Writing Haiku

Haiku Writing
 
Haiku are short, imagistic poems about things that make reader feel what you were feeling at that moment. Here is how you can start writing Haiku:
 

1.       Think of any moment (maybe now) that was special to you or felt a certain emotion or feeling. How did the experience make you feel? Can you put one of these experiences into words that will make someone else feel the same thing? Try looking around you. Many of the best haiku were written right after the author saw, heard or touched something. Do you see anything that might be interesting to play with in words? See if you can find words that will fit together to make other people see something the special way you see it. To help with this, it may be good to go for a walk or look outside to see what is going on.

2.       Many haiku create emotions by connecting two or more images (things you can see, hear, touch, taste, smell) together in a new way. Try making up word-pictures to see if any seem so real that they make you have a special feeling.
 
3.       The Haiku poem is written in three lines with the middle line longer and the whole poem totaling no more than 17 syllables.
 
4.       Check for unneeded words. Delete them. An example:
 
A cold winter wind
the rolling hills of night
frosty in starlight
 
This haiku example tells us it is cold three times (cold, winter, frosty) and tells us it is night twice (night, starlight). In Haiku we keep only the words that appeal most to the senses, and rewrite like this:
A frosty wind
the hills roll away
under starlight
 
5.       Remove or change words that imply judgment such as beautiful or pretty.
 
6.       A haiku should share a moment of awareness with the reader. In haiku you have to give the reader words that help recreate the moment, the image or images that gave you the feeling. Telling the reader how you feel does not make the reader feel anything and does not make a good haiku. The words of the haiku should create in the reader the emotion felt by the poet, not describe the emotion. Check of such literal descriptions and rewrite your poems
 
7.       Each haiku should sound as though it is happening as you read it, in a specific place and a specific time. So write your haiku in the present tense, as if they are right here and now. Haiku should not cover a lengthy time span. A haiku freezes one moment in time the way a photograph does.
 
8.       In making a haiku, we try to present something in the most direct words possible. Hence, haiku do not have any metaphors or similes.
 
9.       Haiku poets do not use rhyme unless it happens accidentally and is hardly noticeable.
 

10.   Since, haiku are about common, everyday experiences avoid complicated words or grammar.
 
11. Like all forms of writing, much of the art of writing haiku comes from revising.
You may have to rewrite your haiku several times to make it really good
 
12. Also read and enjoy as many Haiku for you to get used to them. Here are some Examples (some written by schoolchildren:
 
Winter twilight
in the closed barbershop
the mirrors darken
 
The fog has settled
around us. A faint redness
where the maple was.
 
Soap bubbles!
My face is flying
too!
 
Mr. Ant,
do you mind if I set you
on my leaf boat?
 
Where I buried
the little bird, only there
the ground bumps up.
A shadow rises
In the middle of the swamp
Under the full moon.
Evening Sun
Hides behind clouds
Blushing
 
(This one’s a personal favourite)
Robin on the wall
Cat jumps across garden
Nothing on the wall
 
(This one was written while designing this session for you)
 
‘Quiet’ says teacher
she wants to teach
closed minds