Practice On Your Own

Here are some exercises that you can try on your own to help you deepen your understanding of the art of haiku.

1. Using Kigo (seasonal imagery) in haiku

Goal: Awaken to the current season and its imagery

Writing Exercise: Take a long walk. Notice the natural world around you and those things that are associated with the current season. For example, if it is winter, look deeply at the ice crystals on your gloves, or listen to the sound that your boots make on the stone steps. Observe and allow yourself to be moved. When you return home, write down some of the images you observed on your walk. Don't just describe the images, feel them.

Form: Write three haiku in a traditional Japanese format (17 syllables 5-7-5). Then try rewriting the same three poems in 12 or 13 syllables. Which effort produced the better poems?

Things to Remember: Use simple, direct language and words that evoke a season. Try to incorporate a cutting or pivot word so that the halves of your haiku seem to speak to each other.

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2. Writing "linked elegance" (renga)

Goal: To collaborate with one or more people to create a renga

Writing Exercise: This exercise is best done with a group or at least one other person. Begin the exercise by writing the first section of a tanka (5-7-5), similar to a haiku. Hand this poem to another person. The second person then writes a response (or continuation) by composing two lines of 7-7 syllables. Then the second person hands off the completed tanka to a third person, and that person writes another beginning to a tanka (5-7-5). Continue in this way until you run out of time or feel that the poem is complete.

Form: The first part of the poem will have a syllable count of 5-7-5. The second part will in some way refer to the first and have two lines of 7-7. The third part will again begin with 5-7-5 and refer to the second. If you are able, see if you can cycle through the seasons by using a different kigo for each tanka.

Things to Remember: Don't try to force the renga into a storyline or preconceived direction. When you are writing a response to the previous poem, focus only on the last section of the tanka, not the whole poem.