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.