Alphabet Haiku Challenge ~ N

Hey all! It’s time for another round of Alphabet Haiku!

But first, a special announcement…

Good news! This old dog has learned a new trick. (Those of you who already knew how to do this, just smile.) I recently learned how to create landing pages, which is oh, so helpful in organizing groups of posts, such as these challenges. My first such landing page on Dark Side of the Moon is for the Alphabet Haiku Challenge, but there will be more to come, as I gradually reorganize archived posts and press forward in the same fashion. For now, Alphabet Haiku has its own place on my main menu, but eventually you will find it under the heading “Challenges.” For the sake of you who love participating in these challenges, I hope you will find the links and the posts more easily now.

Commercial break is over. Now back to our regularly scheduled Alphabet Haiku… 🙂

For the sake of newcomers, I’ll keep the introductory material the same each week. If you don’t need this, simply skip down to the sample below.

Haiku Basics

I’m pretty sure everyone here understands what Haiku is, but just in case you have any questions, I’ll quickly review the basics:

1. It is a 3-line poem that records the essence of a single moment in nature (i.e. a leaf falling from the tree).
2. When written in English, it generally follows the syllabic pattern 5-7-5, although the rule is that it may have 17 syllables or LESS. When straying from the 5-7-5, the center line should still be longer than the first and last.
3. It is untitled (but I title mine for the sake of reference).
4. It is unrhymed.

Alphabet Haiku

The Alphabet Haiku adds one more rule to the ones listed above:

• Every word in the haiku must begin with the same letter.

To the best of my ability, in my samples I have also adhered to the traditional rules of writing about nature in the moment. If you cannot do that, don’t worry, just write something for fun. That’s what poetry is about anyway. This form is more an exercise of the mind than an art form, in my opinion, although it could be both, with the right combination of words. 

Sample Poem

Here is my Alphabet Haiku for the letter N…

Nepalese nestling
nabs nice, nutritious nectar—
nestled near nettles

Copyright © 2018 Abigail Gronway – All Rights Reserved

It’s Your Turn!

Now it’s time for you to write an Alphabet Haiku. Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

1. This week’s letter is ‘N’ so think of a plant or animal beginning with that letter about which you could write. If that stumps you, then write about anything. The point is to write.
2. Go to the dictionary to find words beginning with that letter that would make sense in the context of your poem.
3. Watch your syllable count, 5-7-5 or LESS
4. Try to write in the moment, but if you can’t that’s okay.
5. And of course, when you are finished, share your poem with the rest of us.

Don’t know how? Follow these simple steps…

1. Write your blog post.
2. Include the tag Alphabet Haiku Challenge or AHC
3. Publish your post on your blog.
4. Come back here and click the blue button below to add your link to the others.

Note that this link-up will remain open until October 27th at midnight (UTC-5), and we will use the same link-up for M, N, and O.

Dig Deeper

To find more samples and to learn from those who taught me, check out these sites. All links open in a separate tab so you can easily find your way back here.

Poet’s Collective ~ where I learned about the Alphabet Haiku

Shadow Poetry ~ a very good article describing the haiku and senryu