April is National Poetry Month! 

Have you ever tried your hand at writing poetry?  Challenge yourself by writing a Haiku.  Follow the steps below from Poetry4Kids.com to get started! 

How to Write a Haiku 

It is easy to learn to write a haiku, but it can take a lot of practice to learn how to do it well. This lesson will give you the basics for writing your own haiku. It’s up to you to practice by writing a lot of them so you will get very good at it. 

What is a Haiku? 

A haiku is an unrhymed three-line poem. It is based on a traditional Japanese poetic form. Though there are different ways to write haiku, the traditional pattern in English is to write the first and last lines with five syllables each, and the middle line with seven syllables. In other words, the pattern of syllables looks like this: 

Line 1: 5 syllables 
Line 2: 7 syllables 
Line 3: 5 syllables 

Here’s another way to visualize the same thing: 

1 2 3 4 5 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 
1 2 3 4 5 

Most often, haiku poems are about seasons or nature, though you can write your own haiku about anything you like. If you don’t want to write about nature, and would prefer to write haiku about candy or sports, that is perfectly okay. 

One more thing to keep in mind is that the last line of a haiku usually makes an observation. That is, the third line points out something about the subject you are writing about. 

Let’s see how we can put these few rules together get your started writing your own haiku poems. 

Haiku About Seasons 

Let’s say that you decide to write your haiku about a season. First you will want to select a season: spring, summer, fall, or winter. I’ve decided to write a haiku about winter, and I know that in the last line I will want to make an observation. I want to say that winter is almost here, but we aren’t quite ready for the snow. Maybe it’s that we haven’t raked the leaves off the front lawn and we need to do it soon before it snows. 

I want to say all of this, but I want to do it in a pattern of 5, 7, 5. So I might say something like this: 

Winter is coming. 
Snow will be arriving soon. 
We should rake the leaves. 

 If you count the syllables on your fingers as you read this poem, you will see that the lines have five syllables, seven syllables, and five syllables, just as they should. 

Now you try!