Haiku You....

Haiku originated in a Japan, a language where much can be said in few syllables.  Many people in the United States  have adopted Haiku as their poetry form.  Because English is much different language that Japanese (I personally took 2 years of Japanese lessons, when I worked for Electronic Data Systems (EDS, now part of Hewlett Packard), American Haiku generally cannot be held to the same syllable count.  
 
Enter Jack Kerouac...

“Then I’ll invent

      the American Haiku type:

      The simple rhyming triolet:–

Seventeen syllables?

No, as I say, American Pops:–

Simple 3-line poems”

                       -Jack Kerouac, Reading Notes 1965


"Experts on the subject have determined that a 17 onji (Japanese sound unit) haiku in Japanese should be about a 12 to 15 syllable poem in English."1 Two lines that lead you to a moment of awe. Possibly a moment of breathlessness...
 
Does that mean you should not write Haiku in 5-7-5?   No, many people are content to write in that format; however, I personally find it less stressful to write in the "one-breath" (Haiku, the length of one breath) style.

stealing

my breath--

his lips

                      -Amy Loewy 2004

 

Little gray squirrel

end of his season

Cat with a long gray tongue

                    -Amy Loewy 2004
 

 

    David Ruiz

exhausted

 

long night in the city of New Orleans

street lamp leans against a palm tree

 

                    -Amy Loewy 2003


 

 

Happy sound of tap shoes

raindrops dancing

on the sidewalk
                    -Amy Loewy 2003



Arm outstretched

to take the lead

cat dancing with a butterfly

 

                   -Amy Loewy 2003

Spring in the South

Bicycling in the early morn

pedaling through fudge

 

                    -Amy Loewy 2003

 

In a tiny shard of mirror...

applying makeup,

one eye at a time.

                  -Amy Loewy 2012


Whether traditional Japanese Haiku or it's American sibling...give it a try, it's addicting

1 Curtis Dunlap, An Introduction to Haiku &; Senryu for New Haiku &; Senryu Poets