Hay(na)ku

The hay(na)ku is a 3-line, unrhymed, word-based form. It consists of 3 lines of 1/2/3 words; the order can also be reversed (3/2/1 words). It's a relatively new Filipino-origin form. The name's a deliberate play on “haiku”.

Notes

I've find that although the form is word-based, not syllabic, I often write syllable counts in a matching pattern (e.g. 5, 4, 3 syllables for 3, 2, 1 words, or 1, 3, 5 syllables for 1, 2, 3 words).

The brevity and 3-line shape means some hay(na)ku double as especially brief haiku.

Poems

1. 2026-02-06

   sheltered
   by rubble,
   young bright snowdrops

2. 2025-12-16

   in dark trees
   the house
   burns

3. 2025-12-04

   wind
   wrenches tears
   from indifferent eyes

4. 2025-11-23

   shadows
   only dance
   around the light

5. 2025-11-18

   moss
   shields graffiti
   from prying eyes

6. 2025-09-22

   ruins
   become middens,
   still in use

7. 2025-08-08

   buried
   in brambles,
   old barbed wire

8. 2025-04-18

   the bottle factory
   makes empties
   complete

9. 2025-04-10

   between the fireworks
   everyone's faces
   disappear

   ---

   Inspired by a haiku by Masaoka Shiki, roughly “the fireworks over, the people all gone—how dark it is!” (translated by R. H. Blyth), but with a different vibe.

10. 2025-04-02

    clean
    smoke stacks;
    the city sleeps

11. 2025-03-31

    butterflies
    in pairs
    lost in blossom

12. 2025-03-31

    a black cat
    in darkness
    purrs