(Live Workshop) Haiku & Senryu: Rekindling A Sense of Wonder
with Marc Olmsted
Appreciating life’s every-day “snapshots” is possible even in private and global stressful times. Get this poetic habit for finding and establishing art in daily routine.
This is a generative workshop that will exam the related Japanese genres of haiku, haibun and senryu (collectively known as haikai) with attention to measure, topics and forms. Though many are familiar with haiku, senryu and haibun are lesser known. Haiku deals with nature. Senryu takes the same form as haiku but with human nature and its foibles as its subject matter, and haibun is a short prose poem ending with a haiku. Please bring a pocket notebook and pen or pencil, or use your phone..
Because these styles are essentially a contemplative art, students will also be grounded in a sense of wonder and appreciation without grasping ( not clinging to that which changes) for proper preparation.
Styles will include the traditional and the modern, including poets who don’t follow the 5-7-5 syllable line most of us learned in high school (Jack Kerouac) and the “American sentence” – a 17-syllable sentence invented by Allen Ginsberg. Open to all levels from beginner’s mind to advanced practitioner.
Learning and Writing Goals
By the end of this webinar, you will have learned and crafted:
- A daily poetry practice that takes only minutes
- How to write a successful haiku, senryu and haikbun
- Selecting vividness of image rather than generalized or “editorial” language
- Cheering up in a challenging world with this poetic view
- The possibility of embracing the bittersweet beauty and loss of constant change
Webinar Schedule
This webinar runs on Zoom from 7-10pm EST. The schedule is as follows:
- 7-8 pm: Introductions & lecture.
- 8-9 pm: Read examples of haiku; guided writing exercise
- 9-10 pm: Share writing, Q&A, and lecture.
Expect in-depth instruction, laughter and energizing discussion. Anyone who does not want to read what they wrote in class but wants private feedback can e-mail the instructors afterwards. An on-line journal of some student poetry from the class will be posted on the Writers.com website.
Student Feedback for Marc Olmsted:
