Here & Now
An invitation to Pause, Encounter, and Grow together.
Sunbeam ricochets
Spotlights rippling water
Spreading in circles
Photos © 2023 by Andrew Larsen Photography. Used with permission. Larsen is a Selah Companion.
About Haiku.
Haiku is a Japanese poetry form. A haiku uses just a few words to capture a moment and create a picture in the reader’s mind. It’s like a tiny window into a scene much larger than itself.
Traditionally, haiku is written in three lines, with five syllables in the first, seven in the second, and five in the third.
Characteristics of a haiku:
- A focus on nature.
- A “season word” such as “snow” tells the reader what time of year it is.
- A division somewhere in the poem, which focuses first on one thing, then on another. The relationship between these two parts is sometimes surprising.
- Instead of saying how a scene makes him or her feel, the poet shows the details that caused that emotion. If the sight of an empty winter sky made the poet feel lonely, describing that sky can give the same feeling to the reader.
Consider writing a haiku today, perhaps while taking a contemplative walk? Send your haiku to the Here & Now Editor and you may see your work in a future post on Here & Now. – Debora Buerk, Editor
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