Monoku: Historical Perspective and Experimenting with Structural Style

 

Pravat Kumar Padhy

Introduction

Monoku is a one-line poem featuring brevity and clarity of expression. The term was coined by Jim Kacian in his essay “The Shape of Things to Come,” and weds a Greek prefix (mono, one) with a Japanese suffix (ku, poem) to create a new English term. The concept of one-line haiku in English developed in the 1970s. Japanese haiku are written in a single vertical line with 17 on (sound units, not syllables). There may be subtle pauses in monoku corresponding to speech rhythm. (In conventional 3-line haiku, there is one pause (kireji) between the fragment and phrase of haiku.) Monoku can be interpreted with multiple pauses (kireji) depending on how it is parsed. Some one-breath monoku cannot be expressed in conventional 3-line haiku. Hence a poet may opt to use monoku to create imageries with the shortest speech.

Alan Summer suggests there is a white space, as though some words have been left unsaid in monoku which readers nevertheless divine. In conventional 3-line (s/l/s) English-language haiku, there is a single kireji, and the contrast of images is explicit. Monoku, however, may create multiple stops. It is worth mentioning that monoku are not sentences.

Historical Perspective

Monoku has been called monostich, one-line ku, a one-liner, one sentence ku etc. This casual usage is often inexact if not totally wrong. The word ‘monoku’ might have been derived from, ‘Epigram’, a Greek poetry style.

Monostich were first penned by the ancient Roman author Marcus Valerius Martialis  (c. 38 and 41 CE–c. 102 and 104 CE). Edward Hirsh, in his A Poet’s Glossary, states “As [per] the Greek Anthology (tenth century), it is said that the monostich can be a proverb, an aphorism, a fragment, an image, an enigma.” Here are some contemporary examples:

Valery Bryusov (Russian, 1894): 

           Oh, cover thy pale feet! (translated by Babette Deutsch and Avrahm Yarmolinsky)

 Guillaume Apollinaire (French, Poems 1898–1913): 

           And the single string of the sea trumpets (translated by William Meridith)

 Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore (Bengali, 1916, The Stray Birds):

           If you shed tears when you miss the sun, you also miss the stars.

 K. S. Venkatramani (English, 1921, Paper Boats): 

           the corners cut paper boat I float again.

Ralph Hodgson (1871–1962)’s one-liner ‘Skunks,’ the squirrel said, ‘are sent to try us.’ is an early attempt at a one-line poem. Walt Whitman included one monostich (though with a very long line) in the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass. In 1893 and 1894 Edith Thomas, possibly in collaboration with an amateur author Samuel R. Elliott (1836–1909), anonymously published several one-line poems in The Atlantic Monthly intended as a joke. Guillaume Apollinaire is known as the first poet to write a one-line poem in his 1913 book Alcools: Poems 1898-1913 in French. Lafcadio Hearn, one of the earliest translators of Japanese haiku into English, published his results as one-line poems. Emmanuel Lochac published one-liners in French under the title Monostiches in a literary magazine in 1929 and included some in his collection with that title in 1936:

           Schooner bearing away the sun in its arms (translated by Breunig)  

In the 1920s one-line poetry was rediscovered in the US by Yvor Winters, Edwin Ford Piper, Charles Reznikoff and others. Later John Ashbery (“37 Haiku”), Allen Ginsberg (American Sentences, 1995-1997; each with 17 syllables (“Death & Fame: Last Poems”), and Ian McBryde pioneered the concept through their published work. 

Jack Kerouac was the first to experiment with a single-line format in the 1950s. He has been followed by John Wills, M. Kettner, Jim Kacian, Janice Bostok, Chris Gordon, Scott Metz, Stuart Quine, John Barlow, and many others. William Higginson's “Characteristics of monostichs” has enumerated the historical perspective of one-line haiku. Michael Segers in the early 1970s and subsequently Matsuo Allard and Marlene Mountain shaped the art of monoku writing in English.

