About contemporary haiku and senryu

Contemporary english-language haiku are much more than the 5-7-5 syllable nature poems we studied in elementary school. At their core, haiku express a moment of awareness, usually occurring in the most ordinary moments of daily life. Haiku refer to nature, often to a season, and many haiku illuminate humankind's place in nature. Senryu express a moment of awareness about humanity or human interactions, rather than nature, and often are subtly humorous, but are otherwise like haiku. Haiku and senryu both contain two separate images. The juxtaposition of those images creates the resonance that draws the reader deeper.
Haiku and senryu are written in the present tense and are short - it is often said that they can be read in one breath - but they need not follow the 5-7-5 syllable format, and are, in fact, typically shorter. Although usually three lines, they can just as easily be written in one line, as in Japanese.
Haiku and senryu express our experience boiled down to its essentials. When a moment in life touches us, haiku and senryu answer the question, what moved me to be aware of this moment?

Times Square
a tourist photographs
herself

[Modern Haiku, Vol. 41.1, Winter-Spring 2010]
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home office
my wife sends me an email
from the bedroom

[First place, senryu category, 2009 San Francisco International Competition for Haiku, Senryu, Tanka and Rengay, Sponsored by the Haiku Poets of Northern California]
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