starry night (haiku)

[milo]

i like it, should there be a seasonal word in there?

Hi Billy, thanks so much for stopping here. I imagine the use of seasonal words is optional now, it seems a lot of the traditional critieria has been abandoned in order to accommodate many languages. Here is an example of a haiku by Basho. I find many
exotic forms do not include a seasonal reference...but what do I know? Please take all info. with a grain of salt.
A wild sea-
In the distance over Sado
The Milky Way.
My best and thanks again,
Heart

wild sea denotes winter.
it may not be obvious but there is always a seasonal word in haiku. in a short poem it's optional in a haiku it classed as mandatory for the form.
certain birds are seasonal words, plants too. things like blossom, pine cones, bees, lambs and hundreds more.
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Hi Billy, I suppose this falls under the controversy regarding free form haiku. Note this information I am c/p from wikipedia...we know it must be legitimate if it is in wiki, no? ;-).
Kigo

Main article: Kigo

A haiku traditionally contains a kigo, a defined word or phrase that symbolizes or implies the season of the poem, which is drawn from a saijiki, an extensive but defined list of such words.

Kigo are often in the form of metonyms[citation needed] and can be difficult for those who lack Japanese cultural references to spot.[citation needed] The Bashō examples below include "kawazu", "frog" implying spring, and "shigure", a rain shower in late autumn or early winter. Kigo are not always included in non-Japanese haiku or by modern writers of Japanese "free-form" haiku.[citation needed].
Where I live a wild sea would designate summer and fall, not winter, but that is irrelevant, just a mention. Thanks Billy, it is fun to study this ever changing poetic form.
Best,
Heart

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Hi Softlyfalling, lolo, and Todd, thank you for reading and the kind words. Love the additional lines you hav added Lolo, very lovely.

just to clear up 1 point, wild sea is not a word in Japanese but an ON that includes winter, it is irrelevant where you live.

I agree with English not needing a seasonal reference as we do not have a pictographic language anyway so most of the great seasonals just wouldn't work. That being said, maybe haiku never truly work in English as, once again, our "syllables" lack the additions of the pictographs that make Haiku successful, we end up just writing short, terse poems.

milo