In last week’s post, I tried to get you in touch with your inner poet by sharing some great works of poetry to read. This week, I’m going to encourage you to write some.
Breathe. It’ll be okay. In fact, I hope it will be fun. If my 10 year old daughter can do it, surely you can at least try. You don’t even have to show anybody (but I’d love it if you did, especially here.)
The poems I cited in my last post were quite long: 12 lines of iambic pentameter with a specific pattern of rhyme. That’s a sonnet for you. Today, since we’re thinking about actually creating our own poetry, let’s try a shorter form. How about Haiku?
Modern Haiku started in the late 19th century with Masaoka Shiki, but the form has deep spiritual and cultural roots in its home country, Japan. Various rules and forms have existed over the years, and in it’s most basic structure, Haiku is deceptively simple. Three lines, no rhymes, but a syllable requirement: 5, 7, 5. It should also have a “cutting” component, a sense that there are two parts to the poem with a clear splitting point. Traditional Haiku often uses nature as a muse, but poets can focus on any theme. (This brief description does not address all of the subtleties of the form; for more information see haiku.com or Haiku for people)
Seventeen syllables. Now, that’s not a whole lot of space to work with, so you have to choose your words carefully. And yet, what a great exercise- shouldn’t we be doing that all of the time, anyway?
I love my daughter’s fourth grade science teacher, Mrs. Susan Jones. When the class studied plants, they didn’t just read about them in a textbook. They went outside to the school garden and dug some up. Then they did leaf rubbings. Finally, they wrote poems about the leaves- for science class! Cross – curriculum instruction is such a beautiful thing.
This January, as the class studied weather, Mrs. Jones invited her students to write Haiku poetry about winter. And here’s what my daughter came up with:
In winter snow falls
To form a polar bear’s fur
So penguins can play.
Now, it’s our turn. I’m not a poet, nor have I ever taken poetry writing classes, but this is how I suggest starting:
· Think of a topic – weather, seasons, a specific emotional event
· Brainstorm words about that topic, especially lots of verbs and adjectives
· Link a few of those words together in phrases that fit the syllable structure for each line
Don’t laugh, here’s my attempt:
I empty myself;
Precious head against my chest
Fills me with peace.
Now, your turn! Let the words flow and don’t allow that critical voice to stifle your creativity. Also don’t be afraid to share your wonderful poems with us here. I can’t wait!
Julia
I don’t know how it has taken me several days to write 17 syllables, but here it is:
Cherry popsicle
drips a blood red, sticky path
down my pale wrist
(I’m going to have to count “pale” as two syllables)
When I was reading about haiku poetry, it said that the Japanese are more “flexible” with their pronounciation, and what would count as a one syllable word in English might count as two in Japanese. You’re ahead of the game! Great poem!
Nice to meet you too! Thanks for stopping by! Any other forms of poetry you can recommend for us to try?
I just discovered your blog through #MNINB. It’s good to “meet” you. I am teaching my fifth and sixth graders to write poetry this month. I can relate to this post.
You have the BEST ideas! I’m way behind on my reading, but I can at least roll out a haiku –
Sitting in silence
Pondering mercy and grace
I face a new day.
Have a great week!
And roll one out you did! Excellent! I’m so glad everyone has been willing to share. It’s fun, isn’t it? I might use yours as a morning prayer. Thanks Susan!
Julia,
I love coming to your blog! I learn so much every time. I tend to shy away from poetry, so I appreciate your challenge. I understood the 5-7-5, but I wasn’t sure about the “clear cutting component?” As I am in Montana with my 2 1/2 yr old grandson, my attempt is about our recent walk around the block…
Butterfly catching
Muddy puddles for jumping
Rocks for collecting
Thanks again!
I’m so glad that you’ve learned something! I love to hear that! Your haiku is wonderful. I understand your confusion about the cutting component, and it’s definitely not in all of the haiku poems I’ve seen. Sometimes, there is a sense that the that poem has two distinct parts. In mine, the first part is about being empty; I end that line with a semicolon to show the split. The rest of the poem is about what fills me, kind of the opposite. Does that help?
Across the shifting sky
The clouds melt away
A new rainbow is born
Beautiful Laura! Thanks so much for sharing your poem here. Great job!
My kids were always much better at haiku’s than me. What an adorable picture.
Thanks! Creativity comes so easiely to kids, doesn’t it?