Enter Our Haiku Poetry Competition
by Kay Middlemiss
Unless you've a degree in literature, you have probably never heard of Haiku poems, an ancient form of Japanese poetry. I hadn't either until I joined a Creative Writing Group on Anglesey. Haikus have three lines to a verse, and they don't rhyme. They do have very strict metre: 5 beats to the first line, 7 beats to the second, and 5 again to the third. The idea is to capture simply the essence of a sight or impression, most often in nature (what we might call the "wow" factor today). The first two lines describe the scene, the last tells you what the poet is seeing, or where they are. Here are some examples by Joy Mawby of Amlwch Writing Group, written when she first came to live on Anglesey. Dog's clean sprint over Firm, tide-cleansed, multi-toned sand. Early at Benllech Acid sunshine lights reed banks. Jewelled colours on high. Rainbow at Red Wharf. Breath blown out of me. Fierce gale gives dogs aerial ears. Lligwy in winter. Foamed spray hits lighthouse Wave-smashed pebbles protesting. Penmon at high tide.
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