What this is & Why this is.

The Haiku Daybook will record 365 extemporaeneous short poems in the traditional haiku or medieval tanka forms: one poem for every day of the year, starting on December 5th of 2005. This is equal parts writing exercise and mnemonic aide.

The tanka is an predecessor to the 5-7-5 structure of haiku, with a pair of seven syllable couplets attached as a kind of epigram.

Memory is the intent, writing is the means, poetry is the method.

Without writing (sometimes said to be the art of observation), I find myself straining to remember that which goes unrecorded. English is not the best language for haiku given the non-ideogrammatic roots of the romance languages, but I like the enforced brevity. I'm sure any readers will feel the same way.

In re-reading my entries I hope that the process of distillation that results in each completed poem will be tapped into afresh.

A friend once told me to read a single new poem a day to hone one's expertise with the language.

Good advice- but how much more might be gained by writing a single poem a day as well?

I intend to find out.