The Haiku Poem

by Alejandro Martinez

The first introduction many people have to haikus are a school assignment. You are told to write three lines and that it is poetry. That is all you have and you get going. Haikus are simple enough for a 3rd grader to do successfully. All of the following are technically haikus:

I arrived to school
My teacher told me to write
This is my poem

This, technically is a haiku albeit a very simplistic haiku it follows the rules of haikus. A haiku is 3 lines long. This first line has 5 syllables, the second line has 7 syllables, and the third line has 5 syllables. So yes, the above does fit this categorization but it is not so poetic. A far better haiku is as follows:

The wind blows lightly
As I look across the sea
I see no limits

This has a feeling of a haiku because it has more meaning than the usual few sentences of everyday conversation. This is poetry. The person who goes to read a haiku poem will expect to hear something meaningful. That is the point of a haiku, and the reason the Japanese made haikus.

A haiku normally will provide a visual picture in the mind. A carefully crafted haiku will bring you imagery which exactly matches what the author was thinking of. For example:

The baby looks up
He lifts his hand to the moon
"I'll reach it later"

If you got an image of a baby trying to reach for the moon, not making it and then giving up. Then this haiku communicated what it was supposed to. You could also have gotten the idea that it was not so important to the baby. Or even that babies are often distracted and will normally give up on a goal that they set.

At the end of the story, a haiku is really has the same purpose of any art, which is to express yourself. See if you can see what I am trying to express in the following haikus. Then you can try and make some for yourself. It can be easy as long as you follow the rules about them.

All kinds of people
Fill the lands and the oceans
They are my brothers

There is lots of death


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7476186
Get a Premium Membership
Get more exposure for your poetry and more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Reflection on the Important Things

Member Area

My Admin
Profile and Settings
Edit My Poems
Edit My Quotes
Edit My Short Stories
Edit My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder

Soup Social

Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us

Member Poems

Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread

Member Poets

Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest

Famous Poems

Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100

Famous Poets

Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War

Poetry Resources

Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter