This is a selection of the best haiku written by students at Hartsburg-Emden High School in Hartsburg, Illinois. My thanks to Mrs. Nichole Folkman for inviting me to share the art of reading and writing haiku with students in her four English classes (freshman, sophomore, junior & senior).
The first workshop focused on the art of reading haiku, in which I read a selection of haiku and invited the students to share responses and associations that arose from the haiku. The students also read haiku from the Winter 2011 issue of MAYFLY magazine, selecting favorite haiku for shared response and memories.
We also started the process of writing haiku with an example of a haiku I wrote on the way to the school.
third out
the umpire brushes snow
off home plate
Students helped edit this haiku in each class workshop and the final edited version was:
third strike . . .
the umpire dusts snowflakes
off home plate
Students wrote haiku in their journals and continued writing for the next week.
One week later I returned for a second workshop in which students had a kukai, selecting the best haiku from each class. We also had an "April Fool's Matching Contest" kukai in tournament style with submissions from all four classes. The students with the best haiku received haiku books as awards.
Some of the best haiku was published in a small chapbook anthology, with profits going to Japan tsunami relief efforts.