What is Poetry? Haiku Part Two

Now that we have established that Haiku do not need to be 17 syllables or a 5-7-5 syllable count per line, let’s begin.

Complexity and different rules , capturing a zen moment, resonance and synchronicity will come as you continue along your Haiku journey, but for the purposes of beginning, we will begin simply.

Where to begin ?

Look around you and jot down your observations.
Haiku requires close observation and tapping into the senses.
What do you see, touch, smell, hear, taste?
Focus totally on the moment – the who, what, where and when of it.
Just say it simply, in a very direct manner.
There are no capitals, no titles and minimum punctuation in Haiku.
Keep it concrete; grounded in the senses.

A concrete description makes the reader feel as if they too are having the experience and keeping the poem to a minimum, allows the reader to come to their own conclusions regarding meaning. This is known as open-endedness.

Examples of Haiku :
For this article I have a selection of Haiku from Nicholas A. Virgillio

not a breath of air
in the crowded cathedral:
the sermon on Hell

always returning
to the turd on the tombstone
cemetery flies

heat before the storm:
a fly disturbs the quiet
of the empty store

My notes are a guide only and reflect my own pathway, my bias and where I am currently situated. Find good haiku for yourself to read. The following publications, amongst many others, offer a diverse range of haiku reading as well as great articles on the subject.

The Herons Nest
Moonset
LYNX
Modern English Tanka
Ribbons
Simply Haiku

I would like to finish with this thought -
“The primary purpose of reading and writing haiku is sharing moments of our lives that have moved us, pieces of experience and perception that we offer or receive as gifts. At the deepest level this is the one great purpose of all art, and especially of literature”.
William Higginson.