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Haiku Sanctuary as Anarchic Sanctuary
Haiku Sanctuary: Anarchic Sanctuary, Community-building as World-Play and Self Publishing in the Post-Literate Age
Since we first opened, there seem to be some lingering questions and misapprehension regarding the exact purpose the forums at Haiku Sanctuary serve and how best to utilize and navigate the spaces we have provided. I would like to discuss some of the ideas behind the creation of our little experiment and make some suggestions of how they might play out as the forum evolves. Consider this a tutorial and invitation, perhaps, on the principles behind Haiku Sanctuary and how best to approach the forums in order to help them reach their full potential.
Looking back, Haiku Sanctuary seems to be a natural outgrowth of the ideas Richard Gilbert put forward in his book Poems As Consciousness. Many of the concepts that were explored during the process of his research, writing and the conversations we had while I was helping to edit the book have been “put into flesh” so to speak in this forum. Namely, the forum is an embodiment of our vision for creative community and publishing in the spirit of anarchic sanctuary. But what does that mean?
There are three main points I want to cover that I think are crucial to understanding the vision we have for this space: anarchic sanctuary, community-building as world-play and self publishing in the post-literate age.
The first, and perhaps most essential, is the idea of anarchic sanctuary. For me, the words “anarchic sanctuary” conjure a very specific sense of community that I’ve participated in directly and observed from a distance both online and in the real world. Prominent anarchist and writer Alan Moore, explained his views on the word anarchy as follows:
.
In reality, I don’t think true anarchy is possible except as a liminal state between two existing structural orders. Nature, or at least human nature, abhors a vacuum, so there will always be an organizing principle or set of rules that develops given enough time. What I take from the term “anarchic” in this context is not so much a lack of rules or set of social customs, but an environment or community that rejects mainstream social conventions and involves a sense of transgressing, transcending or otherwise escaping what constitutes rigid, normalized, sanctioned behavior in society at large, often through a mediated interface and a sense of fantastic, imaginary or creative play.
Basho is often quoted as having said “Haikai is freedom.” In his day this meant that in the context of collaborative writing, the group dynamic of linked verse was a temporary suppression of the strict feudal hierarchy that circumscribed daily interactions and limited social behaviors between people. The renga party in feudal Japan, thus, was an anarchic sanctuary where stifling strictures on interaction and mandatory deference toward social superiors melted away in a pro-social activity of group play. Haikai as a genre also meant freedom from the restrictions on diction and topic in classical renga.
Insofar as anarchic sanctuary pertains to Haiku Sanctuary, here the idea is freedom from the invasive data collection and emotional manipulation of commercial social media that so often dominates our daily interactions with other haiku poets, a disruption of the hierarchical structures of haiku societies, kessya and other writing programs which have previously acted to promote gatekeeping and policing of the tone, content and style of what is allowed to be called “haiku,” and thus a more communal, horizontal approach to publishing, workshopping, research and poetic theory.
In an interview Richard initiated during our exploration of what makes anarchic sanctuary different, I wrote:
.
Haiku traditionally was written in “haigo” or pen-names, and some haijin adopted multiple persona, Shiki is said to have had over 100 different writing persona. While Richard and I use our real names as user names, we don't expect or demand that others do the same. If using a haigo gives you the freedom to express yourself more naturally, create a mask, and engage with the forum, we encourage people to have fun with how they present themselves. We serve a world-wide clientele and for some, there may be risk to free expression of thought. An avatar may free one to be more themselves etc. This is a space for creative self-definition and redefinition, for escaping the tyranny of the quotidian.
This is also why we have most of the forum closed to the public without a login, and we strongly urge that rather than superficially engaging with the public sections, users create a login and explore the deeper reaches of the forum. In order for people to have the freedom to enjoytrue anarchic sanctuary, there most be, at some level, a fair degree of safety, anonymity and shelter from the "open ocean." We have left a gallery section for sharing published and finished work with the public at large, and an introductory section meant as a public resource section for tutorials etc. but the bulk of haiku sanctuary is enclosed in a way to provide a space for the creation of anarchic sanctuary.
