Each verse can stand alone or work as part of the poetic chain.Īt the time this text was composed, Japanese poets began to write “ hokku” which were merely the first stanza of a linked poem that someone else was free to respond to. As each poet responds to the hokku by writing a haiku in the chain, they continue the conversation. Life is unpredictable and ruptures occur unexpectedly, just as they do in this chain of verse. This type of poetry is based on Buddhism’s concept of the impermanence of life. One poet would write the first 17-syllable verse, called a hokku, and then another would respond, adding on to the chain. Basho admired a style of 15th century Japanese poetry-writing where poets would collaborate to produce a “chain” poem. The purpose of including this work is to help us go beyond the American stereotype of the haiku as a short fortune-cookie verse.
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