how to write a haiku poem

Haiku are written in many languages, but currently, most poets outside of Japan are concentrated in the English-speaking countries.

Today, It is impossible to single out any current style or format, as no specific subject matter is definitive.

While traditional Japanese haiku has focused on nature and the place of humans in it, some modern haiku poets, both in Japan and the West, consider a broader range of subject matter suitable, including urban contexts.

The loosening of traditional standards has resulted in the term "haiku" being applied to brief English-language poems such as "mathemaku" and other kinds of pseudohaiku.

Traditional Japanese haiku have 17 syllables in 3 lines of, 5,7 and 5 syllables each. Some English writers stick to this formula - strict form haiku. Many modern poets however feel free to use any short verse, usually shorter than 17 syllables and this is called free form haiku.

Haiku often makes use of a "cut," (sometimes indicated by a punctuation mark) paralleling the Japanese use of kireji, to contrast and compare, implicitly, two events, images, or situations.

Basho, the father of haiku poetry in Japan, over 300 years ago, instructed his students on several important points. First, that the experience the haiku describes, is more important than the language used. The poet should be absorbed in nature. Most importantly, aim for simplicity with elegance, in expressing the original "haiku moment" (the truth of the original observation).

Towards the end of his life, Basho added another principle. He felt that what made the haiku especially meaningful was "karumi" (lightness). He described this as using subjects that were delicate and springy, like a blade of grass bouncing because an insect landed on it. He also used smoke rising, as an example of this.

Basho's very famous death haiku:

Ill on my journey -
dreams roam
parched moors

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