December 2018

Maybe I should remind myself of these…

August 2014

The internet is generous today with me and let me stumble over the “Ten Tips For Writing Haiku” on haikuworld.com. They sum up what I have learned so far about writing haiku and I will give you a short version here:

1. three lines of about 10 – 17 syllables if preferred one short, one long, one short
2. a reference to time of year or season
3. write in present tense
4. write about everyday events but from a point of understanding of all things
5. write about personal experience rather than imagination
6. create an emotional response by writing about what caused emotion
7. use two images
8. one image in one line, another in the two other lines
9. no titles or rhyme
10. let haiku sound natural

Writing haiku since a little more than a week now makes me realise how much of an art it is. There are lots of moments in my life where I see something in nature and I think:” that’s it!” but putting words to it and such few words at that is not so easy.

Language can express a lot, but moments of realisation of the truth of things is not one of them. Well, it is but it is a hard one. But I love that challenge. I really like writing short poems anyway. That is the impatient part of me I suspect. Usually, though I use a few more words than in haiku is used. But I suspect it will teach me to get to the core of things and will help me to write more precise in other forms as well.

I can only recommend to try it out. It certainly makes you more aware of what happens around you because you are on the lookout for a moment or an image that is worth writing about.

delicate wings

even though broken

dragonfly hovers away