朝風の道で見つかる死んだ猫

あさかぜ の　みち で みつかる　しんだ ねこ


Morning wind
on asphalt finding
a dead cat.


NACOS tips for writing English haiku

In English, syllables tend to take longer to say, but also carry more information. Take for example the English and Japanese versions of the haiku above. The Japanese follows the traditional 5-7-5 count, but the English is two syllables shorter on each line. When read aloud, the two haiku mean the same thing, take around the same time to say, and carry the same feeling.

On the other hand, English haiku written in 5-7-5 tend to be too long and have too much unnecessary information. The feeling and purpose of the haiku form is lost. For this reason, most Engish haiku today are written with between 10 and 14 syllables. Alternately, some poets prefer to use “beats” to measure the timing of their haiku. Beats are basically syllables that you have to emphasize in order to say a string of words correctly. The English haiku above has two beats per line. Some poets have proposed a 2-3-2 pattern of beats. Experiment with your haiku to see what works for you, but don’t make them too long!




Frustrated by Michiko: Illustrated by Michiko