Some thoughts on Why We Write Haiku ( this list contains a lot of overlapping and was intended just as a consideration of what might be some reasons…)

to express gratitude

to report something real with honesty

to share something directly and concretely

to share and create meaning

to say something meaningful in as few words possible

to communicate

to find a voice

to give a voice to nature and discovery

to celebrate our connection to nature, to all that is non-human

to sharpen and develop our awareness as a witness

to express observable truth

to give praise

to celebrate existence

grounding and centering

transcendence

to express admiration

to identify those primordial forces we love or relate to

to feel a sense of purpose

to express our longing and belonging

love for our being here now

to express joy and happiness in a moment

to show what is lost and found

as a means of catharsis

to show the aha moment and suggest the wonder of existence

the desire to turn words into greater awareness and understanding

in the eternal search for meaning and identity

to maintain a healthy focus and awareness

to attain some levity or lightness to our being

prayer like reverence and respect for what is before us

to achieve some clarity

to reduce confusion

to express insight

to improve and gain relationships and understanding our place in the world

in hope of finding a peace of mind and heart

to have an epiphany

to reaffirm what we know but had forgotten…nostalgia for our child mind

for the practice and routine of forgetting ourselves

an alternative focus and refreshing point of view

alter-identity

as a release from what bothers us or distracts us from the poetic in our lives

as an antidote to anger

to exercise a spiritual communion with our place/world

to commune with the muse

to attain credibility

to fulfill the searching aspect of our being here now

to recognize what is mortal and immortal in us and our world

as a form of satori and connection

because we love poetry and sharing something

because we feel inspiration in moments freely found anyplace, anytime, anywhere

because we are in tune with a universal reality

to get some satisfaction

as a path out of depression

to find ‘the way’

to see and feel light

to report natural ‘news’

to commune with nature

nurture of a spiritual relation

to join a community of people sharing a poetic point of view

to be in the now

because we believe in nature and the poetic relationships small, large and wonderful

as a means of disciplined expression

in recognition of natural nuance

to exercise our senses

to praise the life in the inanimate

to write concisely

to write what is in the heart

to find our-self outside our-self

to respond to a calling