The HaikuQuest cast
Each friend shows you one idea by how they act. Meet them all and see how the ideas fit together.
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Count Syllable count / count-discipline — magpie whose beak-tap enacts the rhythmic underpinning of every counted form -
Pause Kireji / cut / productive break — snowy-egret whose perpetually-mid-step body IS the kireji in physical form -
Lantern Season-word / anchoring image — chipmunk whose wooden lantern visibly shifts color with the season -
Trim Brevity / saying-less — red-squirrel with brass scissors who snips redundant words to find the smaller-stronger version -
Flint Juxtaposition — flinty badger-creature who strikes two smooth stones to make a spark; two images set side by side make a third meaning leap up in the gap -
Gallop Meter / the stressed beat — long-legged pony-creature whose hooves fall da-da-DUM; not how MANY beats (that's Count) but which ones to stomp (esp. the limerick) -
Bell Rhyme — silver creature with tuned tail-bells that chime the same note when end-sounds match; a forced rhyme jammed in just to chime is worse than none -
Hinge The line break — folding-door creature who holds a small pause at the end of each line; the end of a line is a little stage, so end on a word that earns it -
Mold Shape on the page — clay-colored creature who builds a poem's silhouette (a cinquain's 2-4-6-8-2 diamond); shape is meaning you can see from across the room -
Braid Sound texture — nimble creature who weaves repeated sounds through a line (alliteration + assonance); enough echo makes music, too much makes a tongue-twister knot