#TankaTuesday #Poetry Stars No. 256 | #SpecificForm: haiku

Posted on by Colleen M. Chesebro

Welcome to our weekly poetry stars’ celebration. This week’s challenge was to write a haiku. I shared the basics of how to write a haiku and gave you some visual and musical inspiration.

I was totally in awe of all the great poetry you all created. I shared some additional information about writing haiku vs. senryu on colleenchesebro.com, which created some excellent discussions.

If the subject of your poem is nature, it’s a haiku. If the subject of your poem is a human, it’s usually a senryu. Now, that’s pretty generalized, so read the cheat sheet to understand the differences between haiku and senryu. I also go over those differences in my book, Word Craft: Prose & Poetry.

I’m a purist or traditionalist when it comes to Japanese poetry, so for the challenges we will stick to the basic forms. However, explore all the different ways of writing haikai poetry through your own research.

Many thanks to everyone who joined in below:

1.Reena Saxena10.Greg G19.kittysverses
2.ben Alexander11.Sangeetha20.Colleen Chesebro
3.Veera12.Sri21.D. L. Finn
4.willowdot2113.Jude22.D. Avery
5.Gwen Plano14.Harmony Kent23.anita dawes
6.Laura McHarrie15.Selma24.Elizabeth
7.Trent McDonald16.Yvette M Calleiro25.Kavya Janani. U
8.Annette Rochelle Aben17.Kerfe26.Ruth Klein
9.Jules18.theindieshe27.You’re next!

This week, I’ve selected D. Avery’s haiku to feature. This poem memorializes the poet’s view of an owl at night.

The kigo is “moonlight frost” which means it’s winter, or at least that it is cold outside.

What a great pivot (kireji) her last line gives us. D. compares the “breathless night” to the silence of the owl flying overhead. What great imagery. I guess that’s why the owl is such a great night hunter—you don’t hear them coming!

Haiku does not deal with generalizations. Haiku is not philosophical; they are stark, disciplined, and to the point. 

moonlight frost feathered 
breathless night brushed by shadow—
how silent the owl

© D. Avery

Next month, I’ll select another syllabic form for us to practice. I’ll also give examples of how to write the specific form and tell you what I can find out about the form’s history. As a bonus, I’ll provide a song or another piece of poetry to inspire your own poetry creation. Occasionally, I’ll include information about a literary poet who also writes this form.

Thanks for writing syllabic poetry with me. ❤

See you tomorrow for the new challenge!

41 thoughts on “#TankaTuesday #Poetry Stars No. 256 | #SpecificForm: haiku”

      1. Thanks Colleen, I would be happy to stop by more often, but there are so very many squirrels around.
        I believe you, it was a good omen, and here’s hoping that owl can take out the WP gremlins. I am having a hard time responding and leaving comments these days, and I do try to make the rounds when I join in. I apologize to those who were robbed of my words of appreciation by those gremlins.

        Liked by 1 person

      1. Um, I’m not thaaat good. There was effort, in fact I find haiku the most demanding writing, so it is gratifying that this effort produced the picture I was going for.
        I have to stop thanking people individually as it might cause me to throw the computer through the window and it is too cold for that.
        I do appreciate the kind words.

        Liked by 1 person

  6. What a beautiful poem by D. Avery! Extraordinary! Thank you, Colleen, for the clarifications, encouragement, and stimulus. All wonderful! 😊

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I’ve had trouble with browsers too! I’ve finally moved to Firefox as nothing else seems to work with WordPress. Chrome used to work but there are so many security breaches! My Mac doesn’t work with Safari on WordPress. 🤦🏼‍♀️

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  9. Wonderful haiku chosen Colleen. Congratulations Avery.
    Colleen, I don’t think you read my entry btw. 🥺

    Liked by 2 people

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