National Poetry Month 2018: one haiku every day

 

… or almost every day, anyway. I forgot that yesterday was the start of April, and in the flurry of warm weather and family visits, did not find a haiku moment. But as often happens at this time of year, I’ve was reminded and inspired by my friend and colleague, the poet and writer Liz Garton Scanlon. She’s been sharing her haiku daily during National Poetry Month for ten years now; be inspired too, by visiting her blog.

Here’s the haiku I found today …

watching snow cover
the garden, the grass, the road–
plants in a window

Collaboration

HaikuCollaboration

Okay, confession time: sharing my poems online during the month of April scared me. REALLY scared me.

Here’s the thing: writing haiku is something I’m new at. I’m still learning. And sharing work that is new and different from what you usually do means opening yourself up to the opinion of other people, to correction, and even to criticism. These are scary things!

But there is a law about scary things, you know. From what I can tell, it goes like this: being brave and working through scary things always works out for the best. Always. I’m invariably glad when I push myself to try something that, at first, feels scary. For one thing, I learn a lot. I also tend to make connections that are meaningful. During my National Poetry Month haiku extravaganza, for example, I met some amazing haiku poets (like Liz Garton Scanlon and JoAnn Early Macken) and found a great poetry community. I’ve learned a lot from these talented people already! Other connections happened, too. One of my favorites is described in this blog post from Melissa Guerrette, a fourth grade teacher in Maine.

So, friends, go forth and be brave. You can do it!

 

Haiku for April 29

eleven robins
hopping around the outfield;
ordinary day

© 2015 Loree Griffin Burns

Okay, people, this month-long celebration of haiku is just about over. (I’ll still be writing them, I’ll just stop sharing so many of them!) Before we end, though, do hop over to Liz Garton Scanlon’s blog and read what she wrote yesterday about the place haiku can occupy in this crazy and often upside-down world. She is so wise, that Liz. Wise.

Have a spectacularly ordinary Wednesday …

Haiku for April 2

Author and poet Liz Garton Scanlon has challenged herself–and the rest of us, too–to celebrate National Poetry Month  by writing one haiku every day. I’m SO in. Here’s my offering for today:

holy smoke follows
the casket and the mourners
outside; crocuses

Join us, won’t you? Liz offers a few tips on writing haiku in this blog post, and here is a glowing review of my favorite book on the form, SEEDS FROM A BIRCH TREE, by Clark Strand, in case you need inspiration.

Happy haiku-ing!