edHelper.com
 Lune: the American Haiku

Lune: the American Haiku
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 9 to 12
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   7.14

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    incorporate, better, crescent, pens, literature, variation, professor, poetic, similar, pattern, specific, nature, form, device, curve, image
     content words:    Robert Kelly, Bard College, New York, Jack Collom, Naropa University

Print Lune: the American Haiku
     Print Lune: the American Haiku  (font options, pick words for additional puzzles, and more)

Quickly Print - PDF format
     Quickly Print: PDF (2 columns per page)
     Quickly Print: PDF (full page)

Quickly Print - HTML format
     Quickly Print: HTML

Proofreading Activity
     Print a proofreading activity

Feedback on Lune: the American Haiku
     Leave your feedback on Lune: the American Haiku  (use this link if you found an error in the story)

Lune: the American Haiku
By Brenda B. Covert 		  
1     The lune (rhymes with moon) is a very short poem. It's similar to the popular haiku form of poetry. While a haiku follows a 5/7/5 syllable pattern, the lune's syllable pattern is 5/3/5. Typically, since the middle line is restricted to three syllables, it is the shortest line of the three. This gives the lune a curve on the ends similar to a crescent moon.
 
2     Here is an example:

Books, papers, notes, pens
What a mess
Lies piled on my desk
 
3     The lune was invented by poet Robert Kelly in the 1960s. Kelly has been a professor of literature at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, since 1986. He is the author of numerous poems and short fiction. When he invented the lune, he wanted poets to have freedom of choice. Therefore, the lune can be about anything, unlike the haiku, which is expected to be about nature.

Paragraphs 4 to 6:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
Copyright © 2009 edHelper