Write a Haiku Poem

The Japanese Tea Ceremony involves many forms of art. While the preparation and presentation of tea in the Japanese Tea Ceremony is the most common topic of discussion, poetry and scroll painting are art forms that lend to the calmness and serenity of the experience of sharing tea with others.

Haiku poetry has remained a traditional fixture in Japanese literary expression. While there are rules in Japanese for writing Haiku, none really apply to other foreign languages. Haiku poems can be about anything, so the choice is up to you regarding what you wish to write about.

Writing a Haiku can be very challenging; however, it is a good exercise for increasing creativity and writing skills. The Haiku poem is three lines long. The first line contains five syllables; the second, seven; the third, five. This is pertinent in Japanese Haiku, but because English includes syllables that vary in length, it can be quite difficult to follow this pattern. Haiku poems involve "cutting". Cutting serves as a kind of divider between two thoughts that are independent, yet dependent on each other in order to understand the theme of the poem. Cutting in the English language is denoted by a colon or dash. Try writing your own tea-themed Haiku poems. Here are some examples to get you going:

Such pretty brown hair!
A hat warms it from the cold-
The taste of hot tea.

A delicate cup
Is filled with steaming tea-
Home and family.