Alphabet Haiku Challenge ~ Z

Hey all! It’s time for the last Alphabet Haiku! Congratulations to all of you who have made it through all 26 letters with me. And kudos to those who jumped in from time to time and did what you could. It’s been fun, and our vocabularies have grown, both from our own studies and from reading each others’ works. Does your brain feel a little bigger? (If ‘X’ didn’t stretch it, nothing will. Lol)

As usual, go ahead and skip the Haiku Basics if you are an old pro at this. But first, please read the following important announcement….

Special Announcement

It is no secret that today begins the last Alphabet Haiku challenge. While I’ll still be writing some poetry, I’m going to give my challenge brain a rest for a few weeks. But we’ll be back Friday, February 1, with cinquains. So enjoy the holidays and time with your family, take a breath—or a polar plunge—or whatever you do in the winter, then come back for a new challenge in February. I look forward to seeing each one of you—and your creative writing, when we return.

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa! Happy Boxing Day! Happy New Year! Happy Winter! Happy Day! (I think that about covers it.)

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 Z

Zounds! Zany zebras
zig-zagging zoo zealously—
zillion zesty zooms

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 ‘Z’ 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 January 19th at midnight (UTC-5), and we will use the same link-up for Y and Z.

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