For some additional information on Haiku, I found
this on Wikipedia.com so thought I would post it here:
Haiku (俳句, Haiku?) is a kind
of Japanese poetry.
It was given this name the late 19th century by a man named Masaoka
Shiki by a combination of the older hokku (発句, hokku?) and the haikai (or verses) in haikai
no renga.
Haiku, when known as hokku were the opening verses of a linked verse
form, haikai no renga.
In Japanese, hokku and haiku are traditionally printed in one vertical
line (though in handwritten form they may be in any reasonable number of lines).
In English, haiku are written in three lines to equate to the three
parts of a haiku in Japanese that traditionally consist of five, seven, and then five on (the Japanese count sounds, not syllables;
for example, the word "haiku" itself counts as three sounds in Japanese, but two syllables in English, and writing seventeen
syllables in English produces a poem that is actually quite a bit longer, with more content, than a haiku in Japanese).
The kireji (cutting word or pause) usually comes at the end of either
the first or second line.
A haiku traditionally contains a kigo (season word) representative
of the season in which the poem is set, or a reference to the natural world.
Because Japanese nouns do not have different singular and plural
forms, "haiku" is usually used as both a singular and plural noun in English as well.
Practicing haiku poets and translators refer to "many haiku" rather
than "haikus."
Senryu is a similar poetry form that emphasizes irony, satire, humor,
and human foibles instead of seasons, and may or may not have kigo or kireji.
Possibly the most well-known of Japanese haiku is Bashō's "old
pond" haiku: 古池や蛙飛込む水の音
This separates into on as:
furuike ya (fu/ru/i/ke ya): 5
kawazu tobikomu (ka/wa/zu to/bi/ko/mu): 7
mizu no oto (mi/zu no o/to): 5
Roughly translated [3]:
old pond
a frog jumps
the sound of water
