haiku are written in three lines to equate to the three parts of a haiku in Japanese that traditionally consist of five, seven, and then five (the Japanese count sounds, not syllables; for example, the word "haiku" itself counts as three sounds in Japanese (ha-i-ku), but two syllables in English (hai-ku), and writing seventeen syllables in English produces a poem that is actually quite a bit longer, with more content, than a haiku in Japanese). sliable at 17