by Alison

As a long-time cat-obsessed person, there’s something I need to come clean about.

As of the past several months I seemed to have lost my love for cats. And by “cats” I mean my very own incorrigible tabby who licks up soggy parmesan from the kitchen sink, knocks over treasured breakables and paws my daughter’s glass of milk at every chance.

So yes, my cat annoys.

But thankfully,  a cute children’s picture book came to my rescue and helped change my bad attitude. Written by Mark Poulton and Illustrated by Dexter Weeks, A Cat Named Haiku chronicles the misadventures of a naughty little cat. Haiku the cat knows there are house rules, but where’s the fun in that? And like his namesake, the mayhem that this cat causes is brought to life in 5-7-5 form.

Here is one haiku that well illustrates the creative impulses of this playful feline:

Leftover ice cream

Making chocolate paw prints

Oh how I love thee…

And here is another that gives a good explanation for why those with cat DNA simply must scratch furniture to bits:

Can’t control myself

I’ve already pressed my luck

Ahhh, this feels so good

But the life of Haiku is not all fun and games for his owner Mark, who responds to feline furniture scratching and toilet bowl licking with annoyance:

“Bad kitty, get down!”

Wait Mark, let’s talk this over

Eek, water bottle!

The humor (and yes, realism) are a big part of what makes this little picture book work, not to mention the cool comic-book style illustrations in which Haiku, despite being a pill of a cat, is just utterly adorable.

Fortunately, things wrap up well between Mark and Haiku with a lesson of forgiveness. And this has inspired me to extend an olive branch to my poor cat Icarus.  We all make mistakes, right?  And seeing as how Icarus is presently snuggling my sleeping daughter with calm, peaceful purs - I think I owe him that.

.

by Alison

I am reposting this review which was written last year. Hanukkah Haiku is a great book that  has helped my daughter Penny and I get into the “Festival of Lights” spirit for the second year in a row.  Happy Hanukkah everyone!

Life gets a little complex in our household around the winter holidays. My husband is Jewish while I was raised with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. And since Christmas can be pervasive around this time of year, we make a special effort to highlight Hanukkah in our household.

So I was thrilled to receive this great gift in the mail for Penny from her Grandma. Hanukkah Haiku, written by Marriet Ziefert and illustrated by Karla Gudeon, is a wonderful addition to our Hanukkah activities.

Hanukkah Haiku is a beautifully illustrated book that is perfectly suited for young children. It counts out the eight days and nights of Hanukkah through the imagery of the candles on the menorah and an accompanying haiku.

And I may be biased here, but Hanukkah Haiku is now my favorite Hanukkah book for young children. Through the simplicity of seventeen syllables the beauty of Hanukkah is clearly illustrated and functions as a wonderful introduction to the customs of this holiday. For example, with this haiku I was able to teach my two year old about the Shammash candle:

Two candles tonight.

Daddy holds the Shammash high.

It lights the others.

Penny has also learned about the excitement of the gift of gelt - gold coins (which in today’s world means shiny foiled chocolate coins). And so she especially enjoyed this haiku!

Five candles tonight.

Uncle gives a gift of gelt.

The coins are shiny.

The vibrant folksy illustrations are also a wonderful touch. With pictures of happy parents, uncle, grandparents and children enjoying latkas, dreidels, music and the beauty of the menorah, Hanukkah Haiku is charmingly festive.

And so yes, I’m feeling festive! We’ve been so busy enjoying the holidays that it has taken me to the 5th day of Hanukkah to publish this little review but all is good.

Happy Holidays everyone!

by Kelly

Last fall, Alison and I reviewed two books by Ryan Mecum.

The first, Zombie Haiku, is about a man who becomes a zombie. He keeps a journal of his transformation and all of his entries are written in 5-7-5 haiku.

Mecum’s second book, Vampire Haiku, is about a man who becomes a vampire. He also keeps a journal, and — again — all of his entries are written in 5-7-5 haiku.

This fall, Mecum released a third book, Werewolf Haiku. It’s about a man who becomes a werewolf, keeps a journal of the process and — yes — writes all of his entries in 5-7-5 haiku.

Mecum has obviously found a pattern that works for him. I’m just not sure it’s working for me.

Or maybe it’s the topic.

I’m not wholly opposed to werewolves. After all, if I had to come down on one side of the Twilight fence, I’d pick Team Jacob.

But the Team Jacob werewolves seem a lot tamer than the monster in Werewolf Haiku, who can only be described as out of control.

I mean, this guy eats his dog! And then writes haiku about it!

If one can get past

all the desperate barking,

raw dog tastes awesome.

I know, I know. He’s a werewolf and he’s just doing what’s in his nature. But still. His own dog?

I think I would have liked it better if the man had discovered some sort of deeper connection to the canine world when he transformed, like he could have discovered the ability to communicate with his dog instead of eating it.

On the other hand, the dog theme is cleverly tied into the werewolf’s human job. He’s a post man.

Mailman to werewolf.

Takes the phrase “going postal”

to a new level.

He was on the job when he got bit by the “dog” that turned him. And it is a woman from his postal route that is his undoing. But I can’t spill the beans on the ending. If you’re curious, you’ll just have to check out Werewolf Haiku for yourself.

Read our interview with Ryan Mecum.

by Kelly

My mom is a “clipper.” She clips articles she thinks I will find interesting and gives them to me. Her most recent “clip” found its way into my hands this morning. It’s from the Wall Street Journal.

