Customer Reviews

Redneck Haiku

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mary K. Witte, Redneck Haiku (Santa Monica Press, 2003)

What would Jim Goad do?

That was what I kept thinking as I turned the pages in this small tome. Would the author of the celebrated, reviled Redneck Manifesto be deeply offended, or would he be laughing his ass off?

Probably both.

The worst factor in the writing of American haiku these days, and it affects almost every otherwise-non-poet (and far too many actual poets) who attempts to write haiku, is the slavish devotion to 5-7-5. Pick up a few books on how to write haiku, people. Or a few books of haiku by recognized American masters, or recognized Japanese masters translated by someone worth their skin. 5-7-5 is an upper limit, not an upper AND lower limit. The shorter your haiku, the better. Slavish devotion to 5-7-5 leads to filler. Yes, even in haiku. There's more than one piece here that could have used a few words carved off here and there. (That said, there are some surprisingly excellent pieces as well.)

Now, ask yourself the question: will you feel guilty laughing at stereotypes? Sure, it's a redneck writing about rednecks (Witte, according to a recent interview, grew up on a farm outside Tulsa, and swears that some of the events she depicts in this book really happened to family members of hers), but do you feel guilty for laughing about it? Maybe you should. That said, this stuff ranges from the grimly amusing to the down-and-out hysterical. If Jim Goad wants to kick my ass for thinking so, that's his right, and I'd probably let him do it, too. ***

Follow the condensed adventures of Bubba, Flo, Wanda, Jake, and the feisty Grandma ("Last Las Vegas trip / spoiled by Granny's indecent / exposure arrest") in this amusing little book. NASCAR, guns, gumbo, and award-winning BBQ sauce, dogs under the porch, marriages and divorces -- the life of an extended redneck family chronicled in 17-syllable chapters. One haiku per page, just over 100 haiku; sit out under the awning of your trailer and read it straight through for the most laughs.

If you love the art of the haiku AND have an off-beat sense of humor, then this book is for you! This book has a place of honor on my coffee table - it is simply entertaining to gauge the reactions of my friends and family as they pick it up and start reading it. It's definitely a conversation piece.

Japanese haiku is one of my favorite forms of poetry, each haiku consisting of three lines and seventeen syllables. In this small volume, Witte covers just about every aspect of the redneck lifestyle. One that made me smile was:

"Wanda's new wind chime

made of kitchen utensils

she seldom uses."

It does an excellent job of describing me! As the pages turned, I'm afraid that it became a bit of a one-trick pony for me. Redneck humor can be very silly and funny, but it can pall quickly if you're not careful. Don't read the entire book in one sitting like I did.

Would I buy Witte's second volume of redneck haiku? No, but I did enjoy reading this one.