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.

Winter season word: “Winter horizon”

winter horizon
just like a bellybutton
one star in the sky

Submit as many haiku as you wish that include the season word “winter horizon.” 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 words “winter horizon.”

Haiku Tip: Find the Optimal Seventeen-Syllable Solution!

Of the many wonderful things about the 5-7-5 syllable form for haiku, the most wonderful is that it tells us when a poem is done. Otherwise, we could go on second-guessing ourselves forever, endlessly revising a haiku.

We began these challenges three years ago by agreeing on this one very simple idea: “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.”

That being said, a haiku is not a math problem with a single, universally agreed-upon answer. For any haiku we might wish to write, there is an “optimal” solution, but that solution cannot be found by following axioms, theorems, or laws. Sometimes the answer comes in a sudden flash of inspiration. More often it is a matter of “poetic tinkering,” relaxing into an innocent, almost childlike spirit of play.

We usually have some hunch of what a haiku is about when we begin to write one. The 5-7-5 syllable form is a way of testing that hunch to see if it pans out. When the syllables finally fall into place—and they usually do if we stick with them—there is this little aha moment that says, finally, “That’s it!”

Once a haiku finds that optimal expression, we are done with it. We may be its author, but, in truth, it no longer belongs to us. No other form of poetry relies so heavily on the reader to complete its meaning. We did our best with the syllables. Now they speak for themselves.

A note on winter horizon: This month’s season word belongs to the “Landscape” category because it refers to the Earth and its topography. But it is an unusually panoramic word for that category, which typically includes entries like “winter mountain,” “frozen river,” or “withered field.” In winter, the horizon is stripped of all that is extraneous. In other seasons, it might suggest expansiveness, hope, or maybe longing. In winter, it usually means cold. But even here, in the great tradition of haiku that overturn our expectations, there is still room for humor and play.

October’s Winning Poem: 

Fall Season Word: Autumn Sun

soothing the baby
the autumn sun filtering
through the nursery

— Marcia Burton

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

Previous Winners

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Submission Form