Haikus and Why They are Awful

I just finished a book, The Power of Less, which was a fantastic read. One of the themes in the book that Leo Babauta, contributor at zenhabits.net, points out is that we need to eliminate the unessential things in our lives. Early on, he says that one way to become more productive is to set limits and that the Japanese haiku is a great analogy because the haiku forces the author to work within narrow limitations to convey an insightful thought.

That comment, however, reminded me that I hate haikus. Why?

First, poetry is beautiful for many reasons that simply cannot exist within a haiku. For example, fancy rhyming schemes, repeated themes, a full story, details within a greater context, meaningful alliteration, rhythm, etc. all cannot exist within the constructs of a haiku. Now, I understand that Leo is trying to make a different point, but it still turned me off to think that the haiku could be somehow useful.

And second, the haiku is too sparse to be meaningful. It’s a challenging exercise to compact a profound thought into seventeen syllables, but too often the thought is lost once converted into a haiku. Instead of a cohesive point, the reader of the haiku is left wondering what the author meant. Maybe the act of pondering a deeper meaning is a virtue of the haiku rather than a negative, but I’ve never seen it that way. Ambiguity in writing can leave things to the reader’s imagination, but the haiku is too vague to serve that purpose.

That said, the book was a great read and highly recommended.

I’m a staunch GTD fan, but after reading this I feel like GTD is really about being productive where The Power of Less is more about being effective.