Task 15: Rafta Rafta HAIKU

A couple of moans before I start:

1. There are 19 members of the Workshop now, and I expect to see all 19 members post BEFORE the deadline each fortnight. I do not know how to enforce this - or how else to motivate you, so I would like YOU to tell me, please, what else I can do to help.
2. Please spend as much time as possible reading other people's tasks (and their comments) too. It is often the case that you can learn just as much from other students' work as you can from me.

Moan over...


A poetry task, this week, but a poetry task with a difference.

The poem: a haiku (more tips on that later)
The topic: the feelings/emotions of a character from the play Rafta Rafta
The challenge: one haiku for each of the seven characters listed below (7 haikus in total)
The deadline: midnight on Saturday 24th November (that's over two weeks!!!)

The characters:

1. Atul Dutt (the groom)
2. Eeshwar Dutt (Atul's father)
3. Lopa Dutt (Atul's mother)
4. Jai Dutt (Atul's brother)
5. Vina Patel (the bride)
6. Laxman Patel (Vina's father)
7. Lata Patel (Vina's mother)
   

I have chosen the haiku as your poetic form for this task because of its conciseness and brevity. The fantastic thing about a haiku is how it distills emotions into such a small collection of words. Imagine a chemical substance boiled and filtered and centrifuged and evaporated until only the very purest form remains - and that is a haiku in poetry. You will only be able to excel in this task if you spend a considerable amount of time on each one. (I recommend half an hour on each haiku; spread them over the whole two weeks, with maybe one every 2 or 3 days?)

The rules are incredibly strict:

1. Three lines. Line 1 = 5 syllables; Line 2 = 7 syllables; Line 3 = 5 syllables.
2. Haikus do not tell stories or describe action. They are about something far more abstract, and typically explore EMOTION.
3. There is usually a contrast - between the first two lines and the third line. In between Lines 2 and 3 there is an abrupt change - and the challenge is finding the emotional catalyst for this (in other words, the change needs to make sense; it needs to have a reason/motivation).

Here are some useful tips:

• To get inspiration, read the ancient works of famous haiku poets like Issa and Basho. Click here for a few examples.
• Write what you (or your character) feel, not what you see. Haiku are usually about abstracts and emotions.
  
• Remember that any haiku in a language other than Japanese is not truly a haiku - so what you are going to be writing is more like a 'haiku-inspired poem'
• The haiku doesn't have to be serious, it can be funny! You will need to adapt the haiku to fit the character whose emotions you are transmitting.
• So think long and hard about the characters you saw on stage, and try really hard to empathise - to get truly inside their heads, and express the complex emotional music playing within them...
  

As always, here are my attempts:

Atul:
Suffocated soul
Weak beneath my father's fist
Aching to break free

Eeshwar:
Whisky gives me fire
Women complicate my world
Lachrimosity

Lopa:
History still haunts
Casts its shadow far and wide
Mourning my lost love

Jai:
I could give her more
Satisfy her hungry flesh
Lovebirds behind bars

Vina:
Enigmatic man
Shares my bed but hides his heart
Uncertain journey

Laxman:
Amputee father
Sooner lose an arm or leg
Keep my treasure safe

Lata:
Innocent love thief
Give me back his ageing heart
Don't begrudge me that