Thanks for reading, Lindsay. I have talked to a number of very good haiku writers who have said to stay away from metaphor, mostly to keep it simple, unadorned language. But then again, there are some other great haikus that use metaphor. There is also the “rule” of seventeen syllables. That’s really not a hard rule because the traditional Japanese haiku is based on the Japanese language, which doesn’t really have syllables in the same way as the English language, so it really doesn’t apply. There’s the American haiku like from Jack Kerouac where the traditional rules don’t really apply. Also, the idea of two unrelated things. I’ve only heard that from one writer and it was only a suggestion. I’ve also heard that traditional haiku must have a seasonal component to it. But there are many I read that do not.

It seems there are as many approaches to haiku as there are haiku. The only real constant, it seems, is the “rule” of three lines.

Hope your haiku writing illuminates something very special.