Allan Burns in his Montage for the week of May 3, 2009 (and also as Gallery Three in Montage: The Book) writes:

“English-language haiku tend to be written in three lines, corresponding to the metrical division of Japanese haiku, but Japanese haiku are actually usually printed in a single vertical column. By way of analogy with this form, poets such as Matsuo Allard and Marlene Mountain began writing English haiku in a single horizontal line—and thanks to their efforts that form has become established in English as the major alternative to the typical three-liner”.

Hiroaki Sato was the pioneer of translating Japanese haiku into one line in English. Mountain (formerly Wills) wrote collaborative linked one-line haiku sequences (known as Mountain Sonnets, each consisting of 14 one-line haiku). 

The definition quoted in Whiptail Journal (eds. Kat Lehmann and Robin Smith):

“Unlike poetry with line breaks, single-line poetry does not rely on physical enjambment to enhance the meaning of the poem. As such, one-line poetry can have more than one break in syntax to create multiple meanings. Single-line poetry can be a slippery lizard or a long-necked swan.” 

Some of the memorable examples of one-line haiku:

 A dandelion seed floats above the marsh grass with the mosquitos.

          Allen Ginsberg, “Following haiku”, White Shroud: Poems 1980–1985

  in the eggshell after the chick has hatched

          Michael Segers, Haiku Magazine, 1971 

 a dixie cup floats down the Nile.

          Cor Van den Heuvel, EO7, 1964

 old woodcutter rests on the rings of the oak

          Marlene Mountain, the old tin roof, 1976

 an icicle the moon drifting through it

          Matsuo Allard, Bird Day Afternoon, 1978

 cry of the peacock widens the crack in the adobe wall

          Elizabeth Searle Lamb, Harold G. Henderson Haiku Awards 1981

 my head in the clouds in the lake

          Ruby Spriggs, Frogpond 6:2, 14. 

 Some star or other went out, and you, thank you for your book and year

          John Ashbery, “37 Haiku”, 1984

 Kind of Blue the smell of rain

          Allan Burns, Acorn 20, 2008. 

 stone before stone Buddha

          Karma Tenzing Wangchuk, Stone Buddha, 2009, 54. 

 Schooner bearing away the sun in its arms 

          Emmanuel Lochac, Monostiches, 1929

 pig and i spring rain

          Marlene Mountain, Frogpond 2.3-4, 1979

 the thyme-scented morning lizard's tongue flicking out

          Martin Lucas, Presence 39, 2009

 i hope i’m right where the river ice ends

          Jim Kacian, Frogpond  35.2, 2012

 in the dark of the kitchen with the fridge door open winter solstice

          Oliver Schopfer, Under the Basho, 2015

 envelope my thumb slips open the seal of his tongue

          Janice M. Bostok, Amongst the Graffiti: Collected Haiku and Senryu 1972-2002 (2005)

 dusk from rock to rock a waterthrush

          John Wills, The Haiku Anthology (Ed. Cor Van Den Heuvel) 2000

Techniques of Monoku Writing

William J. Higginson, Jim Kacian, Alan Summers, Jacob Salzer, and others have broadly dealt with the techniques and styles of monoku writing. Artful placement of words, creating multiple options by the use of the word as verb and noun, sometimes avoiding the use of verb and expressing in condensed form, and resonating multiple meanings with more than one pause (kireji) are just some of the most common techniques. The poetic use of the images, juxtaposing images of nature and the sense of human behavior, etc constitute the art of monoku expression.

Abruptive Techniques, as suggested by Alan Summers, is a term for sharp changes in directing the reader. It is one method for breaking up normal syntax/semantics.

