Some of my favourite poetry forms are Haiku and Tanka. I think this is because the constraints placed on the form, holding to the syllable pattern 5/7/5 or 5/7/5/7/7 respectively, means you have to concise when conveying your message.
For me, this is an enjoyable creative puzzle that gets the brain really working. Questing through the vocabulary stored in my mind and trying to find a way to make the words fit, whilst still having meaning is not a simple task.
I cannot tell you the number of times I have sounded out the words and counted their syllables, to find I am one too many or too short. Yet any frustration is washed away with the sense of achievement I feel when I finally finish a Haiku or Tanka I am happy with.
The following Tanka was inspired by a photograph (above) I took last year:
Out towards the sea
You stretch your broken body,
Hopelessly reaching
For that distant horizon
Your splintered form cannot touch.
Mikaela Walker - Writer 