Poetry Forms Handbook

Haiku & Senryu

The haiku is one of my favorites. It's a Japanese poem, typically about nature, that consists of seventeen syllables and three lines. It has a 5,7,5 syllable count. (5 syllables for the first line, 7 syllables in the second line, and 5 for the last line).

I enjoy stringing multiple haikus into one poem, where each stanza is a haiku.

Here are some haiku examples from my own work:

Frozen Idaho
blessed with winter kisses and
abandoned snowmen.
~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Sledding down snowdrifts.
Stocking caps pulled tight over
aching, frozen ears.
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

The ice cream cone trees
engage in vanilla fights
with the carolers.


Extended haiku here:

STATIC

Ferris Wheel Memories  (ASR) Carnivals, Ferris Wheels, and barf #2182677 by IceSkatingSugarCube

Another extended haiku. This one is also acrostic:

STATIC

Romance  (E) A Genre/Acrostic/Haiku for a contest #931338 by IceSkatingSugarCube

Senryu

I was going to make this a separate entry until I looked up exactly what a senryu was. Form-wise it's identical to a haiku, except for subject matter.

Haikus tend to focus on nature as a subject, while the senryu is nicknamed "the human haiku", meaning it focuses on human foibles, and sometimes can be satirical and darkly humorous. I have not written a senryu so I have no examples to share (for now)