Haiku poems are Japanese traditional style poems, which were made famous by a man known as Matsuo Basho, way back in the Edo period of Japan, starting in the 1600’s.
The beauty about these poems is the simplicity. In fact, you can hardly call them poems, for they are only 3 lines. But the purpose of these elegant lines is that they’re written to help us appreciate the little things. Everywhere around us, there is beauty, its just that we fail to see, or we do see, but we do not appreciate. Take a frog leaping into a pool, a cherry blossoming, the sound of wind. How many of us stop to think about these little things? Taking a moment like this can bring ones mind back to the present. It can help us think clearer. It can help in the controlling of our thoughts.
The most famous Haiku Poem known was composed by Basho around the year 1681. It goes by many names, but the most common one is “The Old Pond”. Here it is:
Furuike ya
kawazu tobikomu
mizu no oto
The old pond,
a frog jumps in,
sound of water.
I have been trying my hand at a few lines, and although i’m no Maya Angelou, i’m not too shabby either (i like to think). So without further ado, here is my first Haiku-style poem…
On Rain
An open window,
the heavens open,
a beautiful sound.
Look out for more over the next few weeks, and if you have any poems yourself, leave them below in the comments area, i’d like to read them. Jai
