This document provides instructions on how to write haiku poetry. It explains that haiku are short Japanese poems that typically follow a 3-line structure with syllables of 5-7-5. While some modern haiku deviate from this, traditional haiku also reference nature or seasons. The document gives examples of haiku from Japanese poets and advises writers to focus on capturing a moment or experience in their poem through vivid imagery and juxtaposition. Aspirant haiku poets are encouraged to jot down images and lines freely before refining their work into the haiku form through careful editing.

1. WRITER CAT RAMBO
How to Write Haiku Poetry
Keywords: Haiku Poetry
Haiku poetry is an ancient Japanese form of short poem which has remained popular through the
centuries with poets. Exquisite haiku can capture a moment and preserve it, as with this haiku from the
Japanese poet Basho:
April's air stirs in
Willow-leaves; a butterfly
Floats and balances.
Or, in another haiku where another Japanese poet, Moritake, celebrates a butterfly's ephemeral
existence:
A fallen flower
Drifting to rest on the branch?
No. White butterfly.
To write haiku poetry, you need to understand the three main characteristics of the form.
1. Syllable count is often the only haiku tradition that poets adhere to. In a traditional haiku, the first line
has five syllables (more correctly, "on," which means "sound" in Japanese), the second seven, and the
third five.
2. A seasonal reference. In traditional haiku, these were drawn from specific lists of words, and often
contained some mention of nature.
3. In Japanese, the third requirement of haiku is called "kireji," which translates as "cutting word. These
are moments of emphasis which either provide a pause in the poem or create an ending that closes the
poem gracefully.
Poets working with haiku poetry but not writing in Japanese usually choose to adhere to the first and
sometimes the second. The third concept sometimes becomes a pause in which two ideas or images
that are juxtaposed, placed next to each other in a way that lets us realize something new.
To write a haiku, pick a moment that you want to capture. Think about what the moment represents to
you in your life. Is it the first time you hear the frogs singing down by the lake and know that spring has
come? Is it standing in the middle of a downtown crowd in which you know no one, and realizing
loneliness that you can experience even when among people? The time you watched your mother
making pancakes and realized that she was mortal and would be gone someday?

2. Think about what characterizes the moment to you: the smell of the still smoldering cigarette butt a
passerby threw in the gutter? The buzzy shrill of a tree frog, magnified by a thousand of them singing
until the air seems to vibrate with the sound they're making? The way your mother holds the ladle of
batter, pouring it in a slow outward spiral?
Jot down images, scraps of lines, before you begin to worry about counting syllables. Trim them down,
make them as succinct as possible. What comparisons can you make that will help show the object or
scene in a new light?
Once you have that, pick out the most powerful descriptions and lines and begin assembling them into a
haiku. This is often the trickiest and most fiddly bit of writing haiku poetry, and you may want to think
about how strictly you want to adhere to the rules of syllable count. It's your poem, after all, and you get
to do what you want with it.
Don't stop when you've got the right syllable count. Read your new haiku poetry aloud and keep
working until it sounds right to the ear as well. Polish until your poem is perfect; when you're working
with such a small space, every word has to do some work.