Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry consisting of verse written in three parts of five, seven, and five syllables. The haiku poem also makes reference to a kigo, a word that relates to a particular season. While Japanese haiku is formatted in a single vertical line, haiku in English is usually printed in three lines.

Here are two haiku examples that I wrote:

A love haiku for my fiancé…

If you did not know
how long my love for you blossoms -
tis infinitely

A haiku on dying about my grandmother…

She passed when the leaves
began to fall in autumn,
the season she liked least

And a cat haiku inspired by the site How to Tell if Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You…

My midsummer born cat
are you secretly plotting my
untimely demise

For me, one of the most difficult things was confirming that I had the write syllable count in each part. Fortunately, I found a free syllable counter tool that does the trick.

So, if you are feeling inspired, why not enter a haiku writing contest why not try out your hand at haiku? Copyblogger is was holding their second Twitter Writing Contest. First prize is a MacBook Air! The rules are that you have to tweet your clever haiku submission via Twitter in the following format: Phrase one (5 syllables) / phrase two (7 syllables) / phrase three (5 syllables). Then post it with a link to your tweet in the comments. The deadline is was midnight Sunday, November 16th. I am hoping to be able to re-submitted my entry, as my first one was not that great – I should have done the research for this post first before entering.

So if you don’t have a Twitter account, missed the deadline, or just want to share, feel free to put your haikus in the comments!