Brand Haiku: Apple

When most Americans think haiku, they think of the sort of verse that goes like this: three lines of 5/7/5 syllables, perhaps with a bit of humor to it. And since that's what people expect, it's probably what I should write.

The 5/7/5 syllables idea is based on a misunderstanding of how Japanese verse really works. The phonetic units in Japanese -- they're not syllables -- don't have an equivalence in English. Syllables are an apples to organges approximation, since the English language's syllables can be many different lengths.

The net effect is that 5/7/5 syllables in English yields a considerably more expansive verse than Japanese haiku, which is remarkable in its economy of thought and imagery.

Most Western poetry compares concrete things to abstract things. When we say "poetic language," we mean flowery, adjective-laden literature, rich in simile and metaphor. These properties are absent in Japanese haiku, which is spartan and objective.

It leaves the "poetry" in the mind of the reader or hearer, focusing instead on concrete imagery. The idea is to convey the moment -- experience and sensation. It's an extension of Zen. Zen means both attaining wisdom through action, and doing the right thing.

Japanese haiku also has a structure absent in its popular American version. A haiku has two parts -- setting and some sort of action. We use punctuation to differentiate these two parts; the Japanese use something called a "cutting word."

Classical Japanese haiku is closely related to season. It will contain a "season" word to place it within context, and there are enormous collections of appropriate these words.

Finally, Japanese haiku isn't usually funny. That's reserved for another form, senryu.

Brand haiku

This post is part of a group's initiative. Twenty of us, starting with Aaron Strout and in an alphabetical chain that has me linking to Greg Matthews, are writing about a recent brand experience using haiku as our form. I wanted the haiku itself to make sense to you within the context of its form. Hence this post that wraps it.

In the composition of my verse you will see at the end, I discarded the 5/7/5 rule, opting instead for a metric verse, 3/5/3. Which would be horribly restrictive in English, if it wasn't for a fair compromise -- what we call "significant words."

These are everything other than articles and prepositions. An English haiku might be 2/3/2 significant words. The two halves will be split by strong punctuation, such as a double dash or semicolon. 

To illustrate, here's my brand haiku dedicated to a company that by its way of looking at the world, shows it's listening up:

A single leaf;

In the closed design experience,

a brief response.

"Random leaf" is the setting, and also the reference to the season. There is no explicit poetry in this verse, which happens to satisfy the 2/3/2 essential word form. There is a leaf in the design, and there is a design experience with the brand which is a closed system. Everything is concrete.

The setting is always related in some way to the action. The system is closed, and that is the experience you get. You know it. Yet, within it, there is a voice, a surprise. Steve Jobs has now become known for responding to random emails about Apple. Absolute objectivity.

And yet ... I am saying much more than is written. How many CEOs do you know who answer customer emails personally?

It's possible to draw more from this haiku, but I'm sure you get the general idea. Haiku is very deliberate, in contrast to its apparent simplicity. It is designed to evoke rich sensations, which -- in turn -- summon emotion. It's a way of looking at the world.

[haiku education, hat tip Chris Baskind]

 

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Comments

[Lisa Stockwell]

It sounds like you're having fun with this project. Will the resulting haiku go public? I'm imagining a campaign where brand haiku will pop up in various media, with no explanation to begin with. A refreshing gift to the masses that makes them stop and pay attention, if only for a brief moment.

[Aaron Strout]

Valeria - very interesting. Other than knowing that the haiku was Japanese in origin and (so I thought) was a rigid 5/7/5 syllables, I had no idea about some of the other nuance that you covered in your post.

Also, really appreciate your participating in this. So far, the response has been great. ;)

[Jay Baer]

Holy mackrel. I just wrote something funny, and you come up with a whole class on haiku structure. Damn. Valeria, your overachieving ways shame me.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Lisa - the haiku is in the post... or maybe you were asking about a post with all links, in that case, you should find it at Aaron's blog. Since mine attempts to be more closely in harmony with Japanese tradition, I doubt it would be the most popular in the US.

@Aaron - I read poetry in many languages. With the exception of one job where I know I was hired specifically because of my ability to see nuanced information, as you put so well here, it doesn't usually come up in conversation ;) Thank you for including me in the project.

@Jay - chalk it up to my degree in linguistics. At one point, I worked with a whole team from Japan and truly appreciate the culture. I enjoyed learning more about the form for my own education.