Etheridge Knight: 9 “Senryu”
Posted: January 28, 2014 Filed under: English, Etheridge Knight | Tags: Haiku written in English Comments Off on Etheridge Knight: 9 “Senryu”
Etheridge Knight (Corinth, Mississippi, USA, 1931-1991)
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1
Eastern guard tower
glints in sunset; convicts rest
like lizards on rocks.
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2
The piano man
is stingy, at 3 a.m.
his songs drop like plum.
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3
Morning sun slants cell.
Drunks stagger like cripple flies
On jailhouse floor.
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4
To write a blues song
is to regiment riots
and pluck gems from graves.
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5
A bare pecan tree
slips a pencil shadow down
a moonlit snow slope.
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6
The falling snow flakes
Cannot blunt the hard aches nor
Match the steel stillness.
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7
Under moon shadows
A tall boy flashes knife and
Slices star bright ice.
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8
In the August grass
Struck by the last rays of sun
The cracked teacup screams.
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9
Making jazz swing in
Seventeen syllables AIN’T
No square poet’s job.
These short poems, written by Etheridge Knight when he was in prison for robbery (1960-1968), are a kind of hybrid between haiku and senryu – senryu having the same structure as haiku but being concerned directly with human beings, whether the tone be serious, ironic or humorous. In poem #9 the word AIN’T is “boldfaced” on purpose – a reference to its importance in Black-American vernacular.
For more haiku composed in English click this link: https://zocalopoets.com/category/richard-wright/
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