Writer's Corner Wednesday, Vol. 2

Happy Wednesday to you all!

I hope everyone in my neck of the woods has been staying warm--it's certainly been treacherous outside! Harnett County had their third day in a row off today, and I'm not going to lie...cabin fever started to settle in yesterday. But tomorrow we'll surely be back, though I'm not sure if we'll have a delay or not. Things seem pretty much melted outside now, so I won't be surprised if we go back on our regular schedule tomorrow.

Anyway, I'm here to bring you this week's Writer's Corner Wednesday, and today, I'm focusing on the wonderful Haiku. Haiku poetry is surprisingly easy to write, and it's formula is incredibly simple:

5 syllables

7 syllables

5 syllables

Haiku poetry comes from Japan, and it's neat because it usually focuses on a specific description of a small moment. Haiku poems are often about the seasons or about nature. I'll first give you some examples by actual poets, then I'll show you a few that I wrote in (literally) just a few minutes.

First, the experts:

(Side note--many of these are translated from Japanese, so note that they may not be 5/7/5 in English)

The crow has flown away:

swaying in the evening sun,

a leafless tree.

-Natsume Soseki

The wind that blows -

ask them, which leaf on the tree

will be next to go.

-Takahama Kyoshi

An old silent pond...

A frog jumps into the pond,

splash! Silence again.

-Basho

Hopefully you notice the nature themes found in these examples. Haiku poetry almost holds a magnifying glass to a moment in time. It's like its intent is to heighten all of your senses in one instant so you don't miss a detail. That's kind of what I love about Haiku poetry...because it's almost not natural to slow down like that anymore in our daily lives.

Writing Haiku poetry is super simple. Just pick something specific to describe, and break it down in syllables, or beats. Five for the first line; seven for the second; five for the third. It's absolutely acceptable for one line to continue onto the next, meaning each line doesn't have to be its own complete thought. The idea is that the end product should read kind of like one complete thought.

Alright, time to try my hand at at few. Here's one:

comfortable and warm,

tucked inside my lovely bed

must i go to school today?

It's my intent to really focus on my desire to stay in bed, so hopefully you felt that longing to crawl back into yours by the end of that brief thought. Here's another, inspired by a look out my window!

crisp, cold, clean, clear, crunch

ice covers my car outside

staying home sounds great!

Remember when I mentioned cabin fever? Forgive my singularity of thought there. One more:

warm, steamy, delicious

homemade soup warms up my soul

like a bowl of love

A bowl of love? Yuck. Sorry about that one. That's probably a good place to call it quits.

Hopefully you feel inspired to try your hand at your very own Haiku. It's kind of addictive. If you come up with one you want to share, feel free to do so in the comments below.

I'll see you all back here tomorrow with some thoughts for your Thursday. Please leave any requests for topics in the comments, as well!

Stay warm!

♥ Marlee