Ideas in Creative Writing – An Exercise in Haiku
An Outline for Writing and Brainstorming about Haiku
(Understanding the Construction and Essence of Haiku...)
A great exercise to practice your poetic penmanship is to find a forgotten or dusty photo album and start selecting the pictures that elicit the most emotional response – whether it be laughter or tears or anything else. The pictures that you've selected are likely the best launching pad to start exploring memories and induce reflection – remember, haiku is about reflection, self-expression, and shared experiences. Find something that resonates with you very deeply and that you feel you could share with others, and introduce it to the reader. An example for a first verse might be :
two footprints, white sand
In this first verse, we have established that this is likely to take place at a beach and further that it involves only one person – intuited again by the number of footprints. Simple clues like this will prick the imagination into visualizing the rest of the details, and therein lies all of the fun!
We kissed here so long ago -
Who is we? It could be any loved one, this applies to a great many people. How many of us have kissed a loved one at the beach – and has that loved one stayed by our side for those years or have they faded away? In either case, this poem still applies to both scenarios – it evokes a feeling of reverie and tranquility.
the sun falls alone.
Now we are introduced to a clue that tells us that the speaker is likely feeling pangs of regret, or loss. We begin the poem with “two”, we end the poem with “alone” - an action which mirrors the events of the apparent relationship. Let us put all the parts together and consider it.
two footprints, white sand
we kissed here so long ago -
the sun falls alone.
A simple but effective example of a haiku about heartbreak, remembering laughter, sunny picnics, and love long washed away by the erratic tides of time. Your poem will evoke the same response, by writing about small details in your personal photographs and connecting them to emotions and reflections. Perhaps Uncle Dave's smiling red face after a few drinks of rum on a particularly lively night out will draw a smile, or a haiku about your son's first christmas with his new family – everything is fair game and one should not be ashamed to use haiku to write poignant and personal prose that can be enjoyed by others!
Sunset - La Jolla
|
What do you think about this article?
More in Writing & Publishing
Latest Articles