Haiku

Haiku (俳句 ,haikai verse?) listen Japanese haiku have been traditionally composed in 5-7-5 syllables. When poets started writing English haiku in the 1950's, they adopted this 5-7-5 form, thinking it created a similar condition for English-language haiku. This style is what is generally considered "traditional" English haiku. It was found that more could be "said" using 17 syllables in the English language as compared to Japanese, so sometimes English authors choose to use fewer syllables. In Japanese, haiku are traditionally printed in a single vertical line, while haiku in English usually appear in three lines. Haiku was given its current name by the Japanese writer Masaoka Shiki at the end of the 19th century.

This link takes you to the author, Jacqueline Woodson, who talks about and reads a haiku from her book "Locomotion". We will be using this book in our study of word choice.
http://www.teachingbooks.net/show.cgi?m=content%2FFlash%2FWoodson_Locomotion_regular.flv&poster=content%2FFlash%2FWoodson_Locomotion_poster.jpg&t=swf&size=l

Here are a few examples of Haiku poetry written by children from around the world.

In early morning
My Dad goes out for seafood
From the ocean rocks
Agnes Thomas / Age 13 / Canada

In the evening twilight
Only the mushrooms
Are illuminated
Keji Baba / Age 12 / Japan

Here are a few famous examles of Haiku poetry:

An old silent pond...
A frog jumps into the pond,
splash! Silence again.
by Basho (1644-1694)

Over the wintry
forest, winds howl in rage
with no leaves to blow.
by Soseki (1275-1351)

I think the great thing about Haiku is that it makes poetry seem like something everyone could try.

What do you think? Can you come up with a Haiku to share?