How to write Haiku for the English language
Haiku can be a way to express your self in a concise, but elegant manner. And while the rules for writing haiku in Japanese are clear, there is no clear consensus for any other language.
This means that I'm write and everyone else is wrong. ;)
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Things You'll Need
- Pen, Pencil, Crayon, Ink Brush (Your choice)
- Paper (Any quality will do, what you want is your choice)
- Imagination
- A decent command of the English language
Instructions
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A topic. What are you going to write about? Since haiku is such a short form, you may consider staying away from the more abstract concepts. At least until you have more experience. Consider writing about a topic that most people will recognize.
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Now comes the hard part. The writing of your poem. In Japanese, the convention of having 5,7,5 syllables in each line is a hard and fast rule. But, since English can have different syllable length, this can be more difficult to accomplish.
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Cutting your haiku (no, not literally). Consider using the cutting technique in your haiku to give the two portions of your poem a limited form of independence. To make this cutting in English, either the first or the second line ends normally with a colon, long dash or ellipsis.
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Tips & Warnings
For a traditional seasonal theme, each haiku must contain a "kigo", a season word, which indicate in which season the haiku is set. For example, cherry blossoms indicate spring, snow indicate winter, and mosquitoes indicate summer, but the season word isn't always that obvious.
Please notice that haiku-poems are written under different rules and in many languages. For translated haiku-poems, the translator must decide whether he should obey the rules strictly, or if he should present the exact essence of the haiku. For haiku-poems originally written in English, the poet should be more careful. These are the difficulties, and the pleasure of haiku.
This is your poetry. Follow the "rules" at your own discretion.
