An Irishman’s Diary about horse-racing and Japanese poetry

I had a bit of a cultural dilemma earlier this week when an invitation to a haiku reading clashed with one of the more convenient Cheltenham preview nights, an annual ritual for horse-racing fans.

It wasn't just haiku, either. As Japanophiles among you will know, that's the short verse form – usually 17 syllables, in three lines of 5-7-5. But the reading was to also to feature performances of the longer tanka – 31 syllables in 5-7-5-7-7 formation.

Both forms tend to draw on nature as a subject, and also often make reference to the seasons, while attempting to express a profound thought. A good example – which even most Cheltenham-goers could relate to – is Michael Hartnett’s haiku: “In a green spring field/A brown pony stands asleep/Shod with daffodils.”

I would know even more about haiku and tanka now if I’d gone to the reading. But I’m afraid I opted for the preview night instead, mainly because it was within easier reach.

Preview panel

I don’t even bet on Cheltenham, by the way – at least not much. I might sometimes have a “small touch” (as I’ve learned to say from attending these events) in the Champion Hurdle or Gold Cup.

But I would never get “stuck in” to anything, unless at least three members of a preview panel, preferably including the trainer, owner, and jockey, all swore it was a sure thing; which doesn’t happen a lot.

The main appeal of the preview nights is that they demystify next week’s races, and thereby increase the enjoyment of watching them. There are so many variables involved, in any case, even the experts struggle to make sense of them. But it can be entertaining to hear them try.

In fact, the process of picking winners at Cheltenham is not dissimilar to the composition of Japanese poetry.

In their own way, racing tipsters also draw on themes of nature and climate in search of truth. And by next week, the official race programme will have distilled the essence of all the available knowledge about every horse running into two- or three-line nuggets.

Theme

In some cases, these may be uncannily close in theme to the poem about Hartnett’s pony – “Would prefer soft ground. Can go to sleep occasionally. Sometimes runs as if shod with daffodils.”

Anyway, I should have gone to the haiku reading instead, because the Cheltenham preview was in a noisy pub, as usual, and by the time I got there, all the seats near the stage were gone.

So I had to stand at the back where I could hear only snatches of what the panellists, including jockey Barry Geraghty, were saying. If there were any profound truths on offer, they escaped me.

Later, feeling culturally bereft, I looked up the website of the Irish Haiku Society (www.irishhaikuwebs.com), whose chairman had been performing at the poetry event, to see what I missed there.

That’s where I found the Hartnett verse, in fact. And the site was also full of useful information about the genre.

For those who bridle at its restrictions, there was a line by Robert Frost – “Poetry without rules is like a tennis match without a net” – to which the website added “Haiku without rules is like a tennis match without a ball”.

But I was then surprised to read that the 5-7-5 formation is optional, and that many exponents prefer even shorter poems.

For example, the winning entry in the society’s 2014 competition had only 10 syllables: “Waiting/in the sheaths of ice/blades of grass.”

For that, a man named Anton Floyd won €150, which may seem a modest amount, but on a per-word basis compares very well with the Nobel Prize.

Another shortened Haiku featured elsewhere, interestingly, was by Patrick Kavanagh. The website claims he wrote it “around 1969-70”. And I think that’s unlikely myself, if only because Kavanagh died in 1967. But I like the 12-syllable poem: “Corn-crake/a cry in the wilderness/of meadow.”

Career wins

Still, I think I prefer the more expansive form of

tanka

, with its 31 syllables. And speaking of form, that reminds me of the one thing I did pick up from the Cheltenham preview – that 31 is also the record for career wins at the festival by a jockey, the aforementioned Barry Geraghty.

So perhaps I have stumbled on a truth here. Ruby Walsh is favourite for the rider’s prize next week, as usual, but his odds of 4-9 are skinnier than he is. At 7-1, by contrast, Geraghty might be worth a small touch.

@FrankmcnallyIT