The poem, Not a Haiku is of course, not a haiku. It is a free verse poem that explains in three lines how the writer couldn't possibly write about someone in just seventeen syllables. Scrolling through the long list of poems on the Teen Ink website, the title caught my attention. It wasn't the long emotional poem that most people see as what all poems should be. It was the classic short, sweet, and to the point.
     

By dictionary definition, a haiku is a "Japanese poem in seventeen syllables with three lines of five, seven, and five, traditionally evoking images of the natural world." Though the poem has a similar structure to a haiku having three lines, they have eleven, seventeen, and twelve syllables respectively. The poem wasn't related to the natural world, breaking most of the haiku's rules.
     

Not a Hiaku made me realize that sometimes the simplest things can have a lasting impact. Skimming down the seemingly endless list of fiction stories, memoirs and college essays, I was looking for a piece that would give me that spark of inspiration. I would look at the articles that appear substantial and long, but would always result in a frustrated sigh. That was until a little poem encouraged me to write this piece.