These series of peoms I've written are of senryus, haikus, and tankas. The first time I ever encountered haikus was during elementary school, but I didn’t even hear of a tanka or senryu poem until this year. Not having written poems with strict syllable count in so long made it a bit difficult for me. From the three types of poems, I would have to say writing senryu’s was the easiest for me because I enjoy making jokes. Another difficulty I had was with the tankas and haikus; because it’s hard to write something in such a serious tone, without making be depressing.
Most of my inspiration came from my surroundings and experiences. For instance, the senryu about bowling was something that had actually recently happened to me. Also, when I was having troubles finding another poem to write, I used that to create the tanka on spider-webs in my, which just resembled that my head had already emptied out all my ideas. Strangely enough, I received my idea about 911 from watching my younger brother destroy the towers he had made from toy build blocks. Looking at what was going on around me, and on what I was/had experienced, helped me write my poems.