like an epipHany

is for Haiku

The haiku is a traditional Japanese verse form, in the original it consists of 17 syllables distributed over three lines of 5-7-5 counts.   It consists of colourful imagery drawn from nature, pairs two different images with a break at the end of the first/second line, marked by a word that often depicted season or time.  Rhyme is not necessary.

These rules have got fuzzier as the form has been adapted and adopted into English.  Variations exist, but the 5-7-5 format is mostly unchanged.  The season word, the “turn” at the second line may or may not be dropped. 

The haiku should feel like it has captured one transient moment in nature. Like a mini epiphany come to the reader, to be read in one single breath.


Here is the one I wrote for this challenge:

Cold hard nickel coin

tossed in the blue hat in hand -

the foggy dawn’s broke.

Posted for the A-Z Challenge.