Learn to Write Haiku:
Mastering the Ancient Art
of Serious Play

Join Clark Strand in an engaging, self-paced exploration of this accessible and profound style of poetry.

Buddha statue

I have forgotten

most of what I learned about

emptying my mind


— Clark Strand

Write brilliant haiku

Fun, poignant, witty, fresh. Haiku is the perfect art form to share with friends and loved ones and online. This course will show you the basics and give you a new appreciation for this accessible but profound style of poetry.

Clark Strand has 45 years of experience writing haiku and is the author of Seeds From a Birch Tree: Writing Haiku and the Spiritual Journey. He is an experienced teacher of haiku and the ideal guide for those looking to master their skills, express their love for nature, or simply have some fun.

Clark Strand writing haiku
A haiku journal

Study online, start today

This easy-to-use online course is available to all. It comprises six units that form a program of instruction, writing prompts, and the opportunity to share with community. Each unit contains around 45-60 minutes of material to study, as well as writing exercises. You are free to study at your own pace, and will retain ongoing access to the material.

The course includes recordings of Zoom Q&A sessions with Clark Strand that took place during the initial course launch.

Choose a Pricing Option

Stones balanced atop one another near a river

What is a haiku?

A haiku is a three-line poem. The first line and the last line have five syllables. The middle line has seven. Each haiku has a "season word" that hints at what's happening in the natural world. There is also a turning point on which the poem hinges. Haiku may only have 17 syllables but they always have more than 17 syllables of meaning.

The first haiku poems were written in Japan over 300 years ago. Today, haiku poetry is written wherever there are people and in any language they speak.

What you will learn

The 5-7-5 syllable form.

The use of season words.

Creating an original “turn of thought.”

You will also get a firm grounding in the history of haiku and will experience the various ways that haiku poets encourage one another and collaborate in producing a common body of literature. Most of all, you will learn to use haiku as a way of going “eyeball-to-eyeball” with the four seasons, learning to experience everything in nature as sentient and alive.

Buddha statue

Activities

• Four weekly haiku challenges and a course anthology.

Ginkos, or “poetry walks,” where you will venture outdoors in your area and write seasonal haiku about what you see.

Experiments in the emerging genre of popular haiku.


Buddha statue

Just as a clam parts

from its shell I, too, will part…

autumn will depart


—Matsuo Bashō

Benefits

Clark Strand walking with haiku journal
A literary life

Why is haiku so popular? So many people read, write, and share haiku because it is a form of poetry that speaks the language of the here and now, yet somehow goes beyond itself.

A river: inspiration for haiku
Dedicate yourself to a spiritual art

The road to haiku mastery develops many spiritual qualities such as receptivity and mindfulness, sensitivity and tenderness, as well as literary skill.

Clark Strand writing haiku
Be part of the haiku community

Haiku is for everyone. This course will feature prompts and challenges and many opportunities to learn by writing.


Zen calligraphy
Be part of a long tradition

Poets have been writing haiku for hundreds of years. We'll explore the work of the masters—both historical and contemporary—and add our own voices.

A reflection of trees in water
Simple rules, great depth

The principles of haiku are easy to pick up but there is so much depth and subtlety here. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned poet, this course has a lot to offer.

A golf ball: inspiration for haiku
Find inspiration where you are

One of the pleasures of writing haiku is the ginko, a poetry walk. It's a great way to be receptive to your surroundings and to find meaning and creativity wherever you go.


A stream: inspiration for haiku

The rock in the stream—

a rock that flips the water

onto its white side


— Clark Strand

Clark Strand

Clark Strand

Clark Strand is a former senior editor at Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. His books include Seeds From a Birch Tree: Writing Haiku and the Spiritual Journey and The Way of the Rose: The Radical Path of the Divine Feminine Hidden in the Rosary, which was co-authored with his wife, Perdita Finn. He teaches the popular group “Weekly Haiku Challenges with Clark Strand” on Facebook and leads Tricycle's monthly haiku challenge, as well as the Tricycle Haiku Challenge Facebook group.

Moon of midwinter—

the pines have shot their needles

deep into the rocks


—Yosa Buson

Course Curriculum


Unit 1 | Why 5-7-5?

A look at the 1,300-year history of the haiku form, exploring its origins in poetic community and playful collaboration. This introduction covers all the basics of haiku in historical context, while giving you the tools you need to write and share haiku of your own. Activities include beginning a haiku diary.

Unit 2 | Practicing the Season

Haiku is the only form of poetry in world literature that takes the four seasons—with their distinctive plants, animals, weather, and human activities—as its primary subject matter. This lesson (which features spring poetry) explores the roots of haiku in animism, the universal religion of homo sapiens during the upper Paleolithic and a tradition we can still practice today by writing haiku in community.

