Get up and walk outside. Take a moment to look around. What little details do you notice right now, that you miss everyday because you are in a hurry rushing here or there? Find a special moment, feeling or image with in nature. Close your eyes and picture it. Think - how do you feel? What is important about this image - the details? Is there a secret or a surprising detail about the image? Does it have a story to tell?
Traditional Japanese Haiku poetry is composed of 17 units divided into three parts (5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables). Japanese Haiku poets write their poems in one line; however, in English Haiku each part is written on a separate line. It is important to divide the three parts to allow the reader time to form an image in their mind.
Five Syllables
Seven Syllables
Five Syllables
November 29
Ridiculous:
another blizzard; the world
goes quietly white
December 18
Moonlight casts a pale
blue light on the snow, winter
perfect, cold and brisk
December 26
The bare limbs of the
trees shiver in the wind and
speak in semaphore
Source: de Lint, Charles (2002). Winter Haiku. retrieved online April 2012 from http://www.endicott-studio.com/cofhs/chhaiku.html