Visit Napowrimo for all of the (optional) prompts. They are very forgiving and accept all poems, prompted or not!
True haiku has many specific rules (see below), and this makes it hard work, much more difficult than simple, and requires some research to find the true form. Haiku is terrible difficult to translate into English. There are lots of variations on Haiku, such as Senru.
Japanese haiku is specifically 5-7-5, but this isn't translated into English syllables. I think it is better to be as succinct as possible, with that traditional kireji in the final line. It has no title, either.
sun shines in forest
faces towards its warmth
snow storm on horizon
Haiku
English-language haiku consist of "three content categories":
- Nature haiku / Human haiku (senryu) / Human plus nature haiku (hybrids).
- three lines with 17, or fewer, "on" (not syllables) in total.
- tend to be about nature
- include a kigo, or season word
- serious
- written in the present tense
- relates a moment of discovery/surprise (the "aha!" moment):
- includes a kireji (cutting word*)
I have been introduced to another haiku family:
HUMAN HAIKU OR SENRYŪ
A Japanese form of short poetry with the same structure as haiku.- include only references to some aspect of human nature (physical or psychological)
- or to human artifacts
- possesses no references to the natural world
- has no season words
- subject: foibles
- darkly humorous
- often cynical
A typical example from the collection:
- 泥棒を dorobō wo
- 捕えてみれば toraete mireba
- 我が子なり wagako nari
- The robber,
- when I catch,
- my own son
3 comments:
I think the haiku is a very complicated form of poetry.
I can't do it- I have no problem at all writing narrative, but poetry is something completely beyond me.
Wow - I had no idea how complicated this was! I had an idea that Haiku were more complex than most people write them which is a reason I've shied away from them in the past. The lune idea (which seemed simply to be a word count thing) seemed simple.
I read some of your links but still feel none the wiser as to how I could / would write a proper haiku! Thank you though.
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