Five Haiku

I’ve never written much in the way of haiku. But for some reason, I knocked out these five the other morning, rapid fire. Perhaps I was inspired by a recent second-grade poetry reading, where so many kids, including my Maggie, tried their hand at the ancient form. Seems easy, but it’s not. Or more to the point: easy to do poorly, not so easy to do well. It’s much harder to write a bad sonnet. What makes a good haiku? As you can see below, I have no idea. No one has ever accused me of being a poet. Not that it stopped me. In life, we get so much rejection; so many will tell us, “No.” The important thing, I think, is to never say no to yourself. Artists need to know that, for sure. So does everybody else. To that end: Yes, yes, yes.

Also, this blog’s guiding principle has always been to throw it out there, warts and all. Especially the warts.

So in keeping with my word for the year, here goes something . . .

Columbine, pretty

Flower, will we never learn?

Reach down, snap your neck.

Sunset on the sea.

The swimmer dragged under drowns.

Sweet color of blood.

This life is not fair.

Prepare, dear one, for heart ache.

The umpire’s blown call.

I am lost again

And surrender to the snow.

Sleep’s dark, cold embrace.

Five orphans asleep,

One blanket covers them all.

Hold tight to your dreams.

2 comments

  1. Jeni Friedland says:

    Week of rainy days,
    Sad thoughts fill the author’s mind.
    Say yes to happy.

  2. jimmy says:

    Rainbows and cupcakes,
    unicorns laugh on ice skates.
    I’m working on it.

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