Summers writes, “Whether the author wants these monoku read rapidly or a little slower, we touch on just some of those where velocity with quality of language as sound, not just meaning and content, can play its part, and produce from velocity and quality something I will call veloquality. Does one-line haiku echo the one line image of the fragment/section and phrasal (two-line imagery) sections that creates sparks, bringing together an altogether different and extra overall image? Or does it do something different to the technique of juxtaposing imagery? Above all it’s the invisible text that counts as much as the visible text, as a catalyst for everything, including the vertical layers of alternative, additional, and complementary meanings from the horizontal surface meaning.”  

The broad techniques of monoku writing such as haiku in one-breath, classic style of one-line haiku and one-line haiku with classic multiple meanings have been described by William J. Higginson. 

I. Haiku in One-breath: The poem starts and finishes in one stroke without any pause or break in between (poetics of caesura). It has to have a vivid interplay of image and poetic sense. Otherwise, it would appear more like a sentence or a prosaic expression.

Jim Kacian’s Where I Leave Off is both a collection of , and a primer on the writing of, one-line haiku (as well as one-line haibun!). Kacian illustrates with his own monoku:

“One-line one-thought”: “Rather than a piling up of images upon the imagination, a single image is extended or elaborated into a second context, stated or implied.”

Similarly, Jim Wilson describes, “What distinguishes the monoku from the haiku is that the single line of the monoku has no breaks; it just goes from the first to last syllable.”  The monoku is instead one “complex statement with overlapping parts forming a complex whole.”   

 reading the time-travel novel into the next day

          Jim Kacian, Where I Leave Off, 2012

 crow caw shatters the silence between composers

          Janice M. Bostok, Amongst the Graffiti, 2003 

snow on the sun navigating childhoods

          Alan Summers, Yanty’s Butterfly Haiku Nook: An Anthology, 2016

Regarding the single image concept of his own monoku, Cor van den Heuvel in ‘My Haiku Path’,   writes that he tried to find another element to resonate with

‘the shadow in the folded napkin’

but “finally decided, with the encouragement of Anita Virgil, that the image could stand alone. It didn’t need anything else”. He writes “I began to think of one-image and one-line haiku as a part of my approach to haiku. There is almost always something else in the experience of the reader that will resonate, if only sub-consciously, with a single image-if that image is striking and evocative enough. One may think of it as an invisible metaphor.”

Commenting on the above one-line of  Cor van den Heuvel, Robert Gilbert  writes:

“It seems van den Heuvel’s “the shadow in the folded napkin” hovers in its own shadow: as though the text shadows its representation — imagistic fusion combines with one-line brevity to create a sense of insubstantiality in the read text.”

Regarding short one line poem he further adds, “Imagistic fusion compresses semantic meaning, images, rhythm, and sometimes orthography, irrupting the reader’s habitual means of parsing phrases and images…. Imagistic fusion works quite effectively with the single line and shorter haiku, as the velocity of the eye scanning across the text often enhances the technique.”

leaves blowing into a sentence

           Bob Boldman, Cicada 4.4, 1980

Richard writes: “…the object cannot possibly satisfy the subject. …. In Boldman, we can see the outer reality of leaves blowing into a shape, say a line, but to become semantic stretches the sense of subject-object agreement.”

II. Classic Style of One-line Haiku: Here the expression follows the classic internal rhythm pattern with three phrases. It allows, unlike the three-line pattern of haiku, to be expressed all in one breath. 

i open the door darkness letting in a strange moth

          Matsuo-Allard, Bird Day Afternoon, 1978

Higginson comments: “A quick first reading suggests isolating "darkness" as the object encountered when the door is opened, intervening between the actions of opening the door and letting in the moth. But a haiku reading, sensitive to the normal short-long-short rhythm of a classical haiku, reforms the center of the poem as "darkness [is] letting in"—an action that certainly increases the strangeness of that moth and the poem's chill.”

III. One-line Haiku with Classic Multiple Meanings: This style embodies the surrealistic beauty of monoku writing. It is written in such an artistic way, it exhibits different meanings when read in different ways. This is perhaps unique in one-line writing with the liberty of white space facilitating a reader to evolve different interpretations by switching the different syntactic elements (multiple stops as defined in Kacian). The poem depicts different meanings and it is the real beauty of this style of monoku writing. 

