Best Surprise Ending Poems
There was once a man.
He’d always wanted to write,
But his biggest failing was
That he wasn’t very bright.
Whenever he started
On a story or a plot,
Before he could pen it
He simply forgot
What he had thought earlier
And he wasn’t very wise
So all he wanted was that
The end be a surprise.
And he made up plots and tales
Funny, sad and intense
But in the end he found that
None of them made any sense
For follow as he might all grammar
He could never be concise
And what is more, the ending
Was never a surprise.
Yet he cherished dreams
Of becoming famous and great
Of writing beautiful stories
Of defying his impending fate
But, for all his boldness
He could never roll the dice
And his stories never ended
In a nail-biting surprise.
He told his tales to children
He tried them on every friend
But they never gasped at
The crucial part, the end.
He sent them off to editors
Of magazines of acclaim
But they all sent the stories back
Saying the ending was all the same.
He tried to write a book too
But in the middle he got stuck
And he wasn’t very clever
So he simply cursed his luck
Then finally he gave up
And wallowed in self-despair
He felt life was being hard on him
He felt it wasn’t fair.
Then one of his friends suggested
That if he really had to write
He needn’t just write stories
To prove his wit and might.
He could simply write a cookbook
Or an instruction manual too
Or a traveller’s guide to touring
A place like Timbuktu
Now the man wasn’t very brilliant
But he could recognise good advice
When he saw it, so he took it
Though he wasn’t very wise
And he wrote a self-help book on
Coping with writer’s block
It became a national bestseller
Every bookstore ran out of stock.
And he made pots of money
Because it was reprinted thrice
And he was always very glad
He took his friend’s advice
So now if you ask his opinion
He looks very condescending
And smiles, and says, “to write a book
Who needs a surprise ending?”
hiku
&
you
&
me
are
ENTIRELY FREE
TO BE
POETIC
TRISTIC-HALLY
HAIKU is a centuries old Japanese traditional phonetical & cultural poetic form
whereas
HIKU is a relatively recently reference to the 75year old established haiku in English. Hiku being an imagist tristich like its elder cousin,without a title,and with a similar economy of words ,inherently enigmatic & with a caesura or an ellipsis and surprise ending. A similar sense of pause the aesthetic insight flowing from perception gained from 'one breath length ' composition that flowed from the Japanesese 17 onji sound inherent in the Japaneses haiku. Without any syllabic( 5-7-5 ) line restrictions, the hiku is the 'free verse' version of the haiku in English. similar but different ,a present tense poetic in another language - hiku is the written or recited equivalent to arts 'gestural spontaneous happening' .
A verse freed from strict syllabic constraint within its triplicity of format& is inherently enigmatic & often with a caesura and surprise ending( VERSUM )to give a 'turning' to the line.
The hiku maybe a horizontal single* line,(often broken line at the caesura),a vertical line(usually a painting(haiga) ,a couplet** or a tristich* with shape-like variations.
HAIKU is a centuries old Japanese traditional phonetical & cultural poetic form
whereas
HIKU is a relatively recent reference to the 75year old established haiku in English. Hiku being an imagist tristich like its elder cousin,without a title,and with a similar economy of words ,inherently enigmatic & with a caesura or an ellipsis and surprise ending. A similar sense of pause ,the aesthetic insight flowing from perception gained from 'one breath length ' composition that flowed from the Japanesese 17 onji sound inherent in the Japaneses haiku. Without 'invented' syllabic( 5-7-5 ) line restrictions of the 'haiku in english 'is the 'free verse' version of the '5:7:5 haiku in English'. similar but different ,a present tense poetic ,the - hiku is the written or recited equivalent to arts 'gestural spontaneous happening' .
Creativity the key in a verse freed from strict syllabic constraint within its triplicity of format(tristich)& yet inherently enigmatic & often with a caesura and surprise ending( VERSUM )to give a 'turning' to the line.
The flexible hiku maybe a horizontal single* line,(often broken line at the caesura),a vertical line(usually a painting(haiga) ,a couplet** or a tristich* with shape-like variations.
hiku tristich examples
he dusted the album-
a memory of love
trickled down his cheek
winter unfolds-
galanthus nivalis
in the woodland
5:7:5 haiku (haiku in English) example
on the wind,a bell-
muffled from across the square
raindrops fill the air
5:7:5 haiku( haiku in English)with title example
An Abstract Haiku
blue and gold circles
revolve,dissolve and endure
picture,perfect pure
HAIKU is a centuries old Japanese traditional phonetical & cultural poetic form whereas HIKU is a relatively recently established English language version thereof 'birthed' from last half of the 20th century.
Hiku is an imagist tristich like its elder cousin,without a title,and with a similar economy of words ,inherently enigmatic & with a caesura or an ellipsis and surprise ending.
A similar sense of pause the aesthetic insight flowing from perception gained from 'one breath length ' composition that flowed from the Japanesese 17 onji sound inherent in the haiku.
Without any syllabic( 5-7-5 ) line restrictions, the hiku is the 'free verse' version of the haiku,similar but different ,a present tense poetic in another language - hiku is the written or recited equivalent to arts 'gestural spontaneous happening'
.
a September preview
snowberries sunbathing..
a late... peepshow
shades of shadowing fall
sun ,highlights the pampas grass-
rose hips ripening
neath the chestnut tree
flakes of green cover this scene-
autumn blankets me
NOTE:
why hiku ?
