While I'm working on another project, I am re-posting some blog posts from the past. This one is from April 20, 2013 (during National Poetry Month) and it absolutely surprised me by becoming one of my all time most-viewed posts the very first day! My intention had been to offer an example of poetry that anyone could begin to try their hand at -- a gateway poetry, so to speak. I never imagined the number of hits my blog would get from that post. With that kind of interest, I decided to make haiku a regular feature, posting a new original haiku every Saturday. You could say that this post became a defining moment, sending me to a new poetic discipline which I have continued each week on my blog.
As we celebrate National Poetry Month, it occurs to me that writing a haiku is one way that many who have never written a poem can begin to write. I remember back in junior high school English class when our teacher taught haiku. We actually spent most of the class time writing haiku and getting up to read our compositions. Some students who were not particularly known for their academic acumen were having a great time with the exercise. Below is a brief video lesson on writing haiku, or if you prefer written guidelines you can find a tutorial at Sophia.org here.
I read the Sophia tutorial and then wrote the following haiku:
The flowing waters
of the tiny mountain stream
speak of springtime peace.
Take a look at either one of the tutorials and try your hand at it. Haiku is a wonderful way to begin writing your own poetry.
[Note: since this original entry was posted, I went on to learn a few more things about writing haiku. You can read more about it on my post, Notes from a Haiku Workshop.]
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