A haiku, with fragment and phrases having formal line breaks, can not be simply written in an unbroken format or one-liner. Johannes S. H. Bjerg says the “one-line haiku seems to be a discipline of its own. What I have discovered is that it represents another way of thinking, perceiving (sensing), of “speaking” than a three-line haiku and often with more energy in it as it’s even more condensed in thought and sensing than a three-line verse.” 

It is interesting to note that how a one-liner can be  characterized by multiple breaks as exemplified by Kat Lehmann and Robin Smith in their article, “ Haiku: Walking the Fine Line.”

Kat Lehmann and Robin Smith enumerated with explanation: “The different readings of the poem can add new depth or dimension, add meanings, extend, or juxtapose one another to create several interrelated poems. The result can enhance the reader's enjoyment and be quite magical.”

​frog inside the bamboo so tiny the moon

           Hla Yin Mon, whiptail, Issue 1, 2021

frog inside the bamboo so tiny the moon (flow of ideas)

frog inside the bamboo so tiny / the moon (emphasis on the moon)

frog inside the bamboo / so tiny the moon (emphasis on the moon's smallness)
 
frog / inside the bamboo / so tiny the moon (relation between frog and moon)

frog inside / the bamboo so tiny / the moon (location of frog)
​   

frog / inside  the bamboo /  so tiny / the moon ( chopped meaning and broken cadence)

Similarly, the following monoku can be interpreted in more than one way by introducing multiple pauses or kireji in between.

 no moon last night I remembered you are gone

          Jim Wilson, Shaping Words Blog, 19 July 2010

 shadows darkening three-sevenths of her face in sunlight

          Elizabeth Searle Lamb, in this blaze of sun, 1975

 the zero-shadow moment I am with myself

          Pravat Kumar Padhy, The Heron’s Nest Vol. XXI, Number 3, 2019

 There are a few other methods generally followed to write monoku. They are as follows. 

Words Arrangements: This is a technique of one-line haiku, more of with the mere close flow of writing of words. It appears as if a single word by way of overlapping the words embodies the poetic spell.

s p a c e d o u t o v e r t h e e s c a r p m e n t t h e s t a r s

          Lorin Ford, Paper wasp, Feb 2008

Tryingtomakeheadortailofanearthworm

          Rafal Zabratynski, 16th International Kusamakura Haiku competition, 2011

 Jampackedelevatoreverybuttonpushed

          John Stevenson, Frogpond 25:2, 2002

Broken Monoku: Ichthys has composed haiku, essentially, in two lines and is referred to as ‘Broken monoku’. The monoku is expressed in two lines with a break or caesura in between. The following is a line expression with a single pause with characteristic juxtaposition.

 footsteps in the street - 

                                               echos of a distant youth

          Monoku Blog, 31 Dec 2007

Structural Pattern and My Experience

A simple sentence consists of SVO (Subject, Verb, and Object). The arrangement of words, sublime juxtaposition, internal musicality, and often layered meanings justify monoku with literary values. It may be emphasized that monoku is certainly not a prosaic sentence. The poetic effectiveness of the one-liner becomes diluted if the haiku can be expressed in a conventional short/long/short format.

The variations of structural style along with the use of syntax elements facilitate to express monoku with a poetic spell. Arrangement of words and internal phrases, use of gerund, use of the word as both a noun and a verb, subject-object interrelationship, semantic agreement, subtle expression of relative clauses, and artful application of similes, metaphors, alliterations, resonance and internal rhythm could be modulated as different techniques of writing monoku. Sometimes the techniques of the structural arrangement of verbs at the beginning and towards the end, placing the image within the image (repetition of the noun) and tonal musicality give rise to the elusiveness of the brief poem. Monoku is written with a subtle soft pause (speech rhythm) between the fragments or subject and object. This white space acts as a pivot for exhibiting the sense of juxtaposition or disjunction. The technique of one-word images with opposite senses at the beginning and at the end of the one-liner can be an innovative way of writing monoku.

