Haiku Poetry: A Place in the 21st century

One of the first styles I remember writing in as a youth was Haiku. I liked the simple poetry structure and was drawn to the fact that you could get so much impact out of a simple 3 line poem. I used to write Haiku in a series, 4 or 5 poems for one atmosphere or feeling. These kinds of poems are really enjoyable to write and they get the juices flowing for the larger projects. Take a look at 4 nice Haiku poems by Brant David McLaughlin called A Thread of Haiku. He paints us a picture of dancing fireflies by the lake at nightfall in the first 3 poems, then switches the focus back to the poem itself for the fourth poem to create an interesting sequence. I found alot of really nice haiku poems to read at Authspot.com, a site that offers a great opportunity for writers and beginning writers to highlight their work and receive comments from readers.

For those of you interested in delving a little deeper into the background and history of Haiku, take a look at this link that talks about Haiku as being one of the most important forms of traditional Japanese poetry. It appears that there are three related terms : Haiku, Hokku and Haikai. The term Hokku literally means the "starting verse", and this was often the first starting link in a much longer chain of verses known as Haika. For a great link with Haiku poetry writing including an analysis of the poems and background in the styles take a look at HOW-TO HAIKU.

I want to leave you with one thought before I go. I was spending alot of time on search engines awhile back and I started to think (please don't think me crazy) that the sponsored results ads by google, are actually, very similar to Haiku. The rhythmic pulse is different, but the idea remains the same. To create a strong image and feeling in the reader's mind with very few letters and a few very basic structures. Think they are easy? Try writing an ad that short and you will realize that you need to use your head to make people notice it. Good luck with the writing, I will see you soon.

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