Haiku + Comic = Haikomic

A New Twist on an Ancient Form

Old pond
Frog jumps in
Water sound

Matsuo Bashō wrote this poem in 1686. Nearly three and a half centuries later, these words make me want to draw a comic.

The haikomic is a new twist on an old form, explored by cartoonists like

Jason McBride

, Summer Pierre, and David Lasky—and found in my new book, POETRY COMICS.

The three simple lines of the poem suggest three simple panels. They could be stacked horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. How could pictures emphasize the text? How could pictures expand the meaning of the words—or even conflict with them?

Better yet, how could you turn your own experience into a haiku poetry comic?

Outside in nature, haiku wait to be discovered. Last week I took a walk over my lunch break at a nearby park. The fields were flecked with purple and yellow flowers. A haze of smoke from burning farm fields hung over the blue sky. Redbud trees bloomed brilliantly. Other trees were just starting to unfurl green leaves. The towering oak trees had yet to get the memo.

I scribbled a dozen or so haiku in my notebook in the course of an hour. You can read all of my “Lunch Break Haiku” here. Here’s one that’s waiting to be drawn:

    news of spring
still so fresh 
    hasn’t reached the top branches

You’ll notice I didn’t follow the traditional syllable pattern in my Lunch Break Haiku. There are two kinds of people in the world: those who strictly adhere to the 5-7-5 syllable pattern, and those who throw it out the window.

Though I tend to fall in the second group, the haikomics in this post all follow the traditional pattern. Paradoxically, strict constraints can unleash creativity.

A haiku is an enlightened pause. A clear moment of noticing. Ideally the last line lifts the poem into a different place than where it started. It may be a humorous or ironic twist, an imaginative leap, or an inner feeling revealed.

The haikomic is a perfect form for showing motion. In Japanese haiku, text runs vertically. In Japanese comics, panels proceed from right to left. The English convention is horizontal text and left to right comic panels. A character runs from one edge of the page to the other. The reader’s eyes follow.

In the words of W.H. Auden, “Poetry makes nothing happen.” But within that nothing, there’s a whole world to notice and write about.

Your exercise for the second week of Poetry Month:

Using the words of the great haiku poets or a haiku of your own, create a three-panel haikomic. If you need some inspiration, I recommend the work of Bashō, Issa, and Buson, translated and edited in THE ESSENTIAL HAIKU by Robert Hass.

Use exactly seventeen syllables—or don’t. Keep it simple and light. Share what you create.

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POETRY COMICS is published by Chronicle Books; find it worldwide wherever you get your books. Signed copies are at my local bookstore, Watermark Books. Thanks to all my readers who have shared, reviewed, and raved about the book online!

I’ve seen some amazing exercises from the classroom that I hope to compile for a future post—if you’ve used POETRY COMICS with your students, please send along your experience. I’d love to make a workbook with poetry comics exercises to inspire future artists.