KingAce

I love'em and I think they're great but I can't write one to save my life....I need help like what is the structure and all the secrets and good stuff behind it, please help me so I can expand my talents

MsJacquiiC

hmmm - Haiku is one of my favorite styles... I think what's so special about the haiku is that there's such wisdom espoused in so little words... The haiku doesn't waste one syllable at all...

It's also interesting, as I was reading up on the form haiku... Where English poetry has stressed the 17 syllable-count per 3 lines.... Read on.....

Quoted from "The Teachers & Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms"
Anyway - I found the haiku read a bit interesting, as I had always assumed that haiku was of STRICT syllabic and ALWAYS about nature... Though I dare say most traditional haiku IS about nature and the ramifications of humanity on nature and/or vice verse...

TREE recommended the Teacher's & Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms to me and I thoroughly enjoy it, and recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about the different styles of poetry

Bitter Irony

The best sources of information on haiku (the word is its own plural) are haiku anthologies and magazines. The form is surprisingly dynamic; there's no such thing a single definition. Even the rule about "short first and last line, long middle" is widely ignored.

A technique I like to use and see used often is the "fragment-phrase." The haiku follows one of two patters; fragment on L1 and phrase across L2 and L3, like so;

january storm...
knots in the chain
of our anniversary necklace

or phrase across L1 and L2 and phrase on L3, like so;

the empty pegs
on our coatrack...
half a moon

The inclusion of a natural (or at concreate) image still seems pretty solidly ingrained in the form. That is, "sadness / consumes me... / broken heart" is NOT a haiku, no matter what the fragment-phrase pattern.

As I said, haiku magazines etc. are the best resource for learning about the form. I suggest theheronsnest.com and tinywords.com for a wide selection of examples, and simplyhaiku.com for essays and reviews.

~Bitter Irony

MsJacquiiC

And of course - we won't leave out the "need-to-be-finished" Poetry-Defined - Home LOL - ALSO - love the phrase/fragment approach - I think I've seen similar take elsewhere - but I like how you explained it - makes much more sense and is actually approachable so to speak...

Correct! BUT - there is a similar form - the senryu that basically has the same approach - however, as opposed to the nature theme - the senryu deals with more of humanity theme...

So your example above would be considered senryu - and quite an interesting one if I do say so myself.



Jacquii.

ALSO @ BITTER IRONY - If you haven't done so thus far - feel free to introduce yourself over at the Member Introductions section.

Bitter Irony

I would say that, to some extent, even senryu require concreate imagery; senryu approach a single observed action and use it to draw conclusions on human nature. As I'm no good at writing senryu, I'll just link to some people who are; http://www.poetrylives.com/SimplyHai...yu/senryu.html

The point is...it's the imagery that makes the form. Syllables and line count don't make a poem a haiku or senryu; it needs to show some observation.

I'm off to introduce myself at the Member Intros section right now... Sorry it's taken me a little while to find my way around the site. I'm forum-ly challenged.

~Bitter Irony