[Lytspeed]

Who says poetry is just for English majors? Let's have some Hold'Em Haiku!

For those who don't know, haiku is a poetry form that originated in Japan and has become popular in the English speaking world because of its ability to convey significant meaning in a short space. (Or maybe it's just because us Americans have short attention spans.) Traditionally, haiku is nature-based, and the English version has strict rules about the number of syllables allowed in each three-line poem. The first line is limited to five syllables, the second to seven, and the final line to five again, for a total of 17 syllables. In a good haiku, the first two lines describe a situation or event and the final line comments upon that situation or event.

In recent years, there has been an explosion of themed haiku in America. A popular Internet e-mail reinterprets computer system error messages in haiku form, Random House is publishing a book of Hipster Haiku (for and about all the Vespa-riding, latte-drinking, pseudo-Bohemian American youths), Internet maven Anne P. Mitchell, Esq., has started a thread of Starbucks Haiku on her personal blog, and even Anheuser-Busch Brewing Company got into the act a couple of years ago with a series of commercials featuring Budweiser Haiku.

I think it's high time for us to have a Hold'Em Haiku thread. I'll start it off; feel free to jump in with your own contributions at any time.