Once again, it is National #Haiku Writing Month...

Once again, it is National Haiku Writing Month (NaHaiWriMo). Haiku poet and founder of National Haiku Writing Month Michael Dylan Welch encourages people across the country and around the world to celebrate the little poems each February by writing a haiku a day.

If that’s too much, that's OK, says Welch.

“The main point is to do your best to write haiku daily, to get into the haiku habit of seeing and observing closely, and then recording your experiences in haiku," he says.

If you are looking for encouragement there’s a NaHaiWriMo Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/NaHaiWriMo.

Here you will find tips, daily writing prompts and feedback in the form of “likes” and “comments.”

"The Facebook site for NaHaiWriMo is a rallying place for many hundreds of participants (currently about 1,753), but many other people are doing NaHaiWriMo in various other ways, whether by posting daily haiku to their blogs, or just keeping them to themselves. The best place to start is to visit the NaHaiWriMo website at https://sites.google.com/site/nahaiwrimo," Welch says. "The site spells out how to participate, which is mostly to commit yourself to writing haiku daily—starting now for a month, even if the 'official' National Haiku Writing Month already started on Feb. 1."

You can also use the hashtag #NaHaiWriMo when tweeting.

One tip: A haiku is not a three-line poem made of 17 syllables that focuses on nature. That erroneous idea spread like wildfire through the country’s education system. If your English teacher tries telling you this, send them my way. English-language haiku is simply a short poem that features some sort of revelation. Poets writing haiku in English simply say that the poems should be short enough to be said in one breath. Other than that, anything goes. It doesn’t even need to be limited to three lines. Here are a couple of examples.



The park bench seats two summer dreams

— Gary Hotham



my dead brother…

hearing his laugh

in my laughter

— Nicholas Virgilio

Minimalist lines, plain language and some sort of revelation about the moment, does that sound fun? Let me know.  Tweet me @myersgene! 

It’s National Haiku Writing Month!

Once again, it is National Haiku Writing Month!

I had fun doing it last year. Just like novelists and musicians who have months designated to inspire them: National Novel Writing Month and National Solo Album Month, so do haiku poets! I wonder why they are all in the winter?!

The tag on Twitter is #nahaiwrimo. You can find out more about it on its Facebook page.

Rockers Rick Springfield, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top and Keller Williams write haiku

Anyone can write a haiku. In fact, in Japan, most people do. These little poems are written as a matter of daily life. People from all walks of life participate, as opposed to in this country where only a select, literary few have poetry in their daily lives.

“Working Class Dog” Rick Springfield – soon to appear again as Dr. Noah Drake on “General Hospital” – takes a shot at haiku.

So I figured for this post I would focus on amateur haiku. But, with a twist. The amateur poems you are about to read are by rock stars.

The following three-line poems were written by good-natured musicians who were willing to play along and indulge my request that they give haiku writing a shot.   

Many remember Rick Springfield from his time in the 80s as Dr. Noah Drake on the soap opera “General Hospital.” It was a time when you’d also find him sporting a pink suit and feathered hair singing his hit “Jessie’s Girl” from his hit album “Working Class Dog.”

When Springfield had to reschedule a recent New Jersey concert due to illness he sent me the following haiku announcing his rescheduled show.

Was sick as a dog

Rescheduled Show will Rock Out

Music All Night Long

Speaking of 80s hits, surely ZZ Top’s guitar-driven “Gimme All Your Lovin’” and “Legs” are among the decade’s most memorable tunes. 

Here is guitarist Billy Gibbons’ fun attempt at haiku, which he also sent to me in advance of a local performance. 

Fire up that gee-tar…

turn it up to eleven…

and get it dirty…

I especially liked how Gibbons emphasized the sound of the word guitar, illustrating that he wrote the poem in 17 syllables. Many believe that haiku should be written in 17 syllables­—the first line having five syllables, the second having seven syllables and the third line going back to five. 

The last entry is from a current favorite musician of mine. The AllMusic Blog calls Keller Williams a “one-man jam band” whose live shows are “fascinating.” His quirky creativity can be seen in the haiku he sent me. 

I like your moonshine

It’s clear like your hair is blond

It makes me feel good

Stay tuned for more rock star haiku in the future. It’s a pet project of mine!