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A songwriter of children’s music, I was first drawn to haiku for its musical qualities, its rhythmic patterns, keen observations and childlike yet profound visions. Similar to songwriting for children, haiku writing requires having a good sense of rhythm and the ability to pack a punch in minimal space. Like many Westerners who first discover haiku, I learned that a haiku is a short poem of Japanese origin written in three lines consisting of a 5-7-5 syllable pattern. Like many Western beginners, I forced my thoughts into this pattern, counting syllables and conforming to the rule. It was rhythmic and it made sense to me: da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da.

Upon closer examination of the form, I discovered that the 5-7-5 rule taught to many Westerners in grade school was actually a misconception. In Japan, traditional haiku consists of seventeen onji arranged in a 5-7-5 pattern. However, when translated, seventeen onji in Japanese are somewhere around 12 syllables in English. Today, the description of English language haiku has been somewhat simplified to "a short, unrhymed, one breath poem of Japanese origin usually written in no more than three lines consisting of no more than 17 syllables." A more in depth description of haiku is: "though it can be presented on the page in three lines, a haiku structurally consists of two parts with a pause in between. Its power as poetry derives from juxtaposition of the two images and the sense of surprise or revelation that the second image produces."¹ Further, "haiku capture moments of being alive conveyed through sensory images. Haiku are gifts of the here and now, deliberately incomplete so that the reader can enter into the haiku moment and experience the feelings of that moment for his or her self."² Good haiku are created when one opens oneself to the beauty of the natural world around them, experiences the subtle nuisances in ones environment and expresses these experiences in the present through the use of imagery to evoke an emotion. For example:

These examples from two haiku masters, exemplify the intimacy, the keen perception and the complexity in the simplicity of the haiku moment. These qualities make haiku a unique form of expression for children. "Children naturally see with haiku eyes, for they have a spontaneous way of stopping and looking and appreciating the present world around them."³ Teaching haiku to children encourages their curiosity, heightens their awareness of the natural world around them, builds upon their natural sense of rhythm and offers them a creative form of expression. These are the building blocks of songwriting as well. In the most general sense, in addition to form, the elements of haiku are:

Traditional Japanese haiku includes a "kigo" or "season word" that refers to the seasons. This reference connects human nature with nature and offers a sense of place, moment and time. In the two poems above, the season words are "cicada" and "coolness" indicating a specific time of year while also offering a sense of place.

Haiku are usually written in the moment, the here and now. Haiku captures the spontaneity and intimacy of the moment as the poet is experiencing it. Haiku allows one to see the world with clarity as it really is in this moment as through viewing the world through a magnifying glass. In the second sample poem, we are in the moment while the sound is "leaving" the bell.

Haiku uses concrete sensory images that can be touched, smelled, tasted or heard. Good haiku “show” instead of “tell” and do not use similes or metaphors. In the second sample poem, we hear the sound as it leaves the bell and we feel the coolness in the air.

"One of the powers of poetry, of haiku especially, is to create emotions by connecting two or more images together in new and strange ways."₄ In the first sample poem, the imagery may evoke a feeling of the emptiness of the cicada shell and the sorrow of its passing.

The element of surprise, in my opinion, is the point of connection between the reader and writer. Surprise in haiku is also referred to as the "ah" or the "ah ha" the reader expresses after reading a haiku and "getting" the meaning of the haiku. Further, surprise comes when the reader understands the juxtaposition of the two images in the poem and how or why they are connected.

Since haiku, like most forms of poetry and music, cannot fully be explained within an article, I have offered resources for teaching haiku to children. It is my hope that you too will come to love and understand haiku and feel compelled to share it, as you feel compelled to share your music with children. To teach haiku, one must first experience, explore, understand and write haiku personally. Like music, haiku is a gift to be shared.