Haiku Month 1: write one haiku per day
using the 5-7-5 syllable count

Modern Haiku. The Heron's Nest. Roadrunner e-magazine.

Yuki Teikei Haiku Society: Join. GEPPO magazine. Annual anthologies.

Toward an Aesthetic for English-Language Haiku by Lee Gurga. 2004 Pescadero Haiku Weekend Workshop (including exercises) with Christopher Herold.

Highlights of Poetry. Index of poetry. How to Write Poetry. Books read.

How to write specific forms: Haibun. Haiku. Hay(na)ku. Rengay. Tanka. Ballade. Concrete. Ghazal. Lai. Pantoum. Prose poem. Rondeau. Rubáiyát. Sestina. Skaldic verse. Sonnet. Terza rima. Triolet. Tritina. Villanelle.

Poets: Bashō. Claire Gallagher. Clark Strand (haiku and essays). J. Zimmerman. J. Zimmerman (haiku). J. Zimmerman (tanka). Jane Hirshfield. Kay Ryan. Kay Ryan's style. Kay Ryan The Best Of It: New and Selected Poems. Marianna Monaco. Ouzel (James Arnold). Patricia J. Machmiller. Shiki.

The Haiku Seasons: Poetry of the Natural World by William J. Higginson. A classic introduction to Haiku. Writing and Enjoying Haiku: A Hands-On Guide (2003) by Jane Reichhold, whose many skills include a keen sense for the writing and appreciation of haiku. Guidelines on writing haiku and related forms. Seeds from a Birch Tree: writing haiku and the spiritual journey (1997) by Clark Strand, teaches by example about writing haiku through being present and not being effortful.

Haiku Months: in Month 1 write one haiku per day
using the 5-7-5 syllable count

month 1. month 2.

For the first month, all you have to do is:

• Write a short poem once per day.
• Write in your journal, in a computer file, on a blog, on the backs of envelopes, etc.
• Write each poem in three lines.
• Count the syllables: try to put 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second line, and 5 in the third line.
• If you miss a day, that's ok. Or if you have a day where you are specially productive, you can count those haiku toward missed days or toward future days. But try to write one haiku per day.

Read Clark Strand's Seeds from a Birch Tree: writing haiku and the spiritual journey (1997). That book is the strongest proponent of use of the "traditional 5-7-5" format with English syllables:

Seeds from a Birch Tree: writing haiku and the spiritual journey (1997) by Clark Strand, teaches by example about writing haiku through being present and not being effortful.

In the end you will have about 30 haiku in a "traditional 5-7-5" format

See month 2 for what comes next!

Also see Three Haiku Exercises

• Exercise 1: brief 3-line nature poem with two juxtaposed images.
• Exercise 2: brief 3-line nature poem with two juxtaposed images using '5-7-5' syllable count.
• Exercise 3: brief 3-line senryu: the 'human nature' poem.

Notes:

• Exercise 1 notes; comments and books on writing haiku.
• Exercise 2 notes; comments and books on the history of haiku.
• Exercise 3 notes; comments and timeline on the history of haiku.

Jump-start your poetry with ideas from our writing exercises. Other exercises: "Alien". Haiku. Spell casting. Write a poem like Billy Collins.

In the Palm of Your Hand, Steve Kowit. Highly recommended. Brimming with clear and practical exercises, Kowit's book is the best 'How to' book to help you start writing poetry. My favorite chapter is about Awful Poems, where Kowit leads us cheerily through the frequent mistakes that appear in our poems, with exercises to correct them. The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms, Edited by Mark Strand and Eavan Boland.

Books of Poetry Form. Highlights of Poetry. Index of poetry. How to Write Your Poetry. How to Listen to Poetry. Recommended books on Reading Poetry.

Log of books read.

Poetry exercises with poetry forms: Forms of skaldic verse. Haibun. Haiku. Hay(na)ku. Rengay. Tanka. Concrete. Ghazal. Lai. Pantoum. Rondeau. Rubáiyát. Sestina. Sonnet. Terza rima. Triolet. Tritina. Villanelle.

Other poets: Billy Collins and exercise. Franz Wright. J. Zimmerman. J. Zimmerman (haiku). J. Zimmerman (tanka). Jack Gilbert. Jorie Graham. Karen Braucher. Len Anderson. Li-Young Lee. Linda Pastan. Nordic Skalds. Richard Hugo's Triggering Town. W.S. Merwin. Adam Zagajewski.

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