Recently at a party, a new friend of mine told me that haiku needn’t be 17 syllables with 5-7-5 lines respectively. And, so, I looked it up. I think I found a reputable site (at least I used the method I teach as a librarian to help do this by using Google’s Advanced Search and limiting my search to .edu sites). I found more than I bargained for.

Haiku needn’t be 17 syllables, but that is the maximum. Good haiku in English are often shorter. I was correct in saying that they do need a seasonal word. Evidently they can be about nature or human nature, as this fascinating page indicates.

“Senryu” are like haiku but are strictly about human nature. They are apt to have more of a punchline or dramatic endline, where good haiku are best left more indeterminate. Then there are also “Zappai” are very much like haiku, but are light, humorous verse.

I think we had some of each of these three types in my most recent contest. So perhaps a name change is in order for next year like the one in the title of this post. Or, as the writer of the article where I got this information suggests, perhaps I need to call it a “lowku” or “hipKu” or “hypeKu” contest.

Seriously, though, it would be hard to leave the 5-7-5 syllable format in the dust just for sake of convenience in judging and standardization. I would like to have all my judges read the article for the sake of getting on the same page, but then they are busy folks.

Here are some extracts (rather long ones, but excerpts nonetheless):

In a chapter from Haiku: A Poet’s Guide (2003), titled “Not Exactly Haiku: Senryu & Zappai” (pp. 55- 58). Gurga explains: “Haiku relates nature to human nature, while senryu is concerned with human nature pure and simple. Senryu does not require a season word [or reference to nature], and it relies on wit, irony, and satire to comment on the human condition. Haiku, senryu and zappai are quite separate genres in Japan.” Gurga notes that while haiku are open-ended, senryu tends to be “end-stopped,” with the last line serving as a punch line. He says senryu are often easier to write by Americans, whose writing traditions favor intellectualism over intuition. Gurga admits that “While haiku and senryu differ in approach, they can be seen as existing on a continuum, with a large area of overlap.”

What is haiku?
No single definition can do haiku justice (nor achieve a full consensus among haiku lovers and poets), but haiku poet-teacher-editor-publisher Randy Brooks has captured the essence of haiku in a few sentences:

“The essential element of form in English-language haiku is that each haiku is a short one-breath poem that usually contains a juxtaposition of images. Each haiku has a break which makes it a deliberately incomplete literary artifact, prompting the reader to make a leap of imagination in order to complete the moment begun by the poet.

“The best haiku capture human perception—moments of being alive conveyed through sensory images. They do not explain nor describe nor provide philosophical or political commentary.”

The following “tips for writing haiku,” from two of the best-regarded English-language haiku poets, also offer a quick guide to determining what is “good” or “real” haiku:

Ten tips for writing haiku, by Michael Dylan Welch, from the haiku begin page of haiku world (April, 2003).,

[Ed. Note: It helps to have rules when you write haiku — you can pick your own rules, but should do so after informing yourself of traditions, issues and options. See Writing and Enjoying Haiku: A Hands on Guide by Jane Reichhold, which has good suggestions on approaching and selecting your own haiku rules and improving your writing skills.]

1. Write in three lines of about 10 to 17 syllables (some writers use a short-long-short format, but sometimes it’s better to just say what you need to say and not worry about form); haiku are usually not 17 syllables long in English.
2. Try to include some reference to the season or time of year.
3. To make your haiku more immediate, write in the present tense.
4. Write about common, everyday events in nature and in human life; choose events that give you a moment of understanding or realization about the truth of things around you—but don’t explain them.
5. Write from personal experience (memories are okay) rather than from imagination to produce haiku that are authentic and believable.
6. Create an emotional response in the reader by presenting what caused your emotion rather than the emotion itself.
7. Put two images together in the poem to create harmony or contrast, using words that are specific, common, and natural (avoid long or conceptual sorts of words).
8. One image of the haiku can appear in one of the poem’s three lines; the other image can be described in two lines (either the first two or the last two); avoid creating haiku with three images (or three grammatical parts) because this weakens the energy created by the gap between just two parts.
9. Avoid titles and rhyme (haiku virtually never have either) as well as metaphor, simile, and most other rhetorical devices (they are often too abstract or detours around the directness exhibited in most good haiku).
10. Avoid awkward or unnatural line breaks and avoid dropping or adding words just to fit a syllable count (the poem should come across as perfectly natural and easy; anything that is choppy or unnatural will detract from the reader’s perception and enjoyment—make the words come across as so natural and easy-going that the reader doesn’t even notice them). And of course, don’t forget to have fun and enjoy experiencing life through your five senses!

George Swede has a thoughtful discussion “Towards a Definition of English Haiku” in the anthology Global Haiku: Twenty-Five Poets World-Wide. The following summary of Swede’s “guidelines” appear in a Writer’s Profile at the Millikin University Haiku website:

George Swede’s Guidelines for haiku: In the Global Haiku intro, [Swede] outlines eight commonly used haiku guidelines, then eliminates a few to come up with his five ultimate rules of good haiku.
1. haiku must be brief: one breath long
2. haiku must express sense of awe or insight
3. haiku must involve some aspect of nature other than human nature
4. haiku must possess sense images, not generalizations
5. haiku must present an event as happening presently, not past or future.