Unit 3 | Crafting a Turn of Thought

Poetry lives in the expressive possibilities of the language we use every day—in slang or common idioms, in news headlines, in snatches of popular song. Sometimes the words of a haiku will slip right out in conversation. This lesson (featuring summer haiku) focuses on the unique little “twist” that gives the 17 syllables of a haiku more than 17 syllables of meaning. Activities include experiments in the genre of popular haiku.

Unit 4 | The Sketch from Life

Modern haiku begins with Masaoka Shiki, whose “sketch from life” approach grounded haiku in the stuff of everyday life. The objective description of a moment using images (usually connected to the season) is a basic skill that every haiku poet needs to master. In this lesson, which features autumn haiku, poets—that's you!—will learn to observe nature carefully, attuning themselves to the kinds of details that produce a good haiku. Activities include a ginko, or “poetry walk.”

Unit 5 | The House of Haiku

To devote oneself to a fixed poetic form means living inside of that form, in much the same way we live inside of a house. But haiku isn’t just any house. It is filled with the ghosts of thousands of poets who have lived within its walls. And not just poets. The ghosts of crickets and storm clouds live there. And the ghosts of famous haiku, too. This lesson (which focuses on winter poetry) explores the way modern poets have occupied the House of Haiku, honoring its traditions while still striving to express themselves in new and original ways. Activities include a weekly haiku challenge and a self-guided ginko where poets venture outdoors in search of season words unique to their environments.

Unit 6 | The Haiku Party

Once you live in the House of Haiku, it's natural to invite others into your home. Haiku originated over 1,300 years ago as a poetic party game in which participants took turns capping one another’s poems by adding a new verse to them. Although haiku eventually developed into a serious art form, it never lost its social dimension. That is one reason why haiku is now the most popular form of poetry in the world. This lesson explores the many ways of writing haiku together—some traditional, some new.

The course concludes with a full set of resources for the ongoing study of haiku, including Weekly Challenge Groups, monthly Kukai Meetings, contests, and publication opportunities.

A daily haiku diary

For beginners and experts

Like haiku poetry, this course is for everyone. This art form is easy to pick up and start having fun with. Your next haiku could be inspired, even a masterpiece. And it might only take a moment to write! It does help to know what you're doing, though, and be part of a community. Clark can set you on the road.

Even if you have a long history with haiku, let Clark offer his years of study, composition, and teaching to further attune your writing sensibility.

Testimonials

Praise for Clark Strand's haiku courses

Whether you’re a beginner, or if you’ve been writing haiku for years, if you have a chance to study with poet/author, Clark Strand, grab it. A gifted poet and teacher, Clark has a knack for diving deep into his students’ poems, gently guiding each of them to grow. His deep understanding and knowledge of the form makes him one of the finest (if not the finest) teachers of haiku in the English language.—Suzanne Tyrpak, Author & Haiku Poet
To study haiku with Clark Strand is to enter a world of poetic play that is grounded in nature and the seasons. In his Weekly Challenge group and Master Class, I learned to turn my eye inward and outward as we studied haiku masters, ancient and modern, wrote dozens of haiku, shared them with the group, and received feedback from Clark. Working with a group of interesting people from various walks of life became a highlight of my week.—Susan Polizzotto
I cannot recommend Clark’s workshops, classes, and haiku challenges highly enough. I have gained a new world of poetry along with a network of poets to share that world.—Rev. Jaeni Aarden Minister, International Metaphysical Ministries Poet and Artist
Clark is an exceptional and rare teacher whose love of haiku is infectious. He has a vast knowledge of haiku and expertly guides us in expressing ourselves and nature in the spirit of play. Also, the support and encouragement from this community has made writing fun again and, as I've found, invaluable to writing consistently.—Kelly Shaw
I’ve spent the past few years gleaning all that I can from Clark through the Weekly Haiku Challenge group and now his Master Class. A true master with years of experience, his haiku skills are honed yet still evolving, and he has me completely hooked.—Dana Clark-Millar
Strand’s clear instructions on writing haiku is also a pathway for the practice of kindness and simplicity.—John Fox, Finding What You Didn’t Lose
Clark Strand weaves poetry, weather, and Zen into a delightfully luminous pathway anyone can walk.—Rick Fields, How the Swans Came to the Lake: A Narrative History of Buddhism in America
I love the community aspect of the writing experience. It has been twenty years since I did any creative writing, and I have never tried my hand at poetry. It has already been a life-changing experience, and I look forward to continuing to learn with you and the group.—Noga Shemer
A dragonfly in amber

The fly in amber

from the age of dinosaurs

must be really bored


— Clark Strand