At seventeen syllables, haiku is the shortest poem in world literature. It is now also the most popular form of poetry in the world, written in nearly every language. And yet, as haiku has spread internationally, one of the most important aspects of the tradition has largely been lost—the community of poets.

In Europe and the United States, haiku is often regarded as the domain of literary elites, but this is not the case in Japan, where haiku is deeply rooted in communal activity. Millions of amateur Japanese poets belong to haiku groups (clubs, really), which are sponsored by different “schools” of haiku, each with its own magazine. Most daily and weekly newspapers carry a haiku column featuring poems submitted by their subscribers, sometimes on the front page.

To help bring back this social dimension, we are inviting our readers to participate in the monthly Tricycle Haiku Challenge. Each month, moderator Clark Strand will select three poems to be published online, one of which will appear with a brief commentary. Each quarter, one of these poems also will appear in the print magazine alongside an extended commentary. In this way, we can begin to follow the seasons together—spring, summer, fall, and winter—and share the joy of haiku together as a community. 

Requirements:

Anyone can submit haiku to the monthly challenge using the form below. To be considered for publication, your haiku must: 

1. Be written in three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables:
   Getting the syllables of a haiku to sit naturally inside of its seventeen-syllable form is the primary challenge. Each haiku is a word problem in search of a satisfying seventeen-syllable solution. 
2. Contain the “season word” assigned for that month:
   A haiku isn’t only a word problem. To the seventeen syllables the poet must add a turn of thought that results in more than seventeen syllables of meaning—along with a word that refers to one of the four seasons. How the poet uses “season words” like autumn sun or dew will typically determine the effectiveness of the poem.

Part of the reason haiku appeals to so many people is that its rules are simple and easy to follow, yet it can take a lifetime to master them. Ten million people currently write haiku in Japanese. There is no reason why millions can’t write haiku in English, too, provided they agree on the basics. The turn of thought you add to that simple formula of 5-7-5 syllables with a season word is entirely up to you.

Submissions close on the last day of the month at 11:59 pm ET, and the results will be posted the week after. Monthly submissions are anonymized and the winning poems are selected in a blind process.

To learn more about the history and principles of haiku, check out Clark Strand’s online course with Tricycle, “Learn to Write Haiku: Mastering the Ancient Art of Serious Play.”

This Month’s Season Word

Submit as many haiku as you please using the submission form below. Just be sure to include this month’s season word.

Spring season word: “Shade Tree”

however often
i sit beneath this shade tree
i can’t use it up

Submit as many haiku as you wish that include the season word “shade tree.” Your poems must be written in three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables, respectively, and should focus on a single moment of time happening now.

Be straightforward in your description and try to limit your subject matter. Haiku are nearly always better when they don’t have too many ideas or images. So make your focus the season word* and try to stay close to that.

*REMEMBER: To qualify for the challenge, your haiku must be written in 5-7-5 syllables and include the word “shade tree.”

Haiku Tip: Write 10,000!

I once asked my Japanese Zen master if he had ever taken advantage of the fact that his own Zen teacher, Nakagawa Soen Roshi, was an acclaimed haiku poet trained by Iida Dakotsu, one of the greatest haiku masters of the 20th century. He said that he had asked Soen once what was required to “master” haiku, and Soen responded, “It’s easy! Just write 10,000!”

How exactly do you do that?

First of all, don’t get the idea that you have to write exactly 10,000. Ten thousand just means a LOT of haiku. Too many to keep track of. So many that you completely lose count at some point and can’t even begin to say how many you’ve written.

And how do you do that?

To begin with … you keep writing haiku on a given theme until you get it right. Write twenty haiku on a single season word! Write fifty … or even one hundred! 

To do that requires two things: first, that you have a fixed form to work in—one that becomes more deeply imprinted on your mind the longer you work with it; second, that you stay very loose and relaxed in working within that form.

Always, it is best to remain playful and creative. Don’t worry about getting it right on the first try. Or the second. Or the twentieth. Just keep going until you have a few poems you really like. Then submit those to the monthly challenge, or share them with a friend.

That’s how to write 10,000 haiku.

Season word editor Becka Chester says of this month’s topic, shade trees: “Many trees function like an awning during the hot summer months. From the refuge provided by a quaking aspen to the shadowed shrouds offered by weeping willows, the cool space beneath them can be an oasis in the heat of day. In Haiku World, William J. Higginson writes, ‘In winter we hope to bask in the sunshine; in summer we seek the shade of a tree.’ ”

May’s Winning Poem: 

Spring season word: “Seashell”

inside a seashell
a teaspoon of water rests
cradling the blue sky

— Marcia Burton

You can find the honorable mentions, additional commentary, and May’s haiku tips here. 

Previous Winners

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Submission Form