I have just finished reading Haikus: Not always about nature by Stacey, and I just want to thank her for stirring up my poetic creative juices.
Even though I’m definitely a poet (along with, of course, writing in other genres as well), I haven’t been writing in that fun-and-challenging genre a whole lot lately, and I’ve been missing it.
Of course, more than some of my prose has a feel of poetry about it, but that’s still not the same.
Anyway, I composed two Haiku poems on-the-spot as part of my feedback to her, and here they are:
Labor Day Weekend:
Up to ninety-three degrees…
Summertime’s swan song?
Larry The CanMan
stands outside his home waving
while green leaves ripen.
Unless you live somewhere like Alaska, you can probably relate to the first one.
As for the second one…spend enough time with me, and you’ll definitely know what (or, should I say, who) inspired that one!
Anyway, I’m now in the mood to write some more Haiku, so here goes…
Early September:
Fewer hours stand between
the dawn and the dusk.
Living room window
facing west discourages
missing a sunset.
Until this last one, my Haiku poems went by all of the traditional rules of 17 syllables in 5-7-5 form with a season either mentioned or implied.
However, according to Stacey, a Haiku poem doesn’t even have to contain a clear implying of a season. This last poem had all of the other requirements of the most traditional of Haiku poems, other than the missing season.
She has even taken it further than that to say that it doesn’t have to be about nature just so long as the line and syllable count are the same.
I’m going to write something like that now:
Laptop computer
(my latest roommate) keeps me
busy day and night.
According to Stacey, there is also something called a mini-Haiku that doesn’t even have 17 syllables but, instead, is 3-5-3.
Okay! I’m game to try that…
Robin’s nest
full of brand-new lives
open-mouthed.
From the sky,
bright star heads towards earth.
Make a wish!
Then, there’s the option of creating a 17-syllable poem of a single line…
like this:
One starless, black-velvet night, a cat could be heard screeching out: “LOVE ME!”
Stacy wrote that the meaning of Haiku actually has less to do about form than about what it’s about:
“sharing a poignant experience” and/or “sharing thoughts and feelings”
This post is complete.
Now, it’s your turn to create
More Haiku poems…