Learn more about writing haiku

What is a Haiku poem in English today?
Haiku is a short form poem that often has these characteristics

 What is a Haiku poem in English today?
Haiku is a short form poem that often has these characteristics:

• Spare, lean: no extra superfluous words

• Not rhyming

• The words are images, not description of images

• Without metaphor and simile

• Often divided into two sections – that expose two subjects (example: something natural and something human-made, two unexpectedly similar things)

Senryu is short form poetry resembling haiku that deals with human nature. Unlike haiku it is sometimes humorous and may contain metaphor and simile.

For many years, haiku in English was taught as a three-line format with 17 syllables sometimes arranged in a 5–7–5 pattern.

Today, haiku in English is better described as a one-breath poem – a short verse of about 10 to 14 syllables, with the second line usually the longest. Typically, haiku poems have little or no punctuation or capitalization, but may mark poem turning points with dashes or ellipses, and proper nouns are usually capitalized.

Here are some examples from the writing of Nick Virgilio of Camden:

sixteenth autumn since:
the barely visible grease marks
where he parked his car

telegram in hand
the shadow of the marine
darkens our screen door

beneath the coffin
at the edge of the open grave:
the crushed young grass

boarding the wrong bus: the heat

the funeral Mass:
in the holy water font
confetti and rice

Thanksgiving dinner:
placing the baby’s high chair
in the empty space

For more about haiku, check out the definition on Graceguts.com, and here are some resources for Teaching Haiku in Junior HIgh and Educational Resources for Haiku. And there is an excellent workshop on writing haiku here with Michael Dylan Welch.