How to Write a Haiku

David Roderick of Left Margin LIT

Community Meeting Room, 3rd floor

Poems are very efficient vehicles of language. In order to function, all excessive words must be trimmed away.

Given that premise, is there any poetic tradition more efficient and evocative than the Japanese haiku form: 17 syllables in all, in a 5/7/5 3-line format?

In this class, designed for all levels, we’ll read and enjoy some classic Japanese haiku as well as contemporary American approaches to the form. We’ll also take a look at the Tanka (a 5-line Japanese form related to the haiku) in classical and contemporary contexts.

After chatting about these examples, we’ll experiment with writing of our own haiku poems and tankas. (Sharing optional.) Participants in this workshop will get a primer/refresher on a unique literary art form and try their own hand at it as well, with additional resources offered for further reading.

Recommended Materials:

Paper, pen/pencil. (Special request: Devices turned off so that the poems can turn you on!)