Based on the observation and experience, I try to classify the following techniques based on the variation of structural styles along with the use of syntax elements. All the examples cited are from my published monoku. 

1. Syntax: Artful arrangement of words, subject and object in poetic spirit with strong internal juxtaposition can be an interesting technique. The arrangement of words is an important component of monoku in particular.

an aid I curve skyward for the temple tree, The Helping Hand Haiku Anthology, 2020

Here, if we omit the word ‘skyward’, it would be a simple prosaic expression with subject, verb and object. Here the introduction of the word ‘skyward’ acts as an action-based link-word to render a more meaningful insight into the monoku.

reaping darkness a sickle moon,  Akitsu Quarterly, Winter Issue, 2021

The prosaic form is read as ‘A sickle moon is reaping darkness’. Here the word phrases are arranged to enhance the poetic spell of the monoku.

2. Word as noun and verb: This is a technique to create multilayered meanings by using the word either as a noun or as a verb.

ink spots the colour of cleanliness, Otata 14, February 2017

space rocks the strange visitors near the entrance, Proletaria, Dec 2019

In the above monoku, ‘spots’, and ‘rocks’ can be used as both nouns or transit verbs to portray different meanings.

3. Art of speech rhythm: Monoku is written with a subtle soft pause (speech rhythm) between the fragments. This white space acts as a pivot for resonating the juxtaposition.

the moon behind the shyness your crescent smile, A Hundred Gourds, December 2015

moonrise the sky from the oncology wing, Presence 61, 2018,  a hole in the light: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2018

Here there is a subtle pause between ‘the moon behind the shyness’ and ‘your crescent smile’; and between ‘moonrise ’and ‘the sky from the oncology wing’. Moreover, there seems to be a poetic reversal of the object and the subject while writing the monoku, ‘the moon behind…’.

4. Use of gerund: A gerund is a non-finite verb (the ‘ing’ form of a verb). The artful use of gerund makes one-liner a one-breath poetic expression.

obituary column messaging silence into the sky, Under the Basho, 28^th August 2017

winter morning splitting the silence from the cuckoo’s nest, Under the Basho, 2019

In the above monoku, the use of gerunds, ‘messaging’ and ‘splitting’ is artfully placed.

5. Subtle expression of relative clauses: The relative clauses such as who, whom, which, whose, etc. can be used in an implied way.

a stone in her tiny hand once a mountain, Wales Haiku Journal, Summer 2022

The one-liner is read as a stone (which) is in her tiny hand once a mountain. By not explicitly mentioning the relative clause, ‘which’, the one-liner portrays a one-breath expression with the element of juxtaposition. Here the technique of ‘Narrowing focus’( mountain to stone) has been applied

6. Figures of speech: Generally in haiku we seldom use figures of speech. But these can be applied in the form of implied style while composing monoku. 

streamflow of another milky way, Heliosparrow Poetry Journal, 27^th  October 2020

Here ‘streamflow’ is correlated with ‘milky way’. But the word arrangements have been articulated in such a way, that the use of simile ‘like’ has been kept as an implied sense so as to impart the haiku spontaneity and brevity.

7. Sense reversal: The technique of one-word images with opposite senses at the beginning and at the end of the one-liner can be an innovative way of writing monoku.

bright sky still holding half of the darkness, Blo͞o Outlier Journal, Winter Issue, 2020

The word ‘bright’ at the beginning and ‘darkness’ at the end of the monoku  exhibit a sense of opposite images which can be termed as disjunction in haiku characteristics.

Similarly the word phrase ‘who I am’ is repeated in the opposite sense in the following  monoku.

