Haiku from the Heart
COMPOSING HAIKU
I'm not a Poet. How can I possibly write Haiku?
You have poetry inside of you. How many experiences do you have each day? Every
experience, observation, thought and feeling can be expressed in a haiku poem, making
it an excellent form of self-
1. Haiku enables you to convey your thoughts and feeling fairly easily. There's
a sense of Freedom within the Structure—the brevity forces you to keep to the essentials
of what you're trying to say. There's no need to embellish: "less is more". Haiku
is rich and dense, while allowing you to be frank and candid.
2. Simple words and images work best in this type of poetry. The profundity comes
from the truth and honesty in your poem. In writing haiku, you will likely be clarifying
for yourself what you are thinking or feeling. There's no need to use Big Words
or Deep Symbolism, unless this is truly coming from your Soul. For example if you
wrote:
someone stole my bike
now i have to take the bus
this completely
sucks
There! You've said a lot in just 17 syllables: you've explained what happened
(your bike got stolen); you've described one of the repercussions (you need another
form of transportation); and you've shared your feelings about the whole situation
(you are not happy, to say the least).
3. Write what you feel, what you experience, what you observe. Try not to write
what you think other people want to hear or want you to say. In the same vein, try
not to write what you think would "sound good" or be "profound."
4. Write from your heart, not your mind.
5. "The sky's the limit" (!).
For more information, see the Writing Process, Haiku Hints and Capturing Haiku Sections.