Celebrating National Haiku Poetry Day!

Five – seven – five! It’s really that simple!

If you can county syllables, you can celebrate Haiku Poetry Day. And you really should. After all, April is National Poetry Month. So dive in to one of the simplest, yet most profound forms of verse.

It’s just three lines – five syllables in the first, seven in the second, and five in the last. That’s 17 syllables in all – short and sweet!

‘Light Verse’

The work “haiku” is a shortened form of a Japanese phrase that translates to “light verse.” Dating back hundreds of years, haiku originated in Japan, and it is from Japan that haiku’s greatest masters hail: Names like Basho (1644-1694), Buson (1715-1783), and Issa (1763-1827).

Traditional Japanese haiku conforms to stricter rules than we generally use here in the West, including the use of a kireji, or “cutting word,” which either inserts a pause within the poem or closes it with solemnity. (See if you can spot the kireji in the poems below!)

Haiku usually centers around nature and the seasons, often comparing two seemingly different things yet finding common ground between them.

While haiku eschews end-rhymes, internal rhymes are quite common. Best of all, haiku often invites the reader to add their own endings, memories or connotations to the mix, allowing the reader to become part of the creation.

Here are a few haiku to whet your appetite:

Lovely, isn’t it? Why not celebrate Haiku Day by writing some poetry of your own? Five – seven – five – it’s as easy as pie!

Not feeling inspired? Not to worry. There’s a haiku generator here that will whip up a marvelous creation in not time at all.

Share your haiku in the comments section. And have fun!