NaPoWriMo Day 22 – Earth Day

Day 22

flowers spring
earth's colourful painting
frost moves in for the kill

NaPoWriMo 2014 day 2

With so many people murdering haiku, I figured I might jump in. True haiku is rare and most people are writing pseudoku, flipping it off gaily! Some silly radio stations do contests, further murdering the style. I claim no real skills in this. It takes a master.
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).

(see: E. St Jacques for more examples)in construction:

• 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*)

*Kireji (切れ字 cutting word) is the term for words used in Japanese traditional poetry. It is regarded as a requirement in traditional haiku.

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

Senryū Karai (柄井川柳, 1718-1790) (see Haiku)
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

NaPoWriMo 2013 pseudoku

black clouds of sorrow
hunkered down under trees
tom keeps watch in the rain


freezing rain
coats weeping branches
limbs that will bend or break

They are called pseudoku as we white folks have issues writing true Haiku! 

We tend to murder it like desperate crows seeking shiny jewels! The prize often escapes us.

We often miss the twist at the end. (Read more here!) 

Syllabification doesn't translate well into English.

haiku or pseudoku

pseudoku!

wewritepoems.wordpress.com

So many anglophones have murdered haiku. There are specific 'rules' around it. I loath the murder of it, and try to follow the style. Forgive me for my sins!
No titles, they must contain nature images, seasonal references, and a twist at the end.
And on that note...

 

I know they are crows... but...

ravens land in skeletal trees

a chill foreshadows winter

wolves howl in the distance

yellow and black stripes

slither from under my feet

hawk flies above

forest calls in gentle dusk

Bambi's mother nibbles

wolves howl in the distance