Monday, December 14, 2009

Haiku

We've been studying medieval China, Japan, and Korea the past couple of weeks and today for our writing time, I decided to introduce the boys to haiku. It happens to be the oldest form of poetry still in use today, dating back from the 13th century. If you're not familiar with haiku, here are the rules:
  • 3 lines, with 5 syllables/7 syllables/5 syllables
  • non-rhyming
  • The theme is always nature
Here's what we came up with:


Blazing Desert
by Kimball T.

Hot is the sun, bright.
Scorching is this desert heat--
Bones lay all around.



Autumn
by Henry T.

Brown squirrel scurries,
Nuts and berries in his mouth--
Prepares for the snow.


Winter's Eve
by Michal T.

Bitter wind blowing.
Darkness falling, chills the bones.
Trees bend, shivering.

Now it's your turn! It doesn't have to take a long time to write haiku. We'd love to hear yours.

9 comments:

Prudy said...

Excellent! Your boys are following right in your brilliant footsteps. Deseret News just had a PIE-ku contest for Thanksgiving. It was fun to put on my thinking cap and cast in my lot.

Anonymous said...

Of course Erin/Prudy doesn't mention that her haiku/Pie-ku took the front page on the Deseret Newspaper!....I can't remember it, but it was funny.
I love your boys' haikus and think we will try to fit this in this week. What a fun lesson--good idea.
Thanks for the idea!
H

Michal said...

how like our prudy to be humble. she is the winner of all sorts of competitions! i'm not even a little surprised that she was published in the deseret news. remember all the spidey poetry we did in the harold b lee library???? i wish we'd kept a record of those.

Rebecca said...

Pregnancy

Morning sickness - yuck!
Bursting 'til your ribs will crack.
Finally, baby.

Anonymous said...

Laboring for hours
Days when nothing seems to fit
Motherhood is great.

MyrnaMom

Michal said...

yay! a couple of great haikus about motherhood, no less!

prudy, would you share with us your winning PIE-ku????

Prudy said...

Michal,
Heidi published it on the renouf family blog. Head over and take a look for your daily laugh and an explanation for my reticence.
I wish we had our spidey poetry too. All our hard and inspired work, and where did it end up? Although, since the theme was always boys, I suspect we wouldn't want it back as badly as we think we do.
Still, if we could just find the ones about Little Josh, I think I'd be satisfied. I miss you, my cuckoo haiku friend.

Anonymous said...

Dark sky falling snow
winter day cold breath in air
Warm by the bright fire

Love,
Papa

Anonymous said...

Sun, then rain, then sun
Florida is like this now
Christmas Peace is here