At the Midpoint of a Novel

Words pile up softly

Silent drifts of paper flakes

I get my shovel.

Read more of Lynne Jonell’s haiku.
Did you know that Lynne Jonell is a published children’s author? It’s true?
Check out her author web site.

by Kelly

visibility

comes with winter in the woods

hidden homes revealed

As I Struggle With Chapter Seven

Every thirty-three

words I lay the pencil down.

Yes, I have counted.

Read all of Lynne Jonell’s haiku.
Did you know that Lynne Jonell is a published children’s author? It’s true!
Check out her author web site.

by Alison

late at night watching

Kansas twisters on YouTube

wondering what’s next

by Kelly

bottle of water,

frozen, in my car for months,

suddenly now thawed

As I Embark Upon Yet Another Story Which Features Rodents

Again with the rats.

Why can’t I stop writing of

that which frightens me?

Read all of Lynne Jonell’s haiku.
Did you know that Lynne Jonell is a published children’s author? It’s true!
Check out her author web site.

Lynne Jonell needed a break. She’d been holed up in her studio pounding on her keyboard for days. Weeks. Even months. Such is the life of an established children’s author.

She’s got seven picture books and two middle-grade novels under her belt.

The novels, a pair of books about a girl named Emmy and a snarky, talking rat, have proved so popular that not only has Jonell begun work on a third installment of the story, she’s also been visiting school classrooms and talking to her readers.

But all this typing and talking had worn her out. She needed a release. Believe it or not, she found it through haiku.

Every day for the next week, here on the Guest page at Haiku By Two, we’ll be posting a haiku penned by Lynne Jonell.

Before the first one goes up though, here’s what she had to say about the joy of haiku:

Lynne Jonell’s Top Ten Reasons Why
Haiku is the Greatest Art Form Known to Humankind

1.  Unlike a 60,000 word novel, you can finish it without going bald from frustration.

2.  Since you’re not Matsuo Basho, expectations are relatively low.

3.  If you say something in haiku, you’re considered profound.

4.  If you say nothing in haiku, you’re considered ironic.

5.  The rules are easily understood, even at three in the morning.

6.  While it is terribly hard to create a fabulous haiku, it’s not that difficult to be mediocre.

7.  Seventeen mediocre syllables will not brand you forever as a bad writer.

8.  It’s unlikely your haiku will be reviewed on Amazon by someone unintelligent.

9.  It’s unlikely your haiku will be reviewed, period.

10.  It will actually be a miracle if anyone reads it at all, which is oddly freeing.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Plymouth Sun Sailor Publishes Story About Haiku By Two

Minneapolis, Minn. February 25, 2009 — The Plymouth Sun Sailor, a local newspaper in the Twin Cities metro area, published an interview with Haiku By Two co-creator, Kelly Westhoff.

The article explains the origins of the web site and tells how it is bringing Westhoff and Alison Kehler, her haiku partner, closer together in friendship.

by Alison

imitating trees

with leaves in each hand girls play

outside Nick’s Pizza

by Kelly

dog hair, hubby hair

I’m surrounded by little

black strands that aren’t mine.