Undou

creatures of the air
flit from shadow to sun splash
birdsong and seasons

Kim M. Russell, 19^th October 2018

My response to Carpe Diem #1525 Perpetuum Mobile … everlasting movement (“undou”)

For this ‘Perpetuum Mobile’ episode, we have a reprise of the undou writing technique or ‘movement’. In the example haiku, there is very clear movement:

waterfall of colors
leaves whirl through the street –
departing summer

© Chèvrefeuille (2012)

 Chèvrefeuille reminds us that haiku is poetry of the moment, as short as the sound of a pebble thrown into water, a static response to that short moment; but, as we bring movement into our haiku, it becomes a dynamic scene, livelier and more exciting – dynamics captured in three lines.

He says that nature is always moving and so it’s like a perpetuum mobile – and haiku is always changing too; the rules of writing haiku have changed like the waves, coming and going. Haiku is a perpetuum mobile in its pure form. Our goal is to capture the perpetual motion of the seasons, the undou of nature, in our haiku.