Week 12

This week we are looking at haiku. While many students are taught the traditional 5-7-5 syllables, modern haiku has a lot more flexibility - which makes it more fun!

Look at these from Kathryn Apel:

nocturnal predator -
gecko
nips lips

ping-pong ping-pong
even frogs
sing in the shower

Click - door opens
who's here?
the wind

whoosh
snap clack
black and white bomber

Kathryn says: In January I organised a Month of Haiku with poets from across Australia and America taking part. WE all wrote one haiku every day for the month. These come from my haiku diary.
The gecko haiku is true - my son was taking a close-up look at a gecko and it nipped him on the lip!

Kathryn wrote poetry during high school - but then didn't write anything until she was at home with her young children and reading rhyming picture books. She enjoys writing in rhyme and fiddling with short form poetry, stretching boundaries and playing with words. Kathryn is eagerly awaiting her first (rhyming) picture book, 'This is the Mud!' to be released by Lothian Books in 2009.

Poetry exercise: Try some haiku of your own, but don't get hung up on the 5-7-5 rule. Focus on creating a small word picture in three lines - the smaller, the better. And aim for your third line to be a small surprise of some kind.