How to write a haiku: start with one small scene
Choose a small moment, put two details beside each other, and leave the reader room to notice their connection. Try this short workshop with a notebook or a few lines on your phone.
A starting point for this workshop
Haiku developed in Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku use a 5–7–5 pattern of sound units; those units do not map directly onto English syllables. Contemporary English-language haiku take several forms, and many do not follow 5–7–5. The Haiku Foundation explains both approaches in the sources below.
Here, write three short lines without a fixed syllable count. If a class or competition asks for 5–7–5, follow that brief. Our exercise is one way to begin, not a definition of every haiku tradition.
1. Collect something you can notice
Spend a minute with one small scene. Write down three details you can see, hear or feel: a bent umbrella, a drop tapping a railing, wet cloth against a wrist. These are suggested observations; use what is actually available to you.
Start with a thing and an action. “A drop taps the railing” gives you more to work with than “the weather is terrible”. You can begin with a remembered moment too. Keep your notes on paper or in your own device; this page has no writing box.
2. Let two details meet
Haiku often place images beside each other with a cut: a small break that invites a connection. The Haiku Society of America includes that relationship in its definition. For this exercise, try a short setting in line one and a particular thing happening in lines two and three.
A dash can mark the break. It cannot create the connection for you. A seasonal detail may help: “spring rain” places a scene in the year. Traditional haiku use season words, called kigo; seasonal associations also depend on place and culture. Use a detail that belongs to your scene.
3. Revise one invented scene
Here is a deliberately general draft: “Autumn makes me sad. Everything feels lonely. Time keeps moving.” It names a feeling and stays at the level of general statements. For this exercise, replace that explanation with something a reader could encounter.
The following three lines are an original Coru practice example, not a quotation or a reported observation.
Example: a platform in autumn
autumn wind—
a paper cup rolls
past the last bench
What changed in the draft
“Autumn wind” gives a wider setting; the cup and the last bench bring us close to one small movement. We have removed the instruction to feel sad. A reader might find the scene lonely, comic or simply windy. The poem does not have to settle that response.
Read the first line, pause, then read the other two together. Now try adding “and I feel lonely” at the end. In this draft, that addition explains a response the scene already leaves open. Remove it and listen again.
Which line gives you a concrete observation?
Choose the line that describes something a person could observe directly. This is a check on the writing technique, not a score for poetic quality. All answers and explanations are also available below.
Answers and explanations
- Everything is going to be wonderful.: This predicts a good outcome. It does not give the reader a particular thing happening in the scene.
- A sparrow tugs a thread from the doormat.: The bird, thread and tugging action make a specific scene. Whether it suggests hope is left to the reader.
- Life gives us another chance.: This states a general idea. For this exercise, look for a particular object or action.
4. Make your own three-line draft
Choose one of these starting points, or stay with the notes you already made. You do not need an unusual place or an impressive event.
- After rain: notice one thing still moving after the rain has stopped.
- At a doorway: put a sound from outside beside a small detail inside.
- While waiting: notice an object that moves while you remain still.
5. Give it one careful edit
Write the setting or first image on one line, then a second detail over two lines. Read the draft aloud, or follow its pauses silently. Try removing one word; put it back if the scene becomes less clear.
- Can you point to a specific thing or action in the draft?
- Does the break bring two details into a relationship, rather than merely split a sentence?
- Have you added an adjective just to fill space? Try the line without it.
- Does the ending explain a feeling or a lesson? Compare a version that stops at the image.
- Keep both versions. A useful next step is to ask a reader what they noticed, without first telling them what to feel.