Haikus and Scikus are One Breath Poems

The Shortest Motion Pictures You Can Make in Words!

• One Breath Poems are versions of Haikus!

•  But unlike traditional Haikus, one breath poems do not have to follow a 5/7/5 syllable structure.

• Haikus emerged from a collaborative form of Japanese poetry known as Renga meaning linked poem.
• The opening stanza of a Renga gave rise to the haiku.

The One-Breath Poems: National Writing Day Activity for Parents, Teachers and Children

Free-Form Haikus

     (Try making one yourself!)

Scikus 

Learn about science and haiku at the Sciku Project

• The image to the right is a sciku based on a photography

"Climate change buffer  
Particles settle in grass  
Seagrass meadows rule"  

Sciku, A Collection of Illustrated Science Poetry

Picture Books for Haiku Writing

Earth Verse:  Haiku from the Ground Up.  Sally M. Walker.  Illustrated by William Grill.  Candlewick Press, 2018.

If It Rains Pancakes: Haiku and Lantern Poems. Brian P. Cleary. Illustrated by Andy Rowland. Millbrook Press, 2014

Dogku. Andrew Clements. Illustrated by Tim Bowers. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2014

GUYKU: A Year of Haiku for Boys. Rob Raczka. Illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds. Houghton Mifflin, 2010

A Pocketful of Poems. Nikki Grimes. Illustrated by Javaka Steptoe. Clarion Books, 2001

More on Haikus 

Poetic Form: Haiku from Poets.org (Academy of American Poets)

Examples of Famous Haikus

Sample Haiku from Basho, Issa and western poets

  Online Resources and Apps

• NYT Haikus on Twitter
• Uses automated poetry detection software to find haikus in New York Times news stories

• Haiku Starter is a writing interactive from National Council of Teachers of English

• Haiku Poem App (also from NCTE)
• You can import photos and images; page elements can be sized and rotated; different font sizes are available

• Haiku Poem, a free app from the International Reading Association

• THF Haiku App from the Haiku Foundation

     • How-to Haiku Elementary Lesson on YouTube

Haiku from the Poetry Through the Ages website

• One of the oldest poetry formats
• Began in the late 15th century, emerging from a longer poetic form called Renga

• Matsuo Basho, one of Japan's most celebrated haiku poest, wrote in the 16th century
• Features pinpoint observations of moments and movements in nature
• Has a simple 3 line, 17 syllable structure

RELEVANT FAMOUS FIGURES 

Matsuo Basho

Matsuo Basho, from Poetry Foundation
Born: 1644
Began Publishing Poetry: 1676
First of His Five Famous Travels Around Japan: 1684


Haiku of Basho

Basho Frog Haiku: 31 Translations

Issa

Kobayashi Issa

Kobauyashi Issa (1763-1828)

Haiku with Issa

Interactive Haiku Poetry Writing Sites

What is Haiku? from ReadWriteThink, National Council of Teachers of English

Interactive Haiku Generator

Five Creative Ways to Teach Haiku from Scholastic

Haiku Poetry by American Poets

Book of Haiku, Jack Kerouac

Haiku Poetry by Richard Wright

Haiku by Etheridge Knight