Permalink Reply by Kris Lindbeck 1 hour ago
Michiko and others interested -
as I understand it the American Haiku Society has basically gone with Storm's practice (which he describes excellently), except in matter of 5-7-5, given
a. that 5-7-5 is not particularly natural sounding in English: if there is music in an English haiku it must come from the accented syllables & sound of the words
and b. that syllables in English are longer than the word in Japanese (which I'm sorry I can't remember) usually translated "syllable."
So the usual rule in English is 17 syllables or fewer.
I try to write as Storm does, except sometimes I'll reference time of day rather than season, because here in Florida the seasons are different and subtler than in Japan or where I grew up further north in the U.S.
Most of the "haiku" on twitter are witty or heartfelt verses by those who have only heard that "a haiku is 5-7-5" and have generally never even heard of the other rules of haiku or their discussion by American Haiku poets.
Serious haiku poets in America are aware of definitions such as these:
(although they may not agree with the details!)
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