Haiku Writing and Fiction Writing

Having had three haiku published in a journal, with one accepted for publication by another journal in December, I can add one more entry to my writer's resume : a published haiku writer in addition to an award-winning, produced playwright.

Here are the two haiku published in the October issue of Notes from the Gean:

Tientsin pears --
the sweet taste
of my mother's homeland

a reflection
across multiple rivers
my heritage

I started writing haiku in 2007. At that time, my understanding of this Japanese style short poetry was minimal--a haiku being non-conceptual and objective and short. At that time, holding a demanding day job of an interpreter plus working on a different writing project I considered primary, I spent little time reading and studying the others' haiku. However, things changed since last March. After joining the haiku forum, I've learned about its structure--a phrase and a fragment--and have had more time to read and study and write haiku, my poems have greatly improved.

What I've learned from this writing process is the importance of learning the know-how. Once I learned the techniques of effective haiku, I knew how to do it and how to do it right. Like working on any other kinds of writing, it takes time, devotion, passion, perseverance, and hard work. In the past, I had passion for haiku but not devotion.