Traditional haiku is a highly disciplined form of Japanese poetry. Each poem consists of three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables respectively. Haiku display a natural theme with one ‘seasonal’ word and no metaphores or similes.

Mock Haiku look like Traditional Haiku in that they follow the three lines and syllabic patterns. Everything else is fair game. It’s a fun exercise to see what kind of oddities you can cram into the format!

Fallen through the cracks
It’s a hermit’s life for me
Fin’ly found my niche

The game is too long
A moment of clarity
The easy way out

Waiting by the phone
God’s number is unlisted
Revelation comes

Cave painting soul knows
I’m my own mythology
Looking for answers

Batt’ry acid kiss
My imaginary friend
Keeps me sane today

Living in strange times
And the voices in my head
Will not change a thing

Floating there in space
Watching, waiting, he ponders
His cosmic plaything

Crying out the sea
Carving mountains from raw goo
And his work is good

(a true Haiku
it is the first I’ve written
I will try again)
The autumn leaves blow
Crisply crinkling down the path
I follow after

Do Jukeboxes dream
Of songs they might someday play
While sitting unplugged?

Creative urges
It’s the Frankenstein in me
And nothing matches

Always in control
I put the pegs in the holes
And run out of pegs

She is Saturn’s child
Doom, gloom, and fashion sadness
Walks the waking dream

Big headed angels
With their wispy, tattered wings
Heed Heaven’s has-beens

Holy Grail whispers
Like Ouija board collect calls
We’re all seeking truths

Surrogate prophets
Whose visions are they seeing?
Wan’dring with the lost

Fortune telling skies
I’m just another drifter
Seeing shapes in clouds

These empty pockets
Like hopeful barren mothers
Maybe better off

Thoughts behind my smile
Like monsters under my bed
If you only knew

Kung Fu theater
Much more than weekend past times
My chi becomes me

Fighting the good fight
Wears you down and knocks you out
What am I winning?

Try to be healthy
Expressing anxieties
Screaming through the night

Come out of your hole
We all want to meet you now
Said cats to the mice

I seek seclusion
A lonely autonomy
But on my own terms