Recently I found some haiku I had written when I still lived in Guelph, Ontario. I had been leading a writing circle called Journaling in the Garden at the Arboretum at the University of Guelph. The Japanese garden was the most inspiring of all. Writing haiku became one of our awareness practices.

the false Cyprus dances
with arms outstretched wearing
silk kimono sleeves

Here’s one inspired by Seeds from a Birch Tree by Clark Strand:

in seventeen beats
the poet captures moments
that celebrate life

I sent off those first-written haiku, along with some others, to Harvey Jenkins who has been writing haiku for several years and received a Sakura Award from the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Harvey and his wife Sharron have moved from Nanaimo to Winnipeg. While still living here, Harvey published his book:  Haiku Moments on the Camino: France to Finisterre (Oliver Man Publishing, 2013). It became a non-fiction bestseller at McNally Robinson in Winnipeg following his reading there.

Among the guidelines Harvey sent back to me are these questions for writing haiku: Does your haiku name or suggest one of the seasons? Is your haiku about common, everyday events in nature or human life?

Harvey combined prose and haiku in his book, Haiku Moments on the Camino, which you can find in the Vancouver Island Regional Library or you can order a copy from McNally Robinson here.

When I shared my haiku with Leanne McIntosh whose latest book is Dark Matter (Leaf Press, 2013), she told me: “Read the masters and trust the haiku will come if you pay attention.” I like that advice and think I’ll tell everyone that who is writing any form of poetry. “Take the elements of haiku that appeal to you […]