The iconic three-line haiku form is increasingly popular today as people embrace its simplicity and graceand its connections to the Japanese ethos of mindfulness and minimalism. Say more with fewer words.

This practical guide by poet and teacher Bruce Ross shows you how to capture a fleeting moment, like painting a picture with words, and how to give voice to your innermost thoughts, feelings, and observations. You don't have to be a practiced poet or writer to write your own haiku, and this book shows you how.

Do you want to tell a story? Give haibun a try. Maybe you want to express a fleeting feeling? A tanka is the perfect vehicle. Are you more visual than verbal? Then a haiga, or illustrated haiku, is the ideal match. Finally, a renga is perfect as a group project or to create with friends, passing a poem around, adding line after line, and seeing what your group effort amounts to.

Ross walks readers through the history and form of haiku, before laying out what sets each Japanese poetic form apart. Then it's time to turn to your notebook and start drafting some verse of your own!

俳句をはじめ、短歌、俳画、連歌、俳文、川柳の紹介と、英語で詠む方法を解説します。芭蕉や蕪村の句を例にあげ、一瞬の出来事や、心の奥にある思いを言葉で絵を描くように表現していくためのポイントを紹介します。つかの間の瞬間を捉え、感情や観察眼を表現できる、「５７５」、３行という、シンプルな形式は、世界中で親しまれています。