April Poetry Café: “True” Haikus

Join us for our monthly Poetry Café in the Great Hall. For April, we are going to write and share “true” haikus: short, un-rhyming three line poems made up of 17 on (Japanese phonetic units), equivalent to only 12 or 13 English syllables. A successful haiku takes two separate images and creates a new experience with the unifying third line. Focus less on the syllable count and more on creating a particular feeling or moment. Most haikus relate nature to human experience.

Come ready to share your work or be an attentive listener, all are welcome. Please register below.

Every year for National Poetry Month, we invite our community to engage with us in writing poetry and sharing it with each other. Send your original “true” haiku by April 29 to thenorfolklibrary@gmail.com. As we receive them, we’ll post the poems on our social media and in the Library.

There is some debate on the origin of the phrase “Poetry Café.” Some argue it refers to the Modernists (Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, TS Eliot, etc.) sharing their work in the cafés in Europe. As spoken word poetry has gained traction and the genre of slam poetry has evolved, some trace the phrase to the Nuyorican Poets Café in Manhattan. The café was founded in 1973 by Rutgers professor Miguel Algarín and gave Puerto Rican New York poets a place to meet and share their work. Although the café was closed for several years in the 1980’s, it continues to serve as an arts center for the Nuyorican community.