What Haiku?

“Haiku” is a form of Japanese poetry which consists of the following three elements:

1) Three lines of 17 syllables. 5-7-5, starting with 5 in the first line, seven in the second and five again in the third or last line.

2) Use of  a season term.

3) And a cut to compare the two images.

“Haiku” is mostly used to describe everyday events. It is essentially an art of giving a fresh perspective to everyday events or happenings.  The main purpose of “Haiku”is to translate any familiar situation in such a way that it feels like new! In Japanese it is essential to maintain the 17 syllables in three lines form of ”Haiku” but when used in any other language it isn’t entirely necessary to strictly maintain it. When written in English, for example, the “Haiku” syllables can vary between 10-14. Usually, however, the 17 syllables count is adhered too. It is important to note that used in any language, “Haiku” always maintains the 3 units style.

Further, in the traditional form, “Haiku” is used to express a seasonal theme which maybe done  explicitly using obvious terms like snow for winter, heat for summer.. or it maybe drawn more implicitly! While the cutting divides the Haiku into two parts in such a way that each enhances the understanding of the other. To make this cutting in English, either the first or the second line ends normally with a colon, long dash or ellipsis.

So, are you ready to give it a shot of your own. There is plenty of ”Haiku” published here on Triond. Some of it is quite ingenious, really!

Haiku take on Haiku by Triond writer castleboundbookhttp://authspot.com/poetry/haiku-59/