write, write, and rewrite—

write until it doesn’t sound

like writing at all

Haiku is a very short form of Japanese poetry, altered over time to fit the demands of the English language.  The essence of haiku is represented by the juxtaposition of two images or ideas and a break between them, a kind of verbal punctuation mark that signals the separation, and colours the manner in which the juxtaposed elements are related.

Traditional haiku consist of seventeen syllables, rendered in English in three phrases of five, seven, and five syllables, respectively.  The lines usually do not rhyme, although many haiku composers try to rhyme the first and last phrases as an additional challenge.

A three-word haiku poem is extremely difficult, but a lot of fun to attempt.

Here are some more samples by me, a keen neophyte, accompanied by pictures for my own pleasure—

nightmares waken me,

phantom fears that something lurks—

banished by the dawn

comes dawn, the new day,

rising full of hope unspoiled,

banishing the night

shoulder to shoulder,

a capella voices raised—

united in song

shore birds by the pond

visible in dawn’s first light—

stalking careless fish

unrelentingly

under-appreciated—

mediocrity

And a final one—

write lots and often,

share most of it with readers—

prose and poetry