Poetry Form - The Hay(na)ku: a word-count form

Index of Poetry. Highlights for Poetry. Books of Poetry Form. How to Write Poetry.

Essays on how to write specific forms:
Haibun. Haiga. Haiku. Hay(na)ku. Rengay. Renku. Tanka. Tan-renga.
Concrete. Fib. Ghazal. Lai. Pantoum. Prose poem. Rondeau. Rubáiyát.
Sestina. Skaldic verse. Sonnet. Terza rima. Triolet. Tritina. Villanelle.

Las formas de la poesía en Español: El Poema Concreto.

Haiku by Shiki. Haiku by J. Zimmerman.

New Books of Poetry Form. New Latest books read.

The Hay(na)ku Verse Form, a 21st century poetry form.
by J. Zimmerman

History. Example. Form.
Eileen Tabios, mother of Hay(na)ku.
Eileen Tabios The Singer and Others: Flamenco Hay(na)ku.
Interview with Jean Vengua, anthologist of Hay(na)ku.
The Chained Hay(na)ku Project
Your Composition. References on Form.

History.

Invented by poet Eileen Tabios, who is also publisher, Meritage Press.
Officially inaugurated on the Web on June 12th, 2003 (Philippine Independence Day).
The form spread through the Web to poets all over the world.
Eileen Tabios initially called the form "the Pinoy Haiku".
Vince Gotera proposed the name "hay(na)ku", and this name has stuck. This corresponds to a Tagalog phrase that means roughly "Oh!" or (in Spanish) "Madre mía".
Hay(na)ku is pronounced ai-na-koo, the first syllable being pronounced "ai" (silent aitch, like Cockneys would say it).

Example.

Some of my favorites in the anthology are Dan Waber's:

Nothing adds up. Love isn't math.

and Craig Freeman's

Moonshine And great Quantities of hills.

Form.

In a traditional Hay(na)ku, there are:

A tercet: 3 lines.
A total of 6 words: 1 in the first line, 2 in the second line, and 3 in the third line.
There is no restriction on syllables or stressed or rhymes.

Variations:

In the 'reverse' haynaku, the longest line is placed first and the shortest last. The total is still 6 words: 3 in the first line, 2 in the second line, and 1 in the third line.
Multiple hay(na)ku can be chained to form a longer poem.
See the anthology for more variations.

More on Eileen Tabios.

Check:

Chap (chapbook): The Singer and Others: Flamenco Hay(na)ku.
Her Haynaku Blog.
Her prolific publication of books of poetry, as shown at her poetics blog.

In response to my question about the co-publishing, by both her Meritage Press and the Finnish xpress(ed), Eileen says:

"That's all a function of the internet -- meeting Jukka-Pekka Kervinen who lives in Espoo, who later ends up being my publisher as well as co-publisher on certain ventures. Wonders of the internet ... which is all synchronistic, as the hay(na)ku certainly would not have spread as rapidly without poetry blogland."

The Jean Vengua Interview.

Jean Vengua made time from her book tour to talk to our interviewer Ariadne Unst about Hay(na)ku and The First Hay(na)ku Anthology. Here is the transcript.

A Last Word.

Just because you start with the intention of writing a Hay(na)ku, you do not have to keep your poem in that form if it does not work for you. Your attempt to write a formal poem may help you find words that you would not have found otherwise. And you may decide that you choose to end up with a poem in a different form, perhaps even a prose poem.

Books.

The First Hay(na)ku Anthology (2005) edited by Jean Vengua (USA) and Mark Young (born New Zealand, lives in Australia).

The First Hay(na)ku Anthology introduces the new poetic form, the hay(na)ku, invented by Eileen Tabios (with inspiration from Richard Brautigan, Jack Kerouac, and meditations on the Filipino transcolonial and diasporic experience). Poems and essays by 38 poets.

The Chained Hay(na)ku Project (2010)

Curated by Ivy Alvarez, John Bloomberg-Rissman, Ernesto Priego, & Eileen Tabios
Meritage Press: publisher.

Linked hay(na)ku by about 100 poets and artists.

[Thanks for visiting.]