 

who I am the body contours who I am not, Whiptail, Issue 4, 2022 

8.  Words of correlative images: Here the structural style is modulated with the help of a few stand-alone words, mainly nouns. They are arranged in a way to create an image with internal juxtaposition.

sun, sea, sand and the footprints, Modern Haiku, 50:3, 2019

In the above monoku, only six stand-alone words are used and interestingly the interrelation between them portrays a comprehensive image with the repetition of the sound ‘s’. The ‘footprints’ express a zen feeling by linking the images of the seashore.

9. Linking of common word phrase: This is a technique to share or link the word phrase as a common component in the monoku.

 

granddaughter with office bag my half-way smile, The Haiku Foundation, WorkPlace: Retirement, 18^th January 2017

 

Here ‘with office bag’ can be combined to granddaughter as ‘granddaughter with office bag’ and can as well be linked to ‘my half-way smile’ as ‘with office bag my half-way smile’.

 

10. Use of verb: One can use a verb at the beginning of a one-liner to render a different kind of approach to monoku writing as mentioned below.

googled for a word full of twinkling stars, The Haiku Foundation, Workplace, Theme: Lost in Translation, 8^th March 2017

11. Use of pair of verbs: The technique of use of two verbs, one associated with the first part and the other with the remaining part of monoku.

a tiny bird flies  past  Mt. Fuji  my ego disappears, The Zen Space, Autumn 2018

Here the verbs ‘flies’ in the beginning, and ‘disappears’ at the end are used in such a way that the structural arrangement of verbs imparts elusiveness to the haiku.

12. Use of prepositions:

the sound of silence into Shinto shrines, Akitsu Quarterly, Winter Issue, 2017

In the above example, the preposition for direction ‘into’ infers a movement or action with abruptive technique.

13. Use of hyphen: Generally hyphen (-) is not used in maonoku.  However, it is often applied to infer a pause or in the form of a word phrase. Alan Summers defines it as ‘unfulfilled  hyphen technique’.

 melting away my pain-- garden dew, The Heron’s Nest, Vol. XV, No. 4, December 2013, tinywords, 18^th January 2018

 

In the above monoku, the deep pain is subtly hidden or expressed and is compared with a quick disappearance of dew.

 

14: Interrogative technique:

 

what reasons for the trees aggressive wind, Under the Basho, 2018

 

Here one can feel an expression of the question pattern in the monoku and it ends with a sense of sprint action.

15. Image within the image: This is an interesting style of expression to create the image within the same image by repeating the words.

layered shadows mountain behind mountain, Mamba, Issue 9, 2020

dune after dune the migrating songs, Presence 60, 2018

 Repetition of words like ‘mountain’ and ‘dune’ in the above monoku renders a soothing resonance.

16.  Multiple images: Monoku with multiple images can be stitched together to compose a linked version. Such a type of amalgamation of complex images drives the reader to leap from one setup to the other before arriving at the imagistic fusion of the expression.

on the back of a refugee a pregnant dog thrashing the shore current, is/let, 21^st March 2020

a piece of chalk in my pocket  first day of retirement, Frogpond, 41:2 Spring –Summer Issue, 2018; Mann Library 15^th February 2021

 

In the first example, the five images (on the back of /a refugee/a pregnant dog/ thrashing/ the shore current) are embedded together in a flow of expression with internal rhythm, coherent relationship, and anxiety. Similarly, in the second example, the three images (a piece of chalk/ in my pocket/ first day of retirement) culminate into an expression of emotion by interlacing the images.

17. Speculative imagination

children cross one bridge and the other migratory birds, whiptail, 2022

Sometimes technique of ‘speculative’ imagination creates a contrast monoku. In the above, is it that the children cross one bride after the other or one bridge and the migratory bird perched on a tree or along with the children also the migratory birds, etc? Are the children immigrants like migratory birds?

