Ten Senryū (w/ Commentary)
written 20 May 2025 | rejected by Failed Haiku
Author’s Note
Below are ten senryū I wrote spontaneously two weeks ago to submit spontaneously to the online journal Failed Haiku. They were rejected. This is fair, though, given that I had written them only an hour or so before submission. Nonetheless, what other journals don’t want seems the perfect sort of material for publication here.
You may rightly wonder: What is a senryū? I wondered the same about ten minutes before I wrote the following ten for submission. Now, supposing I had retained some of what I learned, I would tell you that a senryū is quite simple: a clever haiku. Or something like that.
Consider the following ten senryū an open study in failure and practice. With any luck and/or cleverness, the next ten will be worth publication.
For now, these will have to suffice for the Distended Orthonym.
Enjoy, Sweet Reader.
Ten Senryū (w/ Commentary)
I
Tumbling plastic waste, obliterated by time, will ever haunt us. — Microplastics have been on my mind, I guess.
II
As it was way back,
never can it pass again:
and thank God for that!
— History does not repeat itself, thank the Gods. Shame about these behavioural patterns, though...III
My friend speaks to me
and I am not listening—
hopeless, my presence.
— Difficult is it to be present, settling often for mere presence. I try to listen beyond mere offering. I want to be compassionate and useful—not just compassionate.IV
The cat’s in to save
the small things outdoors, but now
she destroys my home.
— Cats probably shouldn't be allowed outside. They probably shouldn't be allowed inside either. So it goes.V
This empty garden
while my brother does not plant,
only chats, pacing.
— He has a habit of speaking at length on Whatever—and that's fine but please Do Something while you speak at length on Whatever.VI
When the glue softens,
I know I may peel the moon,
when the glue softens.
— Whoa.VII
Society drags.
I am inconsequential—
just a spoke, spinning.
— Not as fatalistic as it appears; not as moody as it seems.VIII
In the lunchroom, we
eat salad, discuss labour.
Underpaid, surely?
— Salad is better than SOUP.IX
Against the great sun,
I am toiling beside pigs.
They snooze while I work.
— I have envied pigs in the Sun who seem to adore best the mundane living of their nature.X
Something there isn’t
when you say I’m gaslighting:
Isn’t that my line?
— No comment.