Haiku, kinda

For some reason I haven't yet determined, my wife asked this morning how Haiku is structured. I Googled up the answer on a web site dedicated to Haiku.

Naturally, it told me more than I ever want to know about Haiku, but I did determine that - in English, anyway - it's three lines: three syllables in the first, five in the second and three in the third. In the original Japanese, it's a 17-syllable poem with a 5-7-5 structure, says the web site.

But as I cast about for examples, I find tons of English 5-7-5 Haiku and lots that don't follow that rule at all.

After writing a few 3-7-3 mistakes like...

Crazy bitch
Fucking looneytoon renter
Garnish pay

Me venting
Japanese poem structure
Stress as art

I realized I was off track and wrote:

Oh, God damn
Middle line is five
Not seven

But not before I wrote to my wife:

Thank you, dear
For giving inspiration
Now can't stop

It is kind of habit-forming:

Five-seven-five structure
Offers more good word choices
Liberating style

It's just early June
Fourth of July three weeks out
Fireworks bang next door

Checking on the mail
National Day of Mourning
Disrupts my routine

Almost one o'clock
Wasted morning on Haiku
Signing off for lunch



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