That brings us to the second topic, which is community-building as world-play. In Poems as Conciousness, Richard spends a lot of time describing the ways in which poems, haiku in particular, can create “mindspace,” or inner landscapes that have a palpable sense of “thereness.” The main forums of Haiku Sanctuary, are divided into topological sections with thematic resonance, from the inviting, opening area of the old pond, based on Basho's famous poem, which is meant as a warm and safe area for those new to the forum to gain their bearings, to the wilder and stranger “haiku forests” each of which explores facets of the types of world-building and consciousness exploration enumerated in Poems of Consciousness; the sections are meant to be metaphorical areas in real mind-space where users can explore ideas and create worlds of their own.
“White space,” or “dreaming room” is often described as a feature of haiku. The Japanese have the word “ma” for this concept. This article on Kyoto Journal is an exceptional run down of the concept, is says:
.
Disjunction in haiku creates a cut in time and space, a hollow that allows the reader to enter and fill the void with their own interior experience, each haiku becoming a tiny universe, or microcosm, of its own, but here at Haiku Sanctuary, the structure of the forum is largely white space, an opportunity to create new worlds and explore new spaces of mind, as the haiku depends on the reader to finish the experience, so too does Haiku Sanctuary depend on its users to complete the picture.
Since we first opened, there seem to be some lingering questions and misapprehension regarding the exact purpose the forums at Haiku Sanctuary serve and how best to utilize and navigate the spaces we have provided. I would like to discuss some of the ideas behind the creation of our little experiment and make some suggestions of how they might play out as the forum evolves. Consider this a tutorial and invitation, perhaps, on the principles behind Haiku Sanctuary and how best to approach the forums in order to help them reach their full potential.
Looking back, Haiku Sanctuary seems to be a natural outgrowth of the ideas Richard Gilbert put forward in his book Poems As Consciousness. Many of the concepts that were explored during the process of his research, writing and the conversations we had while I was helping to edit the book have been “put into flesh” so to speak in this forum. Namely, the forum is an embodiment of our vision for creative community and publishing in the spirit of anarchic sanctuary. But what does that mean?
There are three main points I want to cover that I think are crucial to understanding the vision we have for this space: anarchic sanctuary, community-building as world-play and self publishing in the post-literate age.
The first, and perhaps most essential, is the idea of anarchic sanctuary. For me, the words “anarchic sanctuary” conjure a very specific sense of community that I’ve participated in directly and observed from a distance both online and in the real world. Prominent anarchist and writer Alan Moore, explained his views on the word anarchy as follows:
.
“Anarchy, meaning simply ‘no leaders’, to me implies a situation in which everyone must take responsibility for their own actions and, therefore, serve as their own leaders. In such a state, inter-individual cooperation is the most successful and thus the default form of interaction."
In reality, I don’t think true anarchy is possible except as a liminal state between two existing structural orders. Nature, or at least human nature, abhors a vacuum, so there will always be an organizing principle or set of rules that develops given enough time. What I take from the term “anarchic” in this context is not so much a lack of rules or set of social customs, but an environment or community that rejects mainstream social conventions and involves a sense of transgressing, transcending or otherwise escaping what constitutes rigid, normalized, sanctioned behavior in society at large, often through a mediated interface and a sense of fantastic, imaginary or creative play.
Basho is often quoted as having said “Haikai is freedom.” In his day this meant that in the context of collaborative writing, the group dynamic of linked verse was a temporary suppression of the strict feudal hierarchy that circumscribed daily interactions and limited social behaviors between people. The renga party in feudal Japan, thus, was an anarchic sanctuary where stifling strictures on interaction and mandatory deference toward social superiors melted away in a pro-social activity of group play. Haikai as a genre also meant freedom from the restrictions on diction and topic in classical renga.
