how to write numbers in haiku

[josie hibbing]

Hi! I have a question about writing numbers in haiku. What is the right way to do it? Is it okay to just write the number symbol or should the number word be spelled out? I have here an example of a haiku that I wrote last summer:

93*—
tree by the riverbank
diving position

or

ninety-three degrees—
tree by the riverbank
diving position

In the first haiku, I used the * symbol because I don't know how to do the "degree" symbol. By the way, I don't have a name for the tree because I was driving on the highway, and this happened so fast I could not recognize what kind of tree that was. All I saw was that this particular tree was like a diver posing or getting ready to dive in the water. And it was so hot that day.

Josie

[cat]

Hello, Josie,

I don't know if there is a standard answer to your question, but my preference is to write them out.  After all, a poem is made of words, not symbols.

So I would go with this one:

ninety-three degrees—
tree by the riverbank
diving position

I do want to point out that your haiku is in three fragments, though, and could use an article in line 2.  You might want to do something about that.

cat

[AlanSummers]

Hi Josie,

Your ninety-three degrees haiku with numbers had an asterisk with the 93 which I found confusing.

It's usually 93° not 93* or is this something I've missed?

Alan

[AlanSummers]

How to put numbers is an intriguing one. ;-)  It comes up in poetry a lot, and it's really a consistency that's needed.

For my haiku, I used numbers in letters:

fourteen summers
the glue remains
of a paper heart


Publications credits:
The Haiku Calendar, (Snapshots Press 2004); Tinywords  (2006); Disclaimer, (Bath Spa University BA Students magazine 2008)

Award credits:
Runner  up, Haiku Calendar Competition, Snapshot Press (2003)


Michael Moore the documentary film-maker users numbers:

Fahrenheit 9-11
http://www.mahalo.com/fahrenheit-9-11

There's the famous book (and movie):
Fahrenheit 451

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahrenheit_451

So perhaps you could use the temperature measure and number? ;-)

Alan

[josie hibbing]

Hi Cat! Thank you for your suggestion. It makes sense to me to write out the words especially that haiku is a very short poem. And I think it looks better that way.

You mention about using an article on line2. Is this better? :

ninety-three degrees—
a tree by the riverbank
in diving position

Thanks again  :)

Josie

[josie hibbing]

Hi Alan! I used an asterisk on the first haiku because I can't find  the  "degrees" key on my keyboard. In my case I guess it's better to write the numbers in words because I don't know how to type this symbol anyway  ;)

Thank you!

Josie

[AlanSummers]

Hi Josie,

I couldn't find the degree symbol on my keyboard either. ;-)

What I did was google, and copy and pasted it.  Nothing wrong with using the symbol if it works for the haiku by the way. ;-)

Alan

[josie hibbing]

Thanks for the help, Alan. I really appreciate it  :)

Josie

[Lorin]

ninety-three degrees—
a tree by the riverbank
in diving position

Hi Josie,
             To answer your question about which to use in writing, words or numerals: you do have a choice. But more important, whichever way you choose, is that you make it clear what sort of degrees you mean: what are the degrees a measurement of? A circle has 360 degrees. Turning ninety-three degrees would be turning a little over a quarter of a circle.  Now I gather that you mean that the temperature is ninety-three degrees, not that you or the tree turned ninety-three degrees.

To indicate this in numerals the usual thing is to write 93° followed by the letter for the system of temperature measurement used .

I'm guessing that you live in the USA, one of the few countries that didn't adopt the Celsius table for temperatures, since if it were 93°C the tree would probably be on fire. So if you chose numerals you'd have it: 93°F. If you choose to use words it'd be 'ninety-three degrees Fahrenheit'. Now, that's looking a bit long for the first line of a haiku, isn't it?

To do the symbol ◦ in Word, just go to insert  , then to symbol in the drop-down menu, find it and click on it. Then you can size it as you like. How to do it on here, I haven't got a clue! Cut & paste from a wikipedia thingo on temperatures is what I've done so far in this post

I actually have a poem (not a haiku) published, in a reputable print journal, with the title: Lamentation at 45 °C . .. written just like that.

Hope this is helpful.

- Lorin              

[josie hibbing]

Hi Lorin! Thank you for the input. What you said makes sense. "93 degrees Fahrenheit" written in symbols would be clearer and more specific than just "93 degrees".

You're right, I live in the US in the Midwest and 93 degrees Fahrenheit temperature is very hot especially if it's humid!

Take care,
Josie

[Lorin]

  :D yep, 93 degrees Fahrenheit is getting hot, all right. I still recall the Fahrenheit temperatures, since they were in operation here until I was in my 20s.

Tonight it's hot enough for me, (30 degrees Celsius , 86 degrees Fahrenheit, 11:06 pm, and humid, but at least it's raining... in buckets, too) ... I'm still wilting, though  8)

Hey. what we share, world wide (if not at the same time  8) ) is the vagaries of the weather. It's the one planet , after all.

- Lorin

[cat]

Ha ha, rub it in, Lorin!

Last week it was down to -13 Fahrenheit, and this week, we've warmed up all the way to 15 F. during the day.

a chilly cat

[AlanSummers]

We had minus 13F as well (in the U.K. which is fairly cold for us), and I've experienced 110F in Queensland, which is only 43.33 celsius, not too hot for Queenslanders.

Queenslanders had it at 125F once (51.66Celsius) which is quite hot even for them!  It was a long time ago, and where birds fell out of the trees, and the plow horses collapsed so the blokes had to drag the plow around the fields on their own.

Alan

[josie hibbing]

Hi Lorin, Cat and Alan! Nice talking about the weather  :) Last week the temp here was down to minus 30 below zero degrees F with the wind chill. Brrr...

Good day everyone :)

Josie

[Kat Creighton]

Hi Josie,

I just got here and was reading through some of the discussions when this caught my eye. My preference is to spell out a number unless the actual digits are the only way to convey their meaning/if the digits have some sort of special significance. I just think spelling them out is more poetic...as has already been mentioned, it's all about words, right?

Some old examples of mine:

three a.m.
last night the silence
tonight the rain

Exit 98
all the New York boys
looking for their Jersey girls

re Exit 98: when someone says they live in New Jersey anyone who lives in the tri-state area will always ask "what exit?" meaning what exit on the Garden State Parkway will lead to the town you live in. Exit 98 (my exit) leads directly to the Jersey shore. This is exactly how the signs on the GSP read so it's logical to use the numeric. I'm not sure if the 'what exit' phenomenon exists elsewhere?