I was just reading a wonderful traditional Haiku poem by Longjon (see the archive if you're interested) and it got me thinking about minimalist writing. As someone who could talk for Britain, brevity isn't necessarily my strongest point, but it's something I admire. For me, the ultimate winner of saying a lot in a small space is this poem fragment by Sappho:

Pain penetrates me

drop
by
drop

Not bad for six words, eh? Does anyone else have any favourites? Any other haikus? I remember reading one in a magazine a while ago. I've probably messed up the form, but it went something like:

You tore my heart from my sleeve
And now I wear it hidden in my boots.

What a great idea. Anyway, any other examples/thoughts welcome!

Katie

Hi Katie -

P'raps not the same thing, but I remember a work mate from South Africa telling me about a competition in a local Johannesburg paper for minimalist, though provoking short stories, and apparently the winner read:

"God lay dying..."

And that was it!!!

Now it could be an urban myth, but its sure stuck in my head ever since...

Regards

Dav

Hi Katie, my favourite haiku is an Italian poem by Ungaretti:

M'illumino d'immenso

Impossible to translate, as even in Italian the meaning is unclear: I illuminate myself with immense, not 'immensity'. Meaning aside, I do though find it very beautiful.

<Added>

Since I wrote that first posting, I've had another beautiful Italian poem fixed in my brain that could also be counted as a haiku. This one is by Quasimodo (Nobel laureate, not hunchback bellringer):

Ed e` subito sera

ognuno sta solo sul cuor della terra
trafitto da un raggio di sole:
ed e` subito sera.


Poetry is hard to translate, but Alessandro Gentili came up with this version:


And it is suddenly evening

All stand alone on the heart of the earth
pierced by a ray of sun:
an it is suddenly evening.

What wouldn't I give to be able to write like that - sigh!

I've just come back from Italy, and it struck me that the Italians do minimalism whether in poetry, or furniture, or fashion, so much better than anyone else. They are really skilled at reducing things to an essence of style. I may have to emigrate...

Hang on Al, I'll come with you... they do everything with such style... shoes, food, wine, F1 circuits...

In fact I'm listening to some Italian music right now - Bon Jovi... well his name is really Jon Bongiovi... so he must have some Italian in him somewhere... and his lyrics are poetic (some of them!)

You had me from 'hello'. A love story with a happy ending in five words.

mmmmmm...

Dee

Dee, I never realised that Jon B was Italian. But I really should have guessed - he is definitely my idea of eye candy!

On the subject of real Italian pop music though, I once spent a succesion of Saturday nights, somewhere far from home (and fashion police friends) singing along to a really cheesy Italian video karaoke - fabulous entertainment, and a great way of learning the essentials of a language (I love you, I miss you etc, etc.)

I’m making assumptions, Al, but he’s got to have Italian blood with a name like that. I found the original spelling on a website. I don’t think I know any ‘real’ Italian pop music… not even sure if I want to… I just think JBJ is scrummy.

Dee

Dee, JBJ is certainly much better looking than any of this year's poor crop of Pop Idols. I quite like Darius from last time though, and if I were seven years old, I'd probably have a poster of Gareth Gates on my wall.

Italian pop music is fab! I've just had a wonderful week, getting very nostalgic to the likes of Eros Ramazzotti, Lucio Battisti and Francesco di Gregori - ah, the potency of cheap, but very poetic, music...

Ahem!
To get back to the SERIOUS purpose of this thread, (Oh, I can't BELIEVE I just said that )
How about:

In a station of the Metro by Ezra Pound

The apparition of these faces in the crowd:
Petals on a wet, black bough.

perfik

x
tc

Wonderful. Ezra P used to live in Italy though, and was undoubtedly influenced by the guys I like. It just shows you that standing on Italian soil helps those juices start to flow!

I love some of the pieces by Ezra Pound though I have not read any for a longtime..he must me the king of minimilist????

G

<Added>

..ism...

There's a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald (I think) which always stuck with me. It goes something like:

'For Sale: Pair of babies booties. Never worn.'


There's also one by Augusto Monterroso,'El Dinosaurio':

"Upon waking, the dinosaur was still there."



I've found writing 100 stories a great excersise for saying only what really needs to be said, and reducing a story to its most basic component.