Why Haiku?

I don't write haiku or senryu to impress people or because I think it's the cool thing to do. I write these brief poems because it forces me to be in the moment, to stop and pay attention to the sounds, scents, tastes, and other sensations I'm experiencing. I choose to experience those moments, instead of letting myself be rushed along by this frenetic, frenzied pace of modern life. It's so easy to get sucked into that draining vortex of busyness that threatens to consume me.

Haiku lets me stop, if only for a few moments during my day, and reminds me to be present, to let myself feel. It reminds me to experience things fully instead of passively letting them wash over me. It calms and soothes me, like a brief moment of meditation that's not forced or contrived.

I enjoy reading the haiku and senryu of others and getting a very brief glimpse of their lives, thoughts, experiences, etc. through three short lines comprised of 5,7,5 syllables. Sometimes they are raw and express painful emotions. Sometimes they are a sharing of a passing moment in time, something as simple as the taste of fruit, glimpse of a flower, a kiss, or view of the moon.

Did you know Jack Kerouac wrote haiku?

"Above all, a haiku must be very simple and free of all poetic trickery and make a little picture and yet be as airy and graceful as a Vivaldi Pastorella." ~ Jack Kerouac

"He incorporated his "American" haiku in novels and in his correspondence, notebooks, journals, sketchbooks, and recordings." ~ Regina Weinreich (Referring to Jack Kerouac)

~ B.Y. Penman

Haiku:

Haiku is an unrhymed verse form of Japanese origin that consists of three lines usually containing 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively. A haiku usually contains a seasonal reference

Senryu:

Senryu is a 3-line unrhymed poem structurally similar to haiku though it speaks about human nature usually in an ironic or satiric manner.

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