MLS: Our impressions on the coming season in haiku
Sports haiku poems have kicked offseasons on FanSided sites through the years, including football and basketball. But not for soccer, that I’ve found. So we at MLS Multiplex will resolve that soccer haiku deficiency by celebrating the beginning of our season in the coming weeks. As I’m the writer, I’ll stick at least one of my own in there – apologies in advance.
And all you who read my posts will cover the rest. I’ll pick from among the entries Tweeted to me to include in at least one upcoming soccer haiku post. If you’re as enthusiastic in responses as you are when I post an error or too outrageous an opinion, I may not be able to include all the entries. But that’s a high-class problem, isn’t it?
The important thing is that we recognize that somehow, in some way, the 2021 MLS season will start in a matter of weeks. And this is an opportunity for each of us to express our anticipation in a unique way.
Before posting an example, here’s some background on haiku. You probably already are familiar with it from your youth and have authored some pieces. But here it is, in case you need a refresher.
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If we all lived in Japan, millions of us would belong to haiku clubs. I’m not talking just college professors here. The Japanese haiku groups welcome millions of amateur artists and publish their poems in the newsletters.
It’s the most popular form of poetry in the world. That’s probably because each completed work largely edits itself for you, automatically.
It requires that we collect our impressions into three lines. The first and third lines have five syllables. The middle line gets seven.
If we were composing or haiku pieces strictly within tradition, we’d try to include kigo, meaning a season word from nature. As this is our soccer season, we’ll consider this implied within each submission, even if it’s not directly stated.
Some of the soccer haiku I’ve read pokes fun at a team. Supporters get in a funny or sarcastic dig at something about the squad that bugs them. This follows tradition, also. The word haiku literally means comical verse.
The verse form already polices itself very well. The only other rules here are:
- Keep it clean and free from slander against an individual.
- As you’re posting it to me as a Tweet, observe the rules that won’t get you in trouble with Twitter.
- Your MLS team, or any team on earth, or any soccer experience is welcome as subject matter.
- Be sure to indicate you want copyright recognition along with your post and include somewhere in your Tweet or DM OK to publish.
It’s up to you if you want Twitter users to preview your work before I look at your haiku. Otherwise, you are welcome to Direct Message me your submission. I’m @chuckx777 on Twitter.
We’ll have some fun with this. Here’s a couple of examples from the website Poetry Soup:
By Jim Tidd ©
Ecuador world Cup
A momentary
lapse of attention results
In a sudden loss
By Probir Gupta ©
The Rejoicing Past
Rainy afternoon
Soccer with boys on the streets
The windows rejoice
Can you do that? Yes!