beside the back door
rubber boots caked in spring
mud and chicken poo
© 2015 Loree Griffin Burns
And that’s a wrap, friends. I managed a haiku every day for the month of April, although on a couple days the posted haiku were written by other people. (Like Issa. And Basho.) I hope you were inspired to write a poem or two yourself.
Here’s a link to the entire 2015 collection.
Happy National Poetry Month!
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 …
listening to frogs
on the edge of a wetland;
moss-covered boulder
© 2015 Loree Griffin Burns
snake in the garden–
protecting its patch of soil
from development
© 2015 Loree Griffin Burns
It’s sunny and dry here in New England, and I’m taking the day off to work in the garden and catch up on chores. Many thanks to Japanese haiku master Kobayashi Issa (1763-1827) for taking up the haiku-a-day slack for me!
Don’t worry, spiders,
I keep house
casually.
~ haiku by Kobayashi Issa, translation by Robert Haas
Robert Haas’ translations of the Japanese haiku poets Basho, Buson, and Issa have fueled me all month. For more inspiration from the masters, do check out his book, THE ESSENTIAL HAIKU. Wishing y’all a Sunday filled with haiku moments …
the kitchen window;
watching a blue jay harrass
the nesting robins
© 2015 Loree Griffin Burns
end-of-April sun;
it spills over the table,
brightening the crumbs
© 2015 Loree Griffin Burns
Back to haiku today …
one last offering:
emptying the bird feeders
as I take them down
© 2015 Loree Griffin Burns
I know what you’re thinking. A clerihew? What in the world is that? And where is your daily haiku?
A clerihew is a fun little poem that I only recently learned about myself. (Here’s a link to a post on writer Michelle Heidenrich Barnes’ Today’s Little Ditty blog. It’s where I learned everything I know about clerihews.) This morning, when I sat down at the kitchen table with my tea and my haiku notebook, a clerihew came out. This was a total surprise! But I had so much fun playing around with this little poem that I never got to my haiku.
So, today I’m sharing a clerihew. Maybe you’ll be inspired to try the form, too? It’s National Poetry Month, after all. Have some fun!
Super smart Francis Crick
never missed a mathematical trick.
Tall and thin, a true British highbrow,
in possession of the most epic eyebrows.
© 2015 Loree Griffin Burns
Click here to see the epic eyebrows yourself!
I think tomorrow I’ll be back to writing haiku. Maybe. For now, here’s a link to all the haiku in my April National Poetry Month celebration.
