Exploring the world of comic strips through vague Japanese poetry.

December 20, 2001

Haiku Thursday keeps evolving as we continually change the rules.

The content on this page is solely created by you, the viewers, so if you want to see more, you'll have to contribute something yourself.

1. Haikus are a form of poetry that consists of three lines with five, seven, then five syllables on each respective line. For example...

   Rockwood is in space (5 syllables)
   On a circular station (7 syllables)
   Looking down on Earth (5 syllables)

   Obviously, that's pretty boring, but technically correct. Try to do more than just count syllables. Be creative!

2. The haiku you submit doesn't necessarily have to have Rockwood mentioned in it, but it would be nice if it related to something in the site somehow, whether it be space-related or just pertaining to a topic brought up elsewhere.

3. Last week we said there is really no such thing as an "epic haiku." That wasn't completely true. There are such things, but they're just not common. So since they're not actually poor form, we're revoking the "one stanza" rule. This isn't to say, however, that just because you have written something incredibly long that we're going to put it up here. We still have editing power.

4. Finally, we told you last week that we'd be rejecting miscounted haikus this week, and that if you couldn't count to five or seven (we use our fingers!), we'd have to reject your entry. Some people didn't heed this warning, and their four-syllable-line haikus ended up in the trash. This is a very important point: This is Haiku Thursday! If your poems don't conform to the 5-7-5 rules, then they're not haikus! Thus, they won't be up here. Quite frankly, if you can't count to five, it's a wonder you had the motor skills to get here in the first place, but, to paraphrase carpentry rules, count twice, submit once!

On with the haikus!