Drafting doom hands shake
Warning bell tells five minutes
Half the test is left
In room 1001, the home of many student artists and architects, a lone poem can be found among dozens of carefully crafted sculptures and incredibly precise drawings that line the walls. But what sets it apart is its utter simplicity and intensity that no drafting project, no matter how precise or accurate, can convey.
The poem, a student-written haiku, is part of a project that originated down the hall from room 1001 in room 1025, where English teacher Emily Moore’s poetry class meets. Earlier this year, Moore taught a unit on Japanese poetry, which included a project in which her students wrote haikus and posted them around Stuyvesant.
This is the first year Moore has done an extensive study on haikus with her poetry class, which consists of mostly seniors and a few juniors. Previously, Moore had used the haiku exclusively as a method for teaching students to write creatively. This year, however, Moore decided that the haiku needed to be given more attention.
“Students are really enthusiastic about haikus and I’ve always loved haikus myself,” she said. Moore learned more about haikus when she traveled to Japan through the Japan Fulbright Memorial Fund Teacher Program, a program funded by the Japanese government that gives American teachers the chance to live in Japan to learn about the country’s culture and education.
The students agreed. “Haikus are really fun to write,” senior Dmitry Loubnine said. “They’re a very good way to get your thoughts out.”
One of the assignments in Moore’s class was to capture everyday moments, like a train ride to school, through a series of haikus in prose. “The idea of a haiku is that it conveys a moment in time that is intensely perceived,” Moore said.
Haikus often describe natural settings and seasonal ideas. But in New York City, where traditional haiku subjects such as red geraniums and Chinese apples are scarce, the students had to capture aspects of city and Stuyvesant life instead.
To prepare the students to write their own haikus, Moore had them read selections by Basho as well as those by modern poets. Students also examined different English translations of a Basho poem to see how haikus are interpreted by different poets. Translated by John Thomas Bryan, the poem reads, “There is the old pond! / Lo, into it jumps a frog: / Hark, water’s music!” The same haiku translated by Allen Ginsberg is “The old pond / A frog jumped in, / Kerplunk!”
Some students in Moore’s class thought haikus were much easier to write than other types of poems, but the amount of time spent on each haiku varied greatly. “Some haikus took a minute and a half to write. Others took over a week,” senior Caroline Brickman said.
For senior David Zhang, ideas for haikus came almost naturally and in unexpected moments. “A lot of ordinary things inspired me,” Zhang said. “I wrote a haiku about a banana I ate in the lunchroom.”
Students also examined other forms of Japanese poetry, such as the tanka, a poem that describes a certain mood that the author is feeling, and the renga, a longer poem usually written by a group of poets who take turns creating images and telling a story. In the past, Moore has had her students write rengas together.
The haikus written by Moore’s students can be found all over the building. They describe moments of life in Stuyvesant like riding a crowded escalator or the feeling of being in math class.
The journey of learning about and writing haikus was, for many, a fascinating experience. “You can say a lot in only three lines,” senior Rene Grant said.
Brickman said, “A haiku is far more than just 17 syllables. It is a story.”
