Haiku poems

[Kit-Kat]

I have recently discovered the Japanese form of Haiku poems.
What I like about them is their brevity. As a busy mum, I love words but don’t have hours to pour over them and I find this keeps me writing.
Here is one by Katsushika Hokusai that I think a lot of people on here will empathize with:

A Poppy Blooms

I write, erase, rewrite
Erase again, and then
A poppy blooms.

Of course, sometimes that Poppy never blooms and your work ends up the victim of the delete button but when it does, it’s a wonderful moment. Here’s my own contribution hoping that lots of poppies bloom for all the writers on here…

Pastures crawl closer
To whisper hollow secrets
But I don’t listen.

• This topic was modified 4 months, 2 weeks ago by Dave.
• This topic was modified 4 months, 2 weeks ago by Dave.
• This topic was modified 4 months, 2 weeks ago by Dave.

[Helen]

I have never heard of Haiku so Googled it and I see it’s a poem with a syllable pattern of five in line one, seven in line two and five again in line three. That’s it! Talk about simple. I’m going to try it myself. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Kit-Kat.

[alla]

I like it very much.

[Cherys]

I love the sentiment in the poppy haiku and the way the repetitions give it a musicality. That final image of the poppy is striking and such a lovely symbol of the poem itself finally coming together.

[Helen]

I wonder why a poppy. Is it symbolic in any way? I can only think of a poppy in connection with remembrance of fallen soldiers during the First World War. I think it is said the fields of France were red with blood and after that, the poppies grew. But this is a Japanese form of poem and I don’t think Hokusai had the same symbolism in mind.

[Author]

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