMight Journal: the dinosaurs we have come a long way. In
fact, there is an imaginative space-time beyond the word ‘dinosaurs’ in this
monoku.
Monoku stands out as an independent sub-genre of haiku expression compressing
the essential haiku elements and thematic illumination of aesthetic haiku sublimity.
There could be various nuanced techniques in the form of word arrangements to
manifest the craft of monoku writing. The use of structural fabric, and creative
placement of word-phrase can enhance the poetic brightness of the images.
Monoku can also be blended with subtle metaphors and with the infusion of
allegorical characters within the broad framework of aesthetic haiku elements. The
structural style enumerated above can facilitate practicing monoku writing. Dan
Beachy-Quick remarks, “Poems might be understood as regions of intense
becoming, spaces of encounter and relations in which–impossibly enough–for a
brief while a kind of metamorphosis occurs and, as Arthur Rimbaud so succinctly
put it, ‘I am other.’ That otherness isn’t an escape from, but an entrance into.”
Monoku is perhaps one of the best examples of blazing spells in its brevity. This
can sprout the new literary art in ever minimalistic expression, as rightly Jacob
Salzer states:
“I find that haiku reminds us to use caution with our words, and also helps us
realize the value of a single word. In terms of economy of language, one-line
haiku makes full use of very few words, even more so than three-line haiku. The
depth, and layers of a single word often really come alive in one-line haiku, as it's
presented in a refined format, making familiar words both fresh and insightful…..”
I wish to conclude with the classic lines of Emily Dickinson wrote:
I dwell in Possibility—
A fairer House than Prose—
And she metaphorically uses poetry as the limitless dimension of extension ‘To
gather Paradise— ’.
References
Bjerg , Johannes S. H. “Editorial statement on One-line Haiku.”Under the Basho
http://archive.underthebasho.com/archives/179-journal-2017/editorial.html
Dickinson, Emily. “I Dwell in Possibility.” Poem Analysis by Emma Baldwin
https://poemanalysis.com/emily-dickinson/i-dwell-in-possibility/
Higginson, William J. “From One-line Poems to One-line Haiku Part One: The
Invitation.” Simply Haiku 2003-2004.
Gilbert, Richard, 2004. “The Disjunctive Dragonfly: A Study of Disjunctive
Method and Definitions in Contemporary English-language Haiku.” Richard
Gilbert Publication: Studies in English Language and Literature 47, Kumamoto
University, Kumamoto, Japan (March 2004)
https://www.tempslibres.org/tl/mirror/hku/etudes/etud2_DisjunctiveDragonfly.pdf
Gilbert, Richard, 2013. “The Disjunctive Dragonfly : A New Approach To English
Language Haiku (Red Moon Press 2013)
Ichthys. Broken Monoku, haiku in one broken line, Monoku Blog 2007,
http://monoku-ichthys.blogspot.in/2007/12/monoku-haiku-in-one-lines.html
Jacob Salzer (Ed.) and the Nook Editorial Staff. Yanty’s Butterfly: Haiku Nook
Anthology, Publisher Lulu.com, pp.388, 2016.
Kacian, Jim. “The Shape of Things To Come.”, Modern Haiku 43.3, 2012
Kacian Jim. “Where I Leave Off ” (Winchester VA: Red Moon Press, 2012).
Klacsanzky, Nicholas. “Pravat Kumar Padhy’s zero.”Haiku Commentary, 16 June
2020.
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Author’s Note: I express my gratitude to Jim Kacian for his valuable suggestions
and edits of the article in its initial version.
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