February 12: Concerning Haiku

A poem that has fourteen rhyming lines
Without a turn is not a sonnet, true,
And syllables, if carefully designed
But lack a cut, do not comprise haiku.

The forms, distinct, share one important trait:
A change in tone dividing discrete parts.
Instead of lines that basically conflate,
Contrasting concepts fresh ideas impart.

So if you must write haiku verse in jest,
Satirically extolling the banal,
Take one step back and see what you’ve expressed
And let a symbol cast a cutting pall.

If this requirement is too much for you,
I might suggest you try a Clerihew.

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