A Haiku Love Poem a Day
A February Poetry Challenge
Last year in February I wrote 28 tiny love poems on post-its. Valentine’s Day is coming once again and I’ve once again decided to write a poem a day in February to celebrate. Last year I was surprised by how many people enjoyed my tiny poems. I guess there is something simple and sweet about the concept of love — and that translates well to short poems.
This year I decided to give my poems a twist and use the haiku form. However, you may have noticed that my first poem in the series isn’t a strict haiku. Standard haiku form follows the following syllable count: 5/7/5. Haiku typically contain a kigo, or seasonal reference, and a kireji, or verbal caesura (cutting word). You may notice that I will sometimes invert the form to 7/5/7. I may also explore similar forms of tanka, senryu, chōka, haikai, renku, and hokku. I love playing with traditional forms and tweaking them. Haiku has come so far from where it began that while I love the classical form, I also acknowledge that it’s a framework, a jumping-off point for inspiration.
