A haiku is three lines long. It's an on-the-spot sketch from life, especially nature. It originated in Japan. Today it's written by people around the world. Folks from all walks of life compose haiku. And that includes students, professionals, artists, janitors, plumbers, librarians, directors, musicians, the elderly, and celebrities. Name the occupation or age and there's someone from that group writing haiku. Since haiku is the poetry of the ordinary and the everyday, anyone can write it.
Think of haiku as texting without the emoji. Or think of it as a photograph and your eyes, with your other senses, are the camera. To write a haiku, simply stop and look at the world around. Then put what is seen on paper. Kids compose haiku all the time. Here's an example:
look! tree!
a bird with blue feathers
oh, the bird flew away
They stopped, they looked, and immediately they responded with a haiku.
Unless otherwise noted, the haiku in this guide are the work of the author.
