Seven Reasons Creative Writing is Important
1. Creative writing makes you use your imagination, which is good for your intellect.
2. It makes you more aware of your surroundings.
3. It helps you think about stories or ideas from more than one perspective.
4. It encourages you to think deeply about ideas.
5. It teaches us the importance of story in life--after all, all cultures are filled with stories. Individual memory is known to be a series of stories.
6. Creative writing allows us to look at ourselves in new ways--it forces us to question and seek the truth.
7. Creative writing allows us to express ourselves freely and in different and interesting ways.
How To Write Haiku Poetry
Haiku (俳句, pronounced high-koo) are short poems that use language based on the five senses to capture a feeling or image. They are often inspired by nature, a moment of beauty or a moving or emotional experience. Haiku poetry was originally developed by Japanese poets, and poets adapted the form to English and other languages by poets around the world.
How to write a haiku:
English haiku often (but not always) consists of 17 syllables. Haiku poetry has changed over time, and most poets no longer stick to this structure, in either Japanese or English; modern haiku may have more than 17 sounds or as few as one.
If you want to try a “traditional” haiku, you write it in three lines, with 5 syllables in the first line, 7 in the second, and 5 in the third. Although 5-7-5 is no longer considered to be the rule for haiku in English, it is still often taught that way. You can follow this rule or not.
When you’re deciding how many sounds or syllables to use in your haiku, keep in mind the Japanese idea that it should be possible to read the haiku aloud in one breath. In English, that usually means the poem will be 10 to 14 syllables long.
For example, this haiku was written by American novelist Jack Kerouac:
Snow in my shoe
Abandoned
Sparrow’s nest
If you count the syllables, you’ll see Kerouac used a 4-3-3 structure.
Haiku should contain two ideas that appear different. The two parts are grammatically independent – that is, they each form a different sentence or phrase. They usually present two different images as well. Look at Kerouac’s haiku and see if you can understand this idea.
The idea is to create a “leap” between the two parts, and to increase the meaning of the poem by bringing about an “internal comparison.” Writing this two-part structure can be the hardest part of writing a haiku, because it can be very difficult to avoid a too-obvious connection between the two parts, yet also avoid too great a distance between them.
Now, choose your subject. You should focus on something in nature, something that moves you, or some experience that is meaningful. Use strong images, ideas, and feelings. Here are a few more haiku to inspire you.
Adapted from: http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Haiku-Poem. You can find more detailed information there about haiku writing.
Here are a few more examples:
Summer here again.
Music plays sweetly, drifting.
And life is renewed.
Vast as a mountain,
my love for you shines through for
all the world to see.
Whitecaps on the bay:
A broken signboard banging
In the April wind.
– Richard Wright
Now, get inspired! Look at something beautiful in nature, or think about your beloved, your family, or your pet. Find whatever inspires you, and write a haiku.