A haiku is an "unrhymed verse form of Japanese origin having three lines containing usually five, seven, and five syllables respectively ", but a lot of really good ones deviate from this form.

I love this form of expression; I think it's super witty and concise, but still really meaningful. Some of them have an intense message and others describe a fleeting feeling you might have when making coffee.

On a lot of databases they are categorized by emotion, so sometimes instead of listening to happy songs when I'm happy, or sad songs when I'm sad (or the reverse), I find myself browsing through haiku. Here are 5 + 7 + 5, which equals 17 of my favorites!

1. subway station

subway station

ads as only light

the day after the bombs

by Bill Bilquin - Bruxelles, Belgium

2. snowy morn

snowy morn--

pouring another cup

of black coffee

by Odd G. Aksnes, Norway

3. another year

another year—

those crossed out names

in my address book

by Sondra Byrnes - Sant-Fe, New Mexico, USA

4. rainy New York

rainy New York

from the tenth storey window

black umbrellas bloom

by Hortensia Anderson - New-York City, NY, USA

5. crust of bread

crust of bread

in a puddle

homeless fishing

by Brando Altemps - Torino, Italy

6. in a shoebox

in a shoebox

all the candles

of uncelebrated birthdays

by Peter Lindsey - Barcelona, Spain

7. old park bench

old park bench

i touch our initials

each time i pass

by Owen Burkhart - Dyer, Indiana, USA

8. white clouds

white clouds

glide safely

over mine fields

by Barbara Campitelli - Foster City, California, USA

9. food channel

food channel

between commercials

dinner burns

by ash of moth - Columbia, Maryland, USA

10. In the trench

In the trench

of the world war

grows high grass

by Paul Anthony - Loughborough, UK

11. another

another

explosion

in baghdad

spring sun

by Odd G. Aksnes, Norway

12. traffic jam

traffic jam -

Moon passes through

the Earth's shadow

by Israel Balan - Mexico-City, Mexico

13. airport window

airport window--

the cloud of my breath

as your plane reaches the clouds

by ash of moth - Columbia, Maryland, USA

14. labor day

labor day-

i dust of

my resume

ash of moth - Columbia, Maryland, USA

15. bedtime

bedtime --

trying not to count

maimed solders

by bmm - Oregon, USA

16. despite my assurances

despite my assurances

my wife's makeup

thicker

by Peter Brady - Gatineau, Québec, Canada

17. senior's home

senior's home

we celebrate the new year

a 7:00 pm

by Dahl DeVar - Magrath, Alberta, Canada