This week for my weekly syllabic poetry challenge, I used the word, “frigid,” for cold, and “tempest” for storm.

I wrote a Haibun/Tanka Idyll which consists of a prose paragraph, followed by a Tanka poem (5/7/5/7/7). All syllabic poetry has rules, and the Haibun is no exception.

Here are a few of the rules for writing a Haibun in English:

• Every haibun must begin with a title.
• Haibun prose is composed of terse, descriptive paragraphs, written in thefirst person singular.
• The text unfolds in the present moment, as though the experience is occurring now rather than yesterday or some time ago. In keeping with the simplicity of the accompanying haiku or tanka poem, all excessive words should be pared down or deleted. Nothing must ever be overstated.
• The poetry never attempts to repeat, quote or explain the prose.
• Instead, the poetry reflects some aspect of the…