The Haiku Apprentice.: Memoirs of Writing Poetry in Japan
(eBook)

The problem came to a head one day as I was driving through Tokyo. While waiting for the light to change, I saw the following public service announcement on the side of a bus: Omoiyari hitonikurumani konomachini (Sympathy / toward people, toward cars / toward this town). "Seventeen syllables. Five-seven-five format. It must be a haiku," I thought. But when I reached the office and repeated the announcement to my Japanese coworkers, none of them thought it was a haiku. I knew they were thinking to themselves, "What kind of a lunatic is she?" One tried to break the news to me gently, "It's not a haiku, it's an advertising jingle." Well, I knew it was an advertising jingle, but still, wasn't it an advertising jingle haiku? - From The Haiku Apprentice. Abigail Friedman was an American diplomat in Tokyo, not a writer. A chance encounter leads her to a haiku group, where she discovers poetry that anyone can enjoy writing. Her teacher and fellow haiku group members instruct her in seasonal flora and fauna, and gradually she learns to describe the world in plain words, becoming one of the millions in Japan who lead a haiku life. This is the author's story of her literary and cultural voyage, and more: it is an invitation to readers to form their own neighborhood haiku groups and, like her, learn to see the world anew.