I've been like MAJOR soaking up haiku for the last three months. Pip and I are writing a storytelling theatre module called 'Kwaidan' ( http://mythologic.info/kwaidan/index.html )for Phenomenon (Canberra, June). Kwaidan is essentially a haunted-castle-in-a-snowstorm ghost story, but I decided early on to structure the tale and the character sheets using haiku & realted forms: I wanted the narrative to have a very haibun character. Luckily, I work next door to one of the largest libraries in the southern hemisphere...

Here are some of the key haiku from the module...

Walking in the night
Snow is falling
A farewell to form.

Sleet falling:
Fathomless, infinite
Loneliness.
Jōsō

There is neither heaven nor earth,
only snow
Falling incessantly.
Hashin

Fields and mountains -
The snow has taken them all,
Nothing remains.
Jōsō

such a storm!
on the roof are falling
all the stars


In the wintry grove
Echoes
of long, long ago.
Issa


I'm playtesting next weekend. Deadline panic!

Cheers

John