The Haiku Foundation Forums

I am very interested in defining just what a haiku is, not the elements which I see posted to define haiku. 

Would you say as I feel that describing haiku by its elements is not defining just what haiku is but, how to write a haiku?

ha i ku = seems like something a dove would say. One would have to listen very close to hear a three syllable count, because the word is spoken so fast in the English language.

What is very interest to me can you describe haiku without the elements?

Haiku to me has been a calendar of numbered entries. 

Haiku is a journey of one's writing from beginning to end.

When I asked about the ku in haiku you said..

If it's an English-language forum about haiku I would say someone is using shorthand for 'haiku'    ;)

Then you said down below that.

When members of a non-Japanese-language forum about haiku use the word 'ku' I would say they are referring to a single haiku poem.

Is this a misconception, did you mean to say, a single entry into one's haiku.  That is if one defines haiku as a body of works.

We see all the time in other styles of poetry, where stanzas are numbered, some with roman numerals, the numbering of one's haiku is no more than marking stanzas.

Haiku is a haiku poet's journey, not just a single entry unless there was only time to write one entry.


I wrote this sentence in a discussion and I asked the beginners haiku class to offer the meaning of the sentence in detail.

Jewels is one playful kitten and now has become a part of my haiku twice...


The answer was not fourth coming, some turned it into a haiku others focused on every word in front of the word AND totally over read the last part of the sentence as if it did not exist.


The sentence describes, that Jewels is one playful kitten and has become a part of my body of works twice. 



Now describing haiku without describing any elements of haiku, can one define it, as a body of works and is a single ku just an entry?

How does one define elements in haiku then stop short of defining just what the word haiku means? 

ha i ku

I just saw how to add quotes and I am not use to the format as of yet.

What is haiku other than 5/7/5 guidelines or 17 syllables or less?  What exactly is a haiku, plural haiku is haiku.  Every word processor underlines haikus as a misspelling and at the same time many seem to ignore the misspelling and post it anyway.

If one is to take the word haiku a part into syllables===  hai-ku what would each individual part mean?

I've often seen this comment when a person comments on a haiku entry- I like this ku.

Now what one would think by such a comment is either ku is short for haiku or ku is one entry into a person's haiku, the person has written in there life time.

If we pick a Master to read their haiku, we read their entire journey and what we read is their haiku, their life's journey from first ku to the end of their haiku.

When I write my haiku I number them with first lines marked like this ( ) in brackets.

Haiku #252 (hurricane)

hurricane
bangs the house
whoooooooooooo

by James W, McRight Jr.


Haiku #251 (spider)


spider crawls up instructor's leg squished haiku

by James W. McRight Jr.


So is ku one entry of a haiku?   

I have not seen guidelines for one line haiku, I have an idea how one line haiku should be written and I am sure there will be those that disagree.  I am not interested in guidelines for advanced haiku poets, I am interest in guidelines for the beginner who is taking baby steps, just to get them started. One searches the internet for guidelines for one line haiku and very little is found.  I am the led of a group of haiku poets, we are all students of the art. We have been having a discussion on this subject and everyone has their own opinions but just what are the guidelines for one line haiku?

To me in one line haiku, one needs to adopt some of the guidelines and rules of a three line haiku.  We all know that a three line haiku can have 17 syllables or less, 12 syllables or less for the phrase and 5 syllables or less for the fragment.  To me any three line haiku can be converted into a one line haiku, because of the break pattern in the structure of haiku.  Therefore why the one line haiku in the first, other than they are pretty or the poets preference for formatting the haiku at the moment. 

One question for me, the three line haiku allows for syllable count 12 or less for a phrase and 5 syllables or less for a fragment, should this be followed in a one line haiku? I feel that one needs to keep a fragment to the size of a fragment and a fragment should never be longer than the phrase.

Best wishes...  BWP...  James...