Laurel McHargue
Discover the creativity this haiku journal will unleash in you! Explore your emotional responses as you complete unique poems with first line prompts provided on each page and space to reflect on your inspiration. There are 366 pages (because every year should have an extra day!) numbered simply 1-366 with space for you to fill in your own day and date (because you don’t need the stress of a daily requirement). Use the first line of 5 syllables to inspire a thought or memory, and then complete the haiku on the next two lines with 7 syllables on the middle line and 5 syllables on the last line. There’s no need to consider rhyme at all. Some of the starters are quite silly (haiku can amuse), but some may take you to poignant places. In some cases, your haiku starter is just one five-syllable word, so don’t let that throw you. As with other multi-word starters, think about the word and what it might mean to you. Don’t worry about punctuation, and don’t think that each line should be a complete sentence; your whole poem might be a single seventeen-syllable sentence. Your last line may come as a surprise to you. If it does, you’ve captured a more complex essence of haiku! On every 10th page you’ll find a vague TOPIC suggestion instead of a completed first line. These pages are designed to give you complete creative freedom for the full 17 syllables. Once you’ve completed your haiku, spend just a few minutes jotting down (in narrative form, as you would in a journal) what inspired your haiku. Allow yourself to laugh or cry or wonder. Haiku can provoke powerful emotions. Go ahead and doodle in the margins if you’d like! This is your workbook. At the end of the book you’ll find complete examples of haiku written by guest contributors. If the 366 pages in this journal just aren’t enough for you, feel free to use some of their first lines-or last lines-to start your own unique poem. Develop a fun, stress-free writing habit. And remember: Haikus can amuse Discipline your chatterbox Express succinctly! 3