Insofar as anarchic sanctuary pertains to Haiku Sanctuary, here the idea is freedom from the invasive data collection and emotional manipulation of commercial social media that so often dominates our daily interactions with other haiku poets, a disruption of the hierarchical structures of haiku societies, kessya and other writing programs which have previously acted to promote gatekeeping and policing of the tone, content and style of what is allowed to be called “haiku,” and thus a more communal, horizontal approach to publishing, workshopping, research and poetic theory.
In an interview Richard initiated during our exploration of what makes anarchic sanctuary different, I wrote:
.
Sanctuary is of course the operative word here, and it is only through the safety and trust engendered by generally private, semi-private or virtual safe spaces that allow members of the anarchic sanctuary to strip away their normal inhibitions on behavior. Online or in virtual space this is achieved through anonymity or the adoption of an avatar or persona. The anarchic sanctuary is a place where masquerade is expected, where attitudes and identities can be made up at will and discarded just as easily. People define who they want to be in act of performative self-definition, and may completely re-envision themselves between sessions or even have multiple identities or roles within the group that they use alternately. If regular society tells the individual who they are and what is expected, in the anarchic sanctuary individuals decide what they will be and what their role is to be and any rules or constraints put in place are through mutual agreement rather than authoritarian coercion.
Haiku traditionally was written in “haigo” or pen-names, and some haijin adopted multiple persona, Shiki is said to have had over 100 different writing persona. While Richard and I use our real names as user names, we don't expect or demand that others do the same. If using a haigo gives you the freedom to express yourself more naturally, create a mask, and engage with the forum, we encourage people to have fun with how they present themselves. We serve a world-wide clientele and for some, there may be risk to free expression of thought. An avatar may free one to be more themselves etc. This is a space for creative self-definition and redefinition, for escaping the tyranny of the quotidian.
This is also why we have most of the forum closed to the public without a login, and we strongly urge that rather than superficially engaging with the public sections, users create a login and explore the deeper reaches of the forum. In order for people to have the freedom to enjoytrue anarchic sanctuary, there most be, at some level, a fair degree of safety, anonymity and shelter from the "open ocean." We have left a gallery section for sharing published and finished work with the public at large, and an introductory section meant as a public resource section for tutorials etc. but the bulk of haiku sanctuary is enclosed in a way to provide a space for the creation of anarchic sanctuary.
That brings us to the second topic, which is community-building as world-play. In Poems as Conciousness, Richard spends a lot of time describing the ways in which poems, haiku in particular, can create “mindspace,” or inner landscapes that have a palpable sense of “thereness.” The main forums of Haiku Sanctuary, are divided into topological sections with thematic resonance, from the inviting, opening area of the old pond, based on Basho's famous poem, which is meant as a warm and safe area for those new to the forum to gain their bearings, to the wilder and stranger “haiku forests” each of which explores facets of the types of world-building and consciousness exploration enumerated in Poems of Consciousness; the sections are meant to be metaphorical areas in real mind-space where users can explore ideas and create worlds of their own.
“White space,” or “dreaming room” is often described as a feature of haiku. The Japanese have the word “ma” for this concept. This article on Kyoto Journal is an exceptional run down of the concept, is says:
.
“It must be stressed that a ‘sense of place’ does not negate an objective awareness of the static or homogenous quality of topological space. Rather, it infuses the objective space with an additional subjective awareness of lived, existential, non-homogenous space. It also incorporates a recognition of the activities which ‘take place’ in a particular space, and different meanings a place might have for various individuals or cultures. “Physical appearance, activities, and meanings are the raw material of the identity of places…”
Disjunction in haiku creates a cut in time and space, a hollow that allows the reader to enter and fill the void with their own interior experience, each haiku becoming a tiny universe, or microcosm, of its own, but here at Haiku Sanctuary, the structure of the forum is largely white space, an opportunity to create new worlds and explore new spaces of mind, as the haiku depends on the reader to finish the experience, so too does Haiku Sanctuary depend on its users to complete the picture.
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