TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The University of Arizona’s Poetry Center, along with the Downtown Tucson Partnership, is displaying a Haiku Hike for the sixth year. If you’re walking along downtown Tucson on Congress or Stone, make sure you stop to read the signs in some of the flower barrels.
A Haiku is a Japanese poetry form written in three lines: 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second, and 5 syllables in the third.
“What does belonging look like? How do we make more of it?” Tyler Meier is the Executive Director at the U of A’s Poetry Center. This year's theme for the Haiku Hike is Belonging.
“This project, in a way, kind of becomes the voice of the city. So each year the theme allows for a kind of expression that doesn’t happen in other ways," Meier explained.
A haiku typically connects to nature, which is why the Haiku Hike happens in the springtime, according to Meier. “Someone who maybe doesn’t think about poetry every day, has an experience with a poem and thinks I’m interested in what that was. It maybe makes them think more about themselves, more about the world that we share together.”
Meier hopes people stop to appreciate the world around them, allow their thoughts to sink in with the poems, and stay curious.
1,954 Haikus were submitted in total. 1,187 of the submissions came from Tucson. Anybody is able to submit a Haiku to be considered. Plus, there were submissions from 31 different countries.
Haiku entries are judged by Tucson's Poet Laureate, TC Tolbert. Here's a list of the winning Haikus.
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Athena Kehoe is a reporter for KGUN 9, she joined the KGUN 9 team in July of 2024 after graduating from Arizona State University. Share your story ideas with Athena by emailing athena.kehoe@kgun9.com or by connecting on X/Twitter.
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