
Poetry as process
Eileen R. Tabios, who created the fascinating form of poetry called Hay(na)ku, offers her poetry from 1996 to the present. Eileen created this form which can be described as a tercet of three lines, a total of six words (1 in the first line, 2 in the second line, and 3 in the third line - or the reverse of order of the lines/words) with no restriction on syllables or stressed words or rhymes. In this collection she includes computer-inspired poetry and conceptual poems. The impact of her creation has influenced poets globally.
An example follows:
On A Pyre: An Ars Poetica
Flames
eating my
body hotter than
fire
for the
poetry in burning
books
ravage more
than a drought-stricken
forest’s
revenge for
the creation of
paper
so flimsy
against non-metaphorical needs –
At book's end there is among other forms, a series of ‘Haybun’ works – an opening hay(na)ku tercet serving as impetus to the subsequent prose. This is experimental poetry now, but there were days when sonnets and villanelles were considered experimental....Very successful book, this.
Editor's note: This review has been published with the permission of Grady Harp. Like what you read? Subscribe to the SFRB's free daily email notice so you can be up-to-date on our latest articles. Scroll up this page to the sign-up field on your right.