Where do you see yourself in five years is a question that we’ve all asked ourselves. And, whether we think that it’ll be in the college of our dreams or stuck in a place of nightmares, all our answers differ. Helen Pugsley’s vision for herself in five years was very unique in her poem “Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years?” and I had thought that this was a really neat haiku, different from the other ones that I’d read. That is, until I checked the syllable count. A haiku is a three line poem with a syllable count of 5,7,5 for each of its line respectively. The poem “Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years?” has a syllable count of 6,6,5. What I’m saying is that I found this poem to grit on my inner-writer and thus, I profoundly dislike this poem.
    Now, there could be an excuse for the syllables being misnumbered, or that this was just supposed to be a free-verse poem. This is a very plausible reason, but, then, why make the format resemble a haiku so much? And, perhaps I am nitpicking at a small detail that was accidental because we all make mistakes, but really? There are websites dedicated solely to making sure that you have the correct word count. Although I really enjoyed the poem’s topic and the uniqueness that someone wouldn’t expect if they asked you “where do you see yourself in five years?” I found the miscount to be very annoying and spoiled my opinions of the poem.