By Ellen Levitt
Wordsmiths may chafe at writing routines, but many of us embrace (or at least face) routines and rigor, in our quest to improve our work and meet deadlines. The advice to “write everyday” or “make regular writing a habit” is pervasive and for good reasons. There’s even an app for writing every day, as well as trackers, journals and other methods and tools.
For those who want to write poetry and also desire to maintain a regular diary, keeping a “Haiku Diary” is a doable and practical endeavor. Tasking yourself with writing at least one haiku or senryu each day, and doing it as part of a diary, can help you in various ways. It requires you to devote time to both goals by combining them, but also helps you to think separately about the importance of each. And it may not take up too much of your time each day. (You could even mull over what you will write, while you prep dinner, fold laundry or workout on the exercise bike.)
I have written regular diary and extended journal entries since I was in elementary school, and I have enjoyed writing poems since around that time as well. But it’s only recently that I realized that I could combine them. My primary inspiration came from being a “member” of a Facebook page called The Daily Haiku. It dawned on me that I could sum up my day, or an aspect of my day, in the form of a haiku.
And when I discuss haiku, I am not requiring you to stick rigidly to the 5/7/5 style, nor do I intend for you to focus only on traditional nature themes. (Although I am partial to the 5/7/5 for my own output.) You can take on different syllable counts, or subject matters. You can work with the concept of the senryu, with humor or irony. Basically, I am suggesting that you write a pithy poem that encapsulates your day or something that happened that particular day. It’s an exercise in distilled writing, concise commentary, and regular retrospection. All these are worthwhile in your quest to be a better writer, and you might even create something that is ripe for publication.
Here is an example: recently a friend and I took a short ride on one of the newest trains introduced into our city’s subway system. These trains have been featured in the local media and have created a buzz. When I saw one pull into the platform, I suggested we hop on for a few stops and we did. We both snapped cellphone photos (as did several other riders) and chatted about it.
Later on, I thought about this experience, and decided that I wanted to take note of it in my diary, and also use the occasion to pen a short poem:
Ride shiny new train
Toast of the town high-tech trek
A New York moment
I could have opened my diary and written “Cheryl and I tried out the new C train that has been featured in the news. It had shiny seats.” That is certainly a worthy thing to write. But by choosing to remark upon the event in the general form of a haiku, I forced myself to make commentary in a poetic pattern. It was a fun challenge and also a way to think about writing assignments.
Aside from taking note of my day, and practicing my poetry skills, I can also refer back to this poem later for increased inspiration. Perhaps I will expand upon this poem, or on the actual experience. Both can fuel future writing.
I selected a light-hearted experience to turn into a haiku; it may be harder for you to translate a lengthy or painful episode into a brief piece of prose. Each day you can choose what you wish to turn into a poetic exercise. One of the Haiku Daily participants, Diana, told me that she “used to do what I called Haiku weather reports” to describe her days. Another haiku writer named Iny mentioned that she “did (write daily diary haiku) during COVID.” And Kris added that she writes this because “It’s the essence of my day, my experiences in three lines.”
Where should you write and store your haiku diary? You could opt for a journal, a notebook, an actual diary, your smartphone or computer files. Whichever you choose, the process of thinking about your day and how to turn it into a short poem is a very good way to get yourself writing every day.
The rigor here is not on the level of a scholarly article or a polished short story. But a haiku diary can challenge you in a variety of ways and help you to establish a regular writing habit that may result in publishable material.
Bio: Ellen Levitt is a writer and teacher, and a lifelong resident of Brooklyn, New York. She is the author of The Lost Synagogues of Brooklyn, The Lost Synagogues of the Bronx and Queens, and The Lost Synagogues of Manhattan (www.avotaynu.com) and Walking Manhattan (www.wildernesspress.com). She has also written many freelance articles and essays for online and in-print publications.
