by Kelly

Before the cold snap

a pheasant ducks through the woods –

Thoughts of my grandpa.

Unusual warmth,

so the dogs and I press on –

Still, though, that pheasant…

Wild turkey, yes

fox, deer, coyotes I’ve seen

Pheasants? Not pheasants.

Grandpa hunted them.

Stuffed pheasants flew through his house –

Was that one a sign?

Almost to the door

when my dogs flush three pheasants

from beside the shed.

The dogs bark, the birds

stumble from the underbrush

dragging crumpled leaves.

I drop the leashes,

scream before I see the birds

fighting to escape

From inside me, a

wild, uncontrollable laugh

rushes forth — then tears.

Equally wild and

uncontrollably, I sob

there in the driveway.

Maybe they were just

pheasants, just birds. Or maybe

they were my grandpa.

by Kelly

What if we lived here?

Or here? I waste hours clicking

on houses, dreaming . . .

by Kelly

Superbowl Sunday —

Madonna so improves my

mood I watch the game.

by Kelly

last night’s fog freezes —

morning is a fairy land

of white, white, white, white

by Kelly

waiting for news of

his promotion and our son –

we shiver in bed

by Kelly

trying to fix it,

hubby breaks the microwave —

one more bill piles on

by Kelly

the morning of my

resolution dawns misty —

cold snow meets warm air

I didn’t pledge any New Year’s resolutions. The new year just came on too fast. It was Christmas and then, suddenly, it was January. I wanted any resolutions I made to be meaningful and realistic, and I felt that coming up with the perfect goal would require thought. Thought, of course, would require time. And time was in short supply.

But then the end of January arrived, and with it the Year of the Dragon. Chinese New Year presented me with a new opportunity to set a resolution. The crush of the holidays was gone. The visiting, out-of-town family members were safely back in their own homes. After so many days off at the end of the year, I’d readjusted to my work schedule. Finally, it seemed there was space for my mind to reassess, commit to change, and make a resolution.

And so, here it is: Starting today, everyday for the next month, I will write one haiku.

This may not seem like a difficult task. After all, I’ve been haiku’ing regularly for the past three years. But in the past six months, my haiku muscle has fallen out of practice. My posted haiku grew farther and farther apart. Often, I composed haiku in my mind, but those little poems never make it to the page (or screen) and ended up lost in the daily mental shuffle. This has frustrated me. I even wrote about it in a November post. But I didn’t change my ways.

Now, though, I am changing my ways. I am joining NaHaiWriMo, which is short for National Haiku Writing Month. Hundreds have joined the effort for the month of February.

NaHaiWriMo is an off-shoot of a similar idea. NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. That month takes place in November and every year it has grown more and more popular with writers all over the world registering their daily word counts with the NaNoWriMo web site.

NaHaiWriMo has a Facebook page where participants can post their daily haiku and read the daily haiku of others’. It also posts a writing prompt every day for those who need help getting their ideas into haiku.

Head to the NaHaiWriMo Facebook page to learn more, and by all means, check back at Haiku By Two to see how my month of daily haiku is going.

by Kelly

Sunday morning snow

glitters like sun on diamonds —

We shop for Han Min.

by Kelly

fingerless mittens

shouldn’t be a wardrobe choice

in January

Wow, it is warm! We’re approaching mid 40s today here in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. In January. This is bizarre. Not only did I walk my dogs wearing fingerless mittens, I also walked my dogs without a coat. I wore a big sweatshirt and was fine!

by Kelly

Who are these dummies

that keep falling through the ice?

strange December warmth

Every night there is a story on the news about someone who has fallen through the ice on one of Minnesota’s ten-thousand lakes, and every night Hubby and I turn to each other and say, “Who are these idiots?”

After last winter’s deluge of snow, we’re strangely snow-less this year. Not only are we snow-less, we’re also cold-less. Temperatures reached 40 degrees on Christmas! Unbelievable in this neck of the woods for this time of year. With temps like that, it’s no wonder the lakes aren’t frozen solid yet.

Which brings me back to my haiku. Last night there was a story on the news about a man who took his toddler for a joy ride on an ATV on a lake, and (surprise, surprise), the ATV fell through the ice! Luckily, some teenagers were ice skating nearby (crazy girls) and called 911. Everyone survived. But still. Who are these dummies? There is no way I’d wander out onto a lake right now, no matter how frozen it appears, let alone drive on one!