18. Expanded correlation:

friendship day how thoughtfully birds live with the trees, Presence # 73, 2022

Monoku, in its minimalistic style, is characterized by artful use of internal juxtaposition and poetic rhythm. In the above monoku, the expanded friendship with the coexistence image in the form of birds with the trees is manifested.

 

Similarly, in a gentle flow, the melting of thoughts has been demonstrated in the following monoku.

 

dew-wet the thought gently melts, Otata, June 2019

 

19.  Historical and cultural reference: The place of interest and cultural references including literature, sculpture, art, etc sometimes enhance the literary milieu of monoku. Here Basho’s iconic travel diary, ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North’ which symbolizes an exploration of self, nature and divinity, is referred to with reverence.

Anemone on Basho’s Narrow Road leading the way, Asahi Shimbun, 5^th March 2021

The word ‘Anemone’ in Japanese denotes early spring wildflower. It epitomizes a symbol to enjoy the moment Here the narration of the phrase ‘Basho’s Narrow Road leading the way’ has been correlated with the objective identification or assimilation of the image of the flower.

Artfully one can attempt a one-liner senryu with an element of wittiness and internal juxtaposition.

a noble thought  the last page of the book, Bamboo Hut Journal, Autumn 2019

coins our ancestors exchanged a great length of time, Under the Basho, 2017, Mann Library, 6^th February 2021

 

Conclusions

 

James Longenbach says, “Poetry is the sound of language organized in lines. “More than meter, more than rhyme, more than images or alliteration or figurative language, line is what distinguishes our experience of poetry as poetry, rather than some other kind of writing.”  The fundamental line is “an idea isolated by blank space,” Paul Claudel opines.  In a one-line poem, more than any other form, perhaps the blank space holds much significance in exploring the deeper meaning beyond the boundary of words. I recall one of my recent publications (October 2021) in MahMight Journal: the dinosaurs we have come a long way. In fact, there is an imaginative space-time beyond the word ‘dinosaurs’ in this monoku.

Monoku stands out as an independent sub-genre of haiku expression compressing the essential haiku elements and thematic illumination of aesthetic haiku sublimity. There could be various nuanced techniques in the form of word arrangements to manifest the craft of monoku writing. The use of structural fabric, and creative placement of word-phrase can enhance the poetic brightness of the images. Monoku can also be blended with subtle metaphors and with the infusion of allegorical characters within the broad framework of aesthetic haiku elements. The structural style enumerated above can facilitate practicing monoku writing. Dan Beachy-Quick remarks, “Poems might be understood as regions of intense becoming, spaces of encounter and relations in which–impossibly enough–for a brief while a kind of metamorphosis occurs and, as Arthur Rimbaud so succinctly put it, ‘I am other.’ That otherness isn’t an escape from, but an entrance into.”

Monoku is perhaps one of the best examples of blazing spells in its brevity. This can sprout the new literary art in ever minimalistic expression, as rightly Jacob Salzer states:

 

“I find that haiku reminds us to use caution with our words, and also helps us realize the value of a single word. In terms of "economy of language", one-line haiku makes full use of very few words, even more so than three-line haiku. The depth, and layers of a single word often really come alive in one-line haiku, as it's presented in a refined format, making familiar words both fresh and insightful…..”

I wish to conclude with the classic lines of Emily Dickinson wrote:

I dwell in Possibility—

A fairer House than Prose—

And she metaphorically uses poetry as the limitless dimension of extension ‘To gather Paradise— ’.

References

 Bjerg , Johannes S. H. “Editorial statement on One-line Haiku.”Under the Basho

http://archive.underthebasho.com/archives/179-journal-2017/editorial.html

Dickinson, Emily. “I Dwell in Possibility.” Poem Analysis by Emma Baldwin

https://poemanalysis.com/emily-dickinson/i-dwell-in-possibility/

 

Higginson, William J. “From One-line Poems to One-line Haiku Part One: The Invitation.” Simply Haiku 2003-2004.

