For the Love of Haiku

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Many of us fell in love with haiku trying our hands at poetry for the first time in elementary school. The 17-syllable form is simple and accessible, yet offers room for depth, nuance, and beauty in a tiny space. Today, we’re delighted to share five favorite haiku from poets around WordPress.com.

“To be a poet is a condition, not a profession.”
— Robert Graves

TANYA CLIFF

We loved the spare imagery and chilling ending to author Tanya Cliff’s poem, “Spooky Haiku #2,” as well as the photo she took to illustrate it:

wind rustles the leaves

strips the branches down to bark

then skeletons dance

Photo by Tanya Cliff

Literary Lemonades

Poet Neha Sharma’s haiku generated some wonderful discussion as readers offered their interpretation of her haiku, “In One Piece”:

Through the window bars,
the moon appears in one piece.
She decides to leave.

What does Neha’s poem suggest to you? Drop by and let her know.

Melinda J. Irvine

Melinda J. Irvine is an Australian copywriter, poet, author, and musician. In addition to haiku, she writes all types of poetry and has sections of her site dedicated to free verse, limerick, prose poetry, and senryu, among other forms. We loved the melancholy feeling in “Someone Before Me.” The accompanying photograph documents the scene.

on a lonely shore
someone had stood before me
webbed footprints in sand

Photo by Melinda J. Irvine

Ten Thousand Haiku

Calvin Olsen, the poet behind Ten Thousand Haiku, is on a mission to create — you guessed it — 10,000 haiku, a project expected to take 27 years at one haiku per day. We loved the beauty of breakfast, courtesy of haiku 2542.

Corn meal waffle spills
From the iron: sweet batter
Hardens on one side

“The poet is the priest of the invisible.”
— Wallace Stevens

the poetry of photography

Melinda Green Harvey posts a black-and-white image and an accompanying haiku every day at the poetry of photography. We loved the way she makes the seemingly mundane beautiful by documenting it with an image and a few words.

Detail: joists and wall
and smattering of shingles.
Springlake’s fire station.

Photo by Melinda Green Harvey

For more, check out the haiku tag in the WordPress.com Reader.

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70 Comments

  5. “wind rustles the leaves

    strips the branches down to bark

    then skeletons dance”

    Beautifully expresses.
    It is a time in autumn.
    In Chinese literature, many poets write and express a lot about autumn, when leaves return to the roots, signifying consolidation, no more reaching out, no more conquering.

    It is also a time of sadness, melancholy and reflection, feeling the deeply felt emotions and sentiment.

    A time ready for hibernation with the coming of winter.

    Ancient sages 3000 years ago, equated autumn with the functions of lungs as per Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic.

    They also notice, people who wake up 3-5 am in the morning, sleepless, indicate some griefs.

    Ancient Eisdom can teach us a lot in today challenging world.

    https://360q.wordpress.com/

    Liked by 9 people

  6. My favs were the skeleton trees and the moon. I’m a sucker for nature motifs, especially moon and tree ones, especially when I can envision the allusion being a lonely, broken woman.

    Liked by 9 people

  10. I’ve always felt like the Haiku was one of the most under-appreciated forms of poetry. It takes mastery to make something meaningful out of the short 5-7-5 syllable structure. So I commend any and everyone who can do so.

    Liked by 12 people

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