Haiga 3

This is my third haiga, made August 2009.

The more I've seen about haiga, the more I feel that the IMAGE must be one of the elements of the expression -- rather than an illustration or inspiration for a stand-alone haiku.

To me, HAIKU uses TWO ELEMENTS to convey an impression -- a two-line "phrase" and a one-line "fragment" -- with no complete sentence involved. Either of these elements may be first; but the second line of text is generally longer than the first or the third lines. (I take 5-7-5 as an upper limit for syllables, with shorter lines being welcome and usually preferred.)

To me HAIGA uses THREE ELEMENTS to convey an impression -- a phrase, a fragment, and an image -- with all three being necessary to convey the impression and (conversely) leaving out any one element would change the meaning/feeling of the work.

This, my third haiga, was created using a photo I took of the sun behind a sunflower. The haiku does NOT mention flowers and, if read separately, could stand alone. The image adds another layer ... a specificity ... that directs the reader to focus in a certain direction.
I like this one. I hope you do too.

Haiga = a haiku & image combo

Very soon after starting to write haiku, I discovered "Haiga" which includes an image along with haiku. Some examples can be found in the monthly Haiga contest at: http://www.worldhaiku.net/haiga.htm

Here is the first one I made (Feb 2009) -->

(The judge, who is Japanese, questioned my spelling -- mis-understanding the landing-pad allusion of "bee prepared".)