 

Gilbert, Richard, 2004. “The Disjunctive Dragonfly: A Study of Disjunctive Method and Definitions in Contemporary English-language Haiku.” Richard Gilbert Publication: Studies in English Language and Literature 47, Kumamoto University, Kumamoto, Japan (March 2004)   

https://www.tempslibres.org/tl/mirror/hku/etudes/etud2_DisjunctiveDragonfly.pdf

 

Gilbert, Richard, 2013. “The Disjunctive Dragonfly : A New Approach To English Language Haiku (Red Moon Press 2013)

Ichthys. Broken Monoku, haiku in one broken line, Monoku Blog 2007,

http://monoku-ichthys.blogspot.in/2007/12/monoku-haiku-in-one-lines.html

Jacob Salzer (Ed.) and the Nook Editorial Staff. Yanty’s Butterfly: Haiku Nook Anthology, Publisher Lulu.com, pp.388, 2016.

Kacian, Jim. “The Shape of Things To Come.”, Modern Haiku 43.3, 2012

Kacian Jim. “Where I Leave Off ” (Winchester VA: Red Moon Press, 2012).

Klacsanzky, Nicholas. “Pravat Kumar Padhy’s zero.”Haiku Commentary, 16 June 2020. 

https://haikucommentary.wordpress.com/2020/06/16/pravat-kumar-padhys-zero/

 

Lehmann, Kat and Robin Smith, 2021, Haiku: Walking the Fine Line​, whiptail, lizard lounge. Originally published in Haiku Society of America's  Newsletter “Haiku Spotlight” Feature, 12/5/21.
​https://www.whiptailjournal.com/haiku-walking-the-fine-line.html

Marlene, Mountain. “One-line Haiku.” 1986.

https://www.marlenemountain.org/essays/essay_oneline.html

Padhy, Pravat Kumar. “Haiku: The Art of Words and My Maiden Journey.” Living Haiku Anthology 2016.

https://livinghaikuanthology.com/poets-on-haiku/poets-on-haiku/3895-padhy,-pravat-kumar.html

Padhy, Pravat Kumar. Monoku. “An Experiment with Minimalism in Haiku Literature.” Under the Basho, 2018. Republished in ‘To the LightHouse’, Never Ending Story  20 Nov 2020  

https://www.underthebasho.com/utb-2018/essays/2451-monoku-an-experiment-with-minimalism-in-haiku-literature.html

http://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.com/2020/11/to-lighthouse-monoku-experiment-with.html

Padhy, Pravat Kumar. “Pearls from the Ocean: Interview by Vidya Venkatramani, Café Haiku 2021 

https://cafehaiku.wordpress.com/2021/01/21/interview-pearls-from-the-ocean-part-2/

Padhy, Pravat Kumar. “How to Read Poetry-Poems.” Interview by Todd Sullvan on Monoku 2021. https://youtu.be/GsrrH4gKVSE

Summers, Allan. “Travelling the single line of haiku.” 2015

http://area17.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/all-those-red-apples-travelling.html 

Tagore, Rabindranath, “Fireflies.” Terebess Asia Online (TAO).

https://terebess.hu/english/tagore5.html

Wilson, Jim. “Shaping Words.” Haiku Analogs 2010.

http://shapingwords.blogspot.in/2010/07/haiku-analogs.html

Yovu, Peter.12th Sailing: “one-line haiku.” The Haiku Foundation 2010. 

https://www.thehaikufoundation.org/2010/07/28/12th-sailing-one-line-haiku/

Zheng, John. “What is Monoku.”An Interview with Jim Kacian, Valley Voices, Vol. 21 No.1, p. 12-23, 2021

Author’s Note: I express my gratitude to Jim Kacian for his valuable suggestions and edits of the article in its initial version.

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Publication credit: Wales Haiku Journal Blog September 2022 (Ed. Joe Woodhouse)

https://www.waleshaikujournal.com/post/template-product-review-3