What is Haiku?

Today we begin a weekly display of members’ responses to the question:
What is haiku? Our hope is that by sharing our responses (definitions,
descriptions, comments, or quotations of wise words by others) we will
achieve a broader and more sympathetic understanding of this poetry we
love.

Quendryth Young (Alstonville, NSW)

‘A haiku is a short poem of traditional Japanese origin which
captures the essence of a moment, finds the extraordinary in the
ordinary, and links nature to human nature.’

Kevin Sharpe (Blue Mountains, NSW) responds:

'haiku, senryu : of the moment’

Nicholas Barwell (Perth, WA) endorses Harold Stewarts’s definition:

"Haiku try to express what Japanese call Mono No Aware, the
ah!ness of things: a feeling for natural loveliness tinged with a
sadness at its transience."

Thanks to Quendryth, Kevin and Nicholas for sharing these.

Can you answer THE question in less than forty words.? Then please tell
John Bird at [email protected] He is is editing this feature for us.