how to write numbers in haiku

[AlanSummers]

Hi Kat! ;-)

It sounds like your Exit 98 haiku deserves to go into the Place and sense of place category in THF as well! ;-)
http://www.thehaikufoundation.org/forum_sm/share-haiku/place-names-and-sense-of-place-in-haiku/

Regarding numbers being better in letters in poems, I guess most serious mainstream poets might agree with you.  

As many of us have digital watches or digital options,  or alarm clocks with digital displays, I often find numbers more evocative. Especially with the night clock if I'm either working into the wee small hours, or just can't sleep. ;-)

e.g.

3 a.m. means more to me than three a.m.

Alan

[Kat Creighton]

Alan, you make a good point that I hadn't considered with the three a.m. ku.  Using the numeric 3 a.m. more strongly emphasizes the insomnia being written about...tossing and turning and looking at the clock, most likely a digital one. In other cases it might depend on the poem itself which form is more effective. It is probably the English major in me who wants to follow the rule of writing out numbers one through nine then switching to the numerics for 10 and above.

Kat

[Laura Sherman]

Josie,

Your topic here helped me write a haiku yesterday.  I just posted it up on Mentoring and got a thumbs up.  Without your conversation on this subject I might not have come up with this one, so thanks!

metal detecting –
four faces crowd around
a 1990 dime

Laura

[martin1223]

Hi Kat! ;-)

It sounds like your Exit 98 haiku deserves to go into the Place and sense of place category in THF as well! ;-)
http://www.thehaikufoundation.org/forum_sm/share-haiku/place-names-and-sense-of-place-in-haiku/

Regarding numbers being better in letters in poems, I guess most serious mainstream poets might agree with you.  

As many of us have digital watches or digital options,  or alarm clocks with digital displays, I often find numbers more evocative. Especially with the night clock if I'm either working into the wee small hours, or just can't sleep. ;-)

e.g.

3 a.m. means more to me than three a.m.

Alan

It's not a haiku but a very nice poem:

The Great Figure

Among the rain
and lights
I saw the figure 5
in gold
on a red
fire truck
moving
tense
unheeded
to gong clangs
siren howls
and wheels rumbling
through the dark city

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)
Sour Grapes: A Book of Poems
Four Seas Company, Boston, 1921 ...Go ahead; click on it. I know you want to... 

[Kat Creighton]

The Great Figure

Among the rain
and lights
I saw the figure 5
in gold
on a red
fire truck
moving
tense
unheeded
to gong clangs
siren howls
and wheels rumbling
through the dark city

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)
Sour Grapes: A Book of Poems
Four Seas Company, Boston, 1921

Yes! The poet saw the number 5, not the number five. I guess it really does depend on the context and the point we are trying to make.