HAIKU the ' phonetical&cultural original 'in Japanese'
whereas HIKU
is the English language version(including translations)with similar economy of words without "telling all" thereby to ' show ' (conforming to the key to true imagist poetry),&to avoid 'as'&'to' & the use of past tense verbs (often without verbs,adverbs,adjectives )A verse freed from syllabic constraint within its triplicity of format& inherently enigmatic & still with a caesura and surprise ending
HAIKU is the ' phonetical&cultural original 'in Japanese'
HIKU is the English language version(including translations)with similar economy of words without "telling all" thereby to ' show ' (conforming to the key to true imagist poetry),&to avoid 'as'&'to' & the use of past tense verbs (often without verbs,adverbs,adjectives )A verse freed from syllabic constraint within its triplicity of format& inherently enigmatic & still with a caesura and surprise ending.
So Japanese
was
the Hokku
'til the master
came into view
then via Haikai
on
along the way
Matsuo Munefusa
aka
Bashó
mastered
haiku
a phonetical&cultural
'onji' *(in sound symbols)
came to be
traditionally
per·pen·dicu·lar
as a single line
in particular
now
HIKU * in English
to me or you
*Hiku is the English language tristich (three line) version(including translations)with similar economy of words including the THOUGHT PAUSE prompt (often indicated by an ellipsis .....the SENSE PAUSE the aesthetic point of insight flowing from perception & ONE BREATH LENGTH to correspond to the aforementioned Japanesese 17 onji sounds.
The essence without "telling all" (thereby to ' show ' conforming to the key of all true imagist poetry),&avoids 'as'&'to' & the use of past tense verbs (& is often without verbs,adverbs,adjectives )A verse freed from strict syllabic constraint within its triplicity of format& is inherently enigmatic & often with a caesura and surprise ending( VERSUM )to give a 'turning' to the line.The hiku maybe a horizontal single* line,(often broken at the caesura),a vertical line(usually a painting(haiga see note) ,a couplet** or a tristich***
BORN ANEW
b(a
ud
bl
oss
som
s)
en
r
ewal
Note:
Hiku After style of ee cummings,VERTICAL form as used in the Haiga (combined art-poetry)
HAIKU is the ' phonetical&cultural original 'in Japanese'& in reality uses '17 'onji' (sound symbols)rather than syllables traditionally written in Japanese ,as a single line
whereas
HIKU is the English language tristich(3 line) version(including translations)with similar economy of words
including the THOUGHT PAUSE prompt (often indicated by an ellipsis .....the SENSE PAUSE the aesthetic point of insight flowing from perception & ONE BREATH LENGTH to correspond to the aforementioned Japanesese 17 onji sounds.
The essence without "telling all" (thereby to ' show ' conforming to the key of all true imagist poetry),&avoids 'as'&'to' & the use of past tense verbs (& is often without verbs,adverbs,adjectives )A verse freed from strict syllabic constraint within its triplicity of format& is inherently enigmatic & often with a caesura and surprise ending( VERSUM )to give a 'turning' to the line.The hiku maybe a horizontal single* line,(often broken at the caesura),a vertical line(usually a painting(haiga see note) ,a couplet** or a tristich***
HAIKU is the ' phonetical&cultural original 'in Japanese'& in reality uses '17 'onji' (sound symbols)rather than syllables ,&traditionally written in Japanese as a single line
whereas
HIKU is the English language tristich (three line) version(including translations)with similar economy of words including the THOUGHT PAUSE prompt (often indicated by an ellipsis .....the SENSE PAUSE the aesthetic point of insight flowing from perception & ONE BREATH LENGTH to correspond to the aforementioned Japanesese 17 onji sounds.
The essence without "telling all" (thereby to ' show ' conforming to the key of all true imagist poetry),&avoids 'as'&'to' & the use of past tense verbs (& is often without verbs,adverbs,adjectives )A verse freed from strict syllabic constraint within its triplicity of format& is inherently enigmatic & often with a caesura and surprise ending( VERSUM )to give a 'turning' to the line.The hiku maybe a horizontal single* line,(often broken at the caesura),a vertical line(usually a painting(haiga see note) ,a couplet** or a tristich***
*strand by strand decadence unravels moral fibre
**a dew trail across the lawn...
' neath the shed winter quarters
*** a blue plume rising
from camp ashes-
yesterday's visions still haunt
NOTE :HAIGA can be seen @ haiga-ichthys.blogspot.com/
evening fragrance
a chanel no: twelve
rem·in·is·cence of you
NOTE:
why hiku ?
HAIKU the ' phonetical&cultural original 'in Japanese'
whereas HIKU
is the English language version(including translations)with similar economy of words without "telling all" thereby to ' show ' (conforming to the key to true imagist poetry),&to avoid 'as'&'to' & the use of past tense verbs (often without verbs,adverbs,adjectives )A verse freed from syllabic constraint within its triplicity of format& inherently enigmatic & still with a caesura and surprise ending
evening perfume
a flower blossom primrose
memory of you
HIKU is the English language version(including translations)with similar economy of words without "telling all" thereby to ' show ' (conforming to the key to true imagist poetry),&to avoid 'as'&'to' & the use of past tense verbs (often without verbs,adverbs,adjectives )A verse freed from syllabic constraint within its triplicity of format& inherently enigmatic & still with a caesura and surprise ending.