Sunday 12 June 2016

Write a haiku for 30 Days Wild

Haiku are a Japanese form of poetry. If you learned about them in school you may have learned that they are 17 syllables long (three lines in a 5-7-5 syllable pattern) and not much else. In fact, there is much more to haiku than that. The syllable count isn't even necessarily a strict feature, given that Japanese syllables are very different than English syllables. Most writers of literary haiku in English these days accept haiku of seventeen or fewer syllables which may be spread over two or three lines (there is even such a thing as a one line haiku).

The relevance of haiku to 30 Days Wild is that this is a poetic form that is meant to be a direct observation of nature, recorded directly as soon as possible after the event. The best haiku is not edited or polished but exists as a record of a moment in time. Haiku writers aim for the 'a-ha!' moment, but it is worth commenting that one person's 'a-ha!' may well be someone else's 'so what!'.

You can read more about haiku by following the links below:

NaHaiWriMo (National Haiku writing month, which is fittingly held every February)

Aha poetry (which includes links to several excellent essays about haiku and related poetic forms)

So, looking out of my window on this rainy day in Edinburgh, here is a haiku, written from the moment:

overcast skies -
dandelions shine
in the garden


9 comments:

Simon Douglas Thompson said...

I'll come back to you on that one!

Bill said...

Nice haiku, Juliet

the steady hum
of the air conditioner--
wind-whipped branches

Naquillity said...

i've always enjoyed the haiku. i find myself staying to the 5-7-5 syllable count though. ah well, yours is a nice image of the dandelion in an overcast garden. hope all is well. have a great night~

RG said...

Haiku escapes me but I like those fox pics yesterday!!

Crafty Green Poet said...

Bill - excellent! Thanks

Naquillity - nothing wrong with 5-7-5 just that a haiku can be a haiku without it and a lot of people don't realise that

Sandy said...

high winds today
the air is full of leaves
and goldfinches

Bill must be getting the same weather as we are-
I have been watching the tiny goldfinches who nest in our front tree all morning
Can't see how they are able to stay in the air

Geraldine said...

Love your haiku,

I'm a big fan of this poetry form. I also have published two haiku collections. Good luck with the challenge.

Geraldine said...

I love you haiku too Sandy.:-)

Pietro Brosio said...

Beautiful haiku!