The Cockroach Haiku's-or Hokku-With Commentary

The Cockroach Haiku’s (or Hokku)

Commentary:

The haiku is a Japanese tercet; its lines consist of 5, 7 and 5 syllables respectively. In my first book of poetry, I did several of them; to be proper, the lines are unrhymed, I say proper in the sense of how the poem was meant to be.

We can add to this hardship, short poem, by adding the name of a longer Haiku, called Tanka. Here we add two additional lines. Thus, making a chain, and now we got five lines; the two extra lines have seven syllables each. I have done these poems in the past (not naming them Tanka, but they were). This part of the poem should revolve smoothly with the above three lines.

There are always exceptions to the policy, is that not true, and in my case, it is good, because I do not like to be locked into form, to where it robs effect, and emotion. Thus, we have the Enclosed Tercet, that allows rhyme (aba)) usually)). Then we have the Sicilian Tercet, this also allows rhyme, iambic pentameter.

We can also go to the Triad, a loose Irish form. I’m part Irish, so this can come in handy. Here we have three tercets, all bearing some relationship to each other, and all consisting to be one poem. Then you see Siluk’s Haiku, and that is another story. We have several linking poems, some with a slight rhyme to it, others not, the lines are 17-syllables, and usually I like them 7, 5, 5 --not always though. (there are other forms of haiku I have not mentioned, Chinese, etc., and I think the main purpose of the haiku, or poem (or any poem for that matter), is to insure it is readable to the reader (if not a specific group in mind, for some poems are so difficult, you need a combination to unlock them). Light it may be, or hard and heavy. Here it is lighthearted, but much truth to it.

The Cockroach Haiku’s (The poems)

Cockroach I

Now listen, you Cockroaches—
don’t tell the thieves—
where I live!

#1639

Cockroach II

Leaping from my neighbor’s yard
“Excuse me,” he said,
“Where is the damn bread?”

#1640

Cockroach III

The night is so long and hot,
Here the cockroach rests
By my bedroom door!

#1641

Cockroach IV

Fatty cockroach, please stand still
Dennis is coming
(where are my glasses?)

#1642

Cockroach V

The old fat cockroach, he bends
His fat little knees
Listening for me.

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Cockroach VI

Cockroach, cockroach please beware
I’m stepping down
These hard wooden stairs.

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Cockroach VII

Since it is summer and hot
Can we not, have some—
Cockroach courtesy?

#1644

(1-30-2007))Written in the evening, while in Lima, Peru)) Commentary added 1-31-2007, and poems restructured.

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See Dennis' web site: dennissiluk.tripod.com

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