Poetry can be oh-so complicated and high brow but sometimes it’s just as good to “keep it simple” which is what my friend CS and I did over lunch yesterday when we had our very first haiku competition.

But before that, a few rules about haikus that you might have forgotten since you last wrote one in the 3rd grade. They have a basic construction. Line #1 has 5 syllables. Line #2 has 7 syllables and Line #3 has 5 syllables. And – for the most part – they focus on nature.

Here are some examples of proper haikus:

Falling to the ground, / I watch a leaf settle down / In a bed of brown.

As the wind does blow / Across the trees, I see the / Buds blooming in May

But haikus are more than sappy “I’m so glad that spring is here” moments written in poorly crafted love letters and Hallmark cards.

Veer, a stock image website, had a contest that closed just a few days ago that asked participants to use their favorite font as inspiration for a haiku.

Here is my favorite by @Faldim

A few years back, the Houston Chronicle asked folks to submit haikus that best described the summer heat.  This is my favorite, though not in standard haiku format:

Mom doubted my choice

I married an AC man

I married an AC man

Who is laughing now?

—Elizabeth

But haikus have been known to inspire more than just their simple form. For those of us who enjoy a nice handbag every Christmas, the Gucci bamboo bag seems elegant to me.

And, of course, there is the work of Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto.

Those things said, CS and I had quite a wealth of inspiration for our high-speed text haiku-a-thon. And although some of our entries would probably get an HBO Sunday night tv rating, here are a few that made the cut.

No. 1: Haikus are easy / But sometimes they don’t make sense / Refrigerator

No. 2: Ice cream needs more praise / I had menage a trois today / With Ben and Jerry

No. 3: Nothing is better / Than sniffing glue from a tube / Obituary

Sometime today, take a moment to count syllables on your fingers and come up with something clever. 

And who won the contest? CS, hands down!