Posted: May 10, 08 4:08pm

For some reason, haiku (a Japanese poetry form) has always fascinated me. I'm definitely no expert, but like to dabble in it at times. For those who are unfamiliar, here are the "rules" of haiku as I understand them:

Haiku-poems consist of respectively 5, 7 and 5 syllables in three units.

The Haiku is divided into two parts (cutting), with a certain imaginative distance between the two sections, but the two sections must remain, to a degree, independent of each other. Both sections must enrich the understanding of the other. To make this cutting in english, either the first or the second line ends normally with a colon, long dash or ellipsis.

Haiku-poems can describe almost anything, but are generally easily understood. Some of the most thrilling Haiku-poems describe daily situations in a way that gives the reader a brand new experience of a well-known situation.

Each Haiku must contain season word, which indicates in which season the Haiku is set. For example, cherry blossoms indicate spring, snow indicate winter, and mosquitoes indicate summer, but the season word isn't always that obvious.

Here is a very simple example of my own creation:

Gray skies in springtime --

Soon raindrops will start to fall,

Lush green to follow.

I invite discussion and/or contributions of haiku. Don't be shy, we aren't perfectionists and there will be no grading involved!