In writing, punctuation plays the role of body language. It helps readers hear you the way you want to be heard. -- Russell Baker
Generically speaking, haiku and tanka use minimal punctuation to clarify meaning or make them easier to understand, and they normally are not considered full sentences. The first word is not capitalized, and the last line is not end-stopped with a period, which keeps the poem open or incomplete to invite readers to fill the gaps between the lines.
Aesthetically speaking, one can use punctuation to greater stylistic effect, maximum rhetorical advantage, or to deepen the impact, thematic and emotional/psychological, of the poem. Below are some good examples:
I
Throughout the history of English poetry, there seldom is a poem like Ezra Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro” (hereafter referred to as “metro poem”) that has been endlessly researched by scholars, literary critics, and poets alike. 1 Most of his readers are familiar with at least two versions of his metro poem: the original version published in the April 1913 issue of Poetry as follows:
The apparition of these face in the crowd:
Petals on a wet, black bough.
and one of the revised versions published in his 1916 book entitled Lustra as follows:
The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
... From the perspective of a haiku poet, Higginson singles out the most
important change Pound made: that is the one from the colon at the end
of the first line to a semicolon. In his view, a colon tells the reader
that the statement made in the first line introduces the statement made
in the second, making one a metaphor for the other. Conversely, a
semicolon shows that two statements are independent of each other,
though maybe related, and that both images -- “faces” and “petals” --
portrayed in the poem are real and stand out against its own background.
6 As Higginson stresses, “by revising the poem Pound turned an
otherwise sentimental metaphor into a genuine haiku… This is a haiku
that Shiki would have been proud to write.” 7
II
Original:
wondering for years
what would be
my life's defining moment:
an egret staring at me
me staring back
Revision:
wondering for years
what would be
my life's defining moment
an egret staring at me
me staring back
Jeanne Emrich
... Internal punctuation, while adding clarification, can stop the pivot line from working both up and down.... I decided to use indentation instead ....
-- excerpted from "A Quick Start Guide to Writing Tanka" by Jeanne Emrich
III
Original:
a stone woman
gives birth to a child
in the night
my book falls open
to the words I need
Revision:
a stone woman
gives birth to a child
in the night
my book falls open
to the words, I need ...
Jenny Angyal
In the original, L5 leaves a little room for the reader's imagination; it's because the words the speaker needs are clearly stated in Ls 1-3. Conversely, in the revision, the use of punctuation marks, thematically speaking, leaves more room for the reader's reflection. Now, the new L5 is open-ended.
IV
is life more
than the sum of its parts?
s/he stands
between the doors of
male and female restrooms
(for Bree, protagonist of Transamerica)
Bright Stars, IV, 2014
finally
a man's heart in her chest
and hers gone ...
alone at twilight
she listens to his/her heartbeat
Chen-ou Liu
In the first tanka, the "/" in s/he indicates a splitting between his/her biological sex and gender identity while in the second one, the "/" in his/her is intended to provoke the reader's reflection on one's identity in relation to one's body.
V
alone
for too long
(again)
I ask a fly
to fly silently
Johannes S. H. Bjerg
shame on us
thousands of aboriginals
(ab)used
in nutritional experiments
and residential schools
the opening tanka of O (No) Canada, Bright Stars 3, June 2014
Debbie Strange
The "( )" in Johannes' tanka creates the whispering effect while in Debbie's tanka, the "()" in (ab)used, thematically speaking, exposes the shameful difference between rhetoric and reality.
Updated, September 15
VI
at four p.m.
my spirit drops down
like the sun
but then an old friend calls
chick-a-dee-dee-dee-dee
red lights, January 2014
Neal Whitman
Neal cleverly uses the placement of "-"s to mimic the sounds of a chickadee and create an onomatopoeic effect. The thematic and tonal shift makes this poem work emotionally effectively.
Updated, September 27
VII
I open windows
(another day no poem
written down,
only blocks of dead words)
and let the spring breeze in
Gusts, 20, Fall/Winter 2014
Chen-ou Liu
The parenthesized lines is the internal dialogue used to indicate what the speaker is thinking.
Updated, January 5 2023
VIII
for my father who passed away on Jan. 5 2022
anniversary ...
old tear stains in my journal
b l u r ry
Chen-ou Liu
White/blank spaces in L3 show the visual and emotional effects of the new tear stains (created by L1) having blurred the old ones in L2.
