Experiment #1: Write a pirate haiku…

…That is:  write a haiku about, by, or for pirates.

Then feel free to post your haiku in the comments. 

If you don’t feel like posting a haiku, you are also welcome to share some useful phrases to help others. (You scurvy bilge rat! Avast, me hearties! Keelhaul that.) If you need inspiration, consider visiting International Talk Like a Pirate Day and checking out an “English to Pirate” translator.

If you want  a few examples and some background on why I think this is a good idea, keep reading.

Some Background (or Why Bother?) 

Games have rules. Canvases have edges. I think constraints can be wonderfully helpful in art and play. Maybe that’s why I like messing around with haiku.

A haiku, as you almost certainly know, is a poem of three lines.

• The first line has five syllables.
• The second line has seven syllables.
• The third line has five syllables.

Traditional Japanese haiku contain a reference to a season — but that’s optional as far as I’m concerned. (It’s one more rule than I care about.)

I wrote my favorite haiku at a party hosted by the fabulous jeweler Elise Matheson. Elise called it a “haiku earring party.” She puts earrings out on a table. Each guest chooses a set of earrings; Elise provides a title for the haiku. The guest writes the haiku, recites it to Elise, and claims the earrings.

My title “How to Hide a Universe,” and I’m still ridiculously pleased with the haiku I wrote:

Here are a few pirate haiku, sent to me by visitors to the website for my children’s book, The Wild Girls.

First, a very instructive haiku by Kaila offers excellent advice.

Pirate 101
Be dirty and loud
Always find the treasure chest
Avoid Peter Pan

I think this untitled haiku by Natasha is wonderfully direct and extremely piratical, perfect for a dramatic reading on International Talk Like a Pirate Day (September 19)

rum rum rum rum rum
arr arr rum arr arr rum arr
rum rum rum rum rum