April 4, 2024

J. Chester Johnson’s “Night” Featured by Carnegie Hill Village

NIGHT

It's a night like none
Of the rest: too much too soon,
Too little too late.

The night overflows
Its peace, so I follow fear
Beyond my insight.

Be still and behold
The moments that I fear most
Pass by in disguise.

“Night” is an example of a triple haiku, a new, poetic form that I have used for several years. This form is derivative of the original haiku, which Japanese poets have employed for centuries. I believe I’m the only American poet now working with the triple haiku, but maybe not. American poets – initially, the Imagists, such as Ezra Pound, Amy Lowell, and John Gould Fletcher – began using a single haiku as a standalone poem in the early part of the 20th century. Toward the end of his life, Auden also wrote frequently in the haiku mode, but not as I have formulated it using three haiku in a poem with each haiku being the equivalent of a stanza, and each stanza being based on the normal haiku structure, having three lines with five syllables in the first and last lines and with seven syllables in the middle line.

J. Chester Johnson, CHV member