CONVENTIONS FOR CLASSICAL JAPANESE HAIKU USUALLY INCLUDE--17 JAPANESE SYLLABLES IN A 5-7-5 LINE PATTERN, AND SOME SPECIFIC REFERENCE TO AN ASPECT OF NATURE AND TO A PARTICULAR EVENT, PRESENTED AS IF IT WERE HAPPENING IN THE IMMEDIATE PRESENT TO ALLOW THE READER TO EXPERIENCE THE POET'S EMOTION. HAIKU IN ENGLISH, A FORM OF POETRY WHICH HAS BECOME INCREASINGLY POPULAR, SHOULD CONFORM SOMEWHAT TO THE STANDARDS OF JAPANESE HAIKU, ALTHOUGH DIFFERENCES IN LANGUAGE, PUNCTUATION FORMS, AND CULTURAL BACKGROUNDS SUGGEST THAT AMERICAN WRITERS MUST DEVELOP THEIR OWN HAIKU CONVENTIONS. BEGINNING WRITERS CAN LEARN TO WRITE HAIKU BY (1) FIRST COMPOSING PURELY OBJECTIVE HAIKU--SIMPLE, STRAIGHTFORWARD DECRIPTIONS OF CIRCUMSTANCES THAT AROUSE EMOTION, (2) CLOSELY OBSERVING LIFE TO TRAIN THE SENSES TO BECOME "AWARE," (3) CONNECTING NON-RELATED SUBJECTS THROUGH WORD ASSOCIATION, (4) COMPRESSING THE VERSE BY USING INTERNAL COMPARISONS, ELLIPSES, AND SUGGESTION, (5) EXPERIMENTING CONSTANTLY WITH VARIOUS STYLES, FORMS, SUBJECT MATTER, AND MANNERS OF PRESENTATION, AND (6) COMPOSING SOMETHING EVERY DAY, CONSTRUCTING WORD SKETCHES AND USING THE RAW MATERIALS OF IMMEDIATE LIFE EXPERIENCE, IF POSSIBLE. (AN APPENDIX SUGGEST WAYS IN WHICH HAIKU SHOULD BE READ, ESPECIALLY IN TRANSLATION.) THIS BOOK IS PUBLISHED BY CHARLES E. TUTTLE CO., INC., RUTLAND, VERMONT, $1.00. (JB)