Thursday 11 February 2010

Haikus

Haikus are traditional Japanese poems arranged in three phrases consisting of 5,7 and 5 syllables each. Short yet powerful, they are in my opinion, one of the most expressive forms of poetry. The strength of a haiku lies in its ability to evoke with very few words a picture in the reader's mind. The more vivid the picture...and the more room there is for interpretation, the better the haiku! While Japanese haikus generally contain a reference to a particular season, modern day English ones often deviate from this rule.

This muse was inspired by Taruna's blog on the subject - so thank you to her! The ones below are arranged roughly in the order in which I like them. Read on and feel free to interpret!

1.
The entrances packed
Empty space in the middle -
Peak hour city bus.

2.
Speeding down the road,
Throbbing anger in my veins -
Deer in my headlights.

3.
Distant flash of red
hood, a silent scolding - you
should have held on, dear.

4.
Thin frost on spring buds -
Old man, young boy study each
other across years.