Writing and Enjoying Haiku: A Hands-on Guide Paperback – June 21, 2013

This is an excellent book about the Haiku style. Jane Reichhold is a talented writer. She presents her information in an engaging and interesting manner, and she covers a lot of information that I haven't encountered in other Haiku books, such as the forms of Cinquain and Sijo, which aren't Japanese, but which are similar in form to the haiku. Her work is compelling and comprehensiveIt's called a "hands-on guide" but don't read anything into that at all. By "hands-on" she means she invites readers to scribble whatever kind of notes they want to in the margins. By that definition, every book is a "hands-on" guide. It's not a workbook. There are no exercises.My only complaint is that the structure is all over the place. If you already know something about haiku and its associated forms like senryu, tanka, renga, haibun, and haiga, you'll pick up a lot of information about the styles and techniques of the pivot, the line connection, the way the imagery should work, and the types of links from this book. If you're coming at this as your first book, you'll be confused. Start with something like How to Haiku and then come back to this.

I have been writing and enjoying haiku since I was in middle school. This wonderful book encompasses every aspect of haiku from understanding the history and the reasons why haiku has rules to them, the differences between Japanese and English haiku. It has provided me with how to enhance my writing of haiku. It's a gem.

A great approach to writing and understanding Haiku, particularly the difference between American and Japanese styles. Some portions did not resonate as well with me personally but I can honestly say I learned much from this book and the diversity of my own haiku writing has grown tremendously since reading.

This book makes writing haiku possible and enjoyable. It encourages creativity and different ways to approach writing haiku. It doesn't set down absolute rules, but shares flexible guidelines.

Having purchased a previous book on Haiku I wanted to get to understand the process of writing Haiku.It is as rewarding learning the art, asit is reading. An excellent book if you want to understand the process ofwriting Haiku poetry in a clear and defined way. Good for adults as well as 12/15 years olds who have beenintroduced Haiku at school.

There are a number of stylistic annoyances in Jane Reichold's "Writing and Enjoying Haiku": her too-frequent, idiosyncratic use of the passive voice; her proclivity for "persons" instead of "people"; a tone that aims for conversational but comes off as unpolished; and the air of haiku-as-mysticism that weighs upon much of the presentation.Despite all this, Reichold has some genuinely good tips for writers. Her ideas for writing exercises (rephrase each line of a haiku you already know) and teaching haiku (write one on the board each day without necessarily discussing it, for the class to digest), among others, may suggest fresh possibilities to both experienced writers and haiku beginners.Two caveats: one, a dearth of examples can make it hard to appreciate some of the techniques she attempts to describe; many techniques do not include even one example. Two, the focus here is on the practice of haiku--reading and writing them. For a more wide-ranging introduction, see William Higginson's  Haiku Handbook .~

Great book. The author clearly explains the principles of haiku and makes learning about the poetry form fun and enjoyable. I would recommend this haiku book above any other that I've read.

Excellent guide, much better than anything else I've been able to find.

Good

This is a great introduction to writing haiku by the late Jane Reichhold, a very talented haiku poet in her own right. She has divided the book into sections on things to do before writing haiku, a comprehensive guide that includes the Fragment and Phrase Theory, the place of nature and the importance of simplicity, how to enjoy haiku with others and how to apply your haiku skills in related poetry forms.What I enjoyed most was Jane's open invitation to underline what catches your eye, write down your own thoughts next to her words, 'do the altered book art thing' and make the pages a symbiotic work between author and reader. I have written freely throughout this book as I was reading it and eventually started a new series of haiku in a separate pad that set me off on a completely new journey. (less)

An enjoyable and useful guide to haiku that invites readers to try their hand at this noble form of expression. Reichhold strikes the right notes of homage to venerable forms and poets and encouragement of aspiring writers to emulate their style of seeing, feeling and thinking. I also bought William Higginson and Penny Harter's The Haiku Handbook; it is more scholarly with more focus on the old masters, and Reichhold's book is an excellent companion to it.

I couldn't be happier with this book. Quite expensive (nearly £1 per page when I bought it) but so useful. I have a much better understanding of haiku and the related forms now and I think my own have improved immensely because of this book. If you have any interest in haiku at all but find them a little confusing to write (especially in English) this will put your mind at ease and guide your understanding.

An intelligent approach to an easily abused topic. A well planned book that approaches Haiku from a number of angles so the lay reader can see where Haiku fits and where it goes wrong in the wrong hands. Haiku is an open invitation for indifferent writers to plop down a 3 line poem which is nothing more than a single statement broken into 3 lines, like minimalist free verse. After reading this such writers will at least know that structure and finding the EXACTLY suitable word is paramount. And discover the history of Haiku in all its courtly richness.