While reading an except of George W. Bush’s new memoir, she discovered a reference to haiku. Having been a follower of my haiku journey for the past two years, she — of course — clipped the article, highlighted the pertinent section, and gave it to me.

Turns out our former president is an admirer of haiku. He’s not the first politician we’ve encountered who likes the art form. Last year, Alison discovered Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the E. U., keeps a haiku blog. Her post about Van Rompuy was even quoted in a BBC article about his haiku-writing tendencies.

But back to Mr. Bush. We are pleased to know he likes to read the occasional haiku. Now we just have to figure out how to turn him into a regular reader of Haiku By Two!

If you’d like to read the full except that was in the Wall Street Journal, you can find it here: Lessons Learned by a Prodigal Son

by Alison

There’s something about autumn that makes me feel like hanging out at the library. With the onset of the school year I’m feeling scholarly even if that means I spend most of my time with my 3 year old daughter in the children’s section.

And so in between looking for new Olivia books as well as classic Dr. Seuss we were lucky to find our way to haiku.

Dog-ku is a beautiful picture book about a stray dog written entirely in 5-7-5 haiku.

The dog, Mooch, needs a home, or as it says on the inside cover:

A tale in haiku

of one adorable dog.

Let’s find him a home.

One day, Mooch wanders up to a family’s back door. On a whim, the mother lets him in, almost as though she is trying him on for size.

The colorful illustrations show Mooch enjoying several serene moments in his new life. One one page, Mooch takes a nap in the sun while lying on the back stoop. On another, he gets to go for a ride in the car and stick his head out the window.

Nose out the window,

ears flapping, hair pushed straight back.

Adventures in smell.

But it’s not all puppy kisses. Mooch has more than a few bad-dog moments. He tears up the garbage. He chews on some socks. Will his antics get him kicked out or will he get to stay in this warm house with these nice people?

You’ll have to read the book to find out, but I shall say that this book of 5-7-5 puppy capers certainly resonated with Penelope who would often shout out during the story “That’s like Yuki!”.

The writer, well-known children’s author Andrew Clements, says in the book’s end notes that he thought a picture book would be the perfect medium for haiku. A haiku, he writes, is like a small vase, and so is a picture book. In both formats, the writer has very limited space to tell a story and must make sure every word counts.

Now, I can only hope he writes a picture book in haiku about a cat.

by Alison

The leaves are turning, it’s getting chilly and I’m craving all things cozy.

This means it’s tea time - and often. My ritual is to make a cup first thing in the morning and my husband always serves me a cup late at night before bedtime.

Green tea just happens to be a favorite of mine. It’s earthy, slightly grassy and provides just the right amount of caffeine. If steeped properly I feel a nice little pick me up without the neurotic edge that coffee gives me. A nice cup of green tea and I feel both placid and alert.

So I was excited to receive a package of Sencha Green Haiku Tea in the mail from Kelly. I love Sencha - it’s the most popular Green tea in Japan and is renowned for it’s health benefits. I’ve been drinking Sencha for nearly 20 years so I can be, ahem, a bit picky about my tea. Too many tea companies get green all wrong and end up leaving me with what tastes like a cup of warm dish water. So I wondered while preparing my first cup of Haiku tea - will this tea live up to it’s poetic name?

Oh yeah.

And I’m not giving the glowing review that I am about to give because of any sort of haiku bias - I care about tea far too much. Sencha Green Haiku Tea truly makes for a most fabulous cup of tea. With a fresh green scent, the aroma of my Haiku cup of tea was intoxicating. Robust and complex with a subtle sweetness, I thought to myself - now that’s a cup of tea! I was honestly amazed. I had never had such a good cup of green tea that I so easily prepared with a simple tea bag. And so I wondered, why is Haiku Tea so good?

Is it because Haiku Tea is organic? Is it because it is grown on a centuries old tea plantation in the Uji River Valley in Japan, a region long famous for growing the best green tea in the world? Or is there some sort of magic within it’s haiku namesake which gives this tea a feeling of balance and serenity?

I am a tea drinker and not an expert, so I may never know the secrets behind why Haiku Tea is just so much better than your average green tea. But I do know that I am very inspired by tea once again so expect many more tea haiku from yours truly!

by Kelly

Summer is wrapping up. So too is the growing season.

While it’s especially hard for me, a Minnesotan who knows that winter is just a few months away, to say good-bye to the heat and humidity, I am at least able to acknowledge that summer’s end brings a delicious bounty of garden produce.

There are few things in life so grand (as far as I’m concerned) as a ripe tomato picked from your very own vine and drizzled in olive oil. I was thrilled, therefore when I stumbled upon a series of haiku in praise of the tomato.

The haiku were penned by Lori Writer, who writes for a Twin Cities food-obsessed web site called Heavy Table.

Her tomato haiku link to recipes suggesting new ways to use up your bumper crop. This one, in particular, stood out to me:

Tomato ice cream
sounds ghastly. But, tomato
is a fruit, you know.

Writer’s tomato haiku are actually a year old. I stumbled upon them because I was reading a more recent post by her in which she put together a collection of haiku praising the cucumber.

Like her tomato haiku, her cucumber haiku link to recipes suggesting various ways to eat all the cukes your vines have produced.

But I happen to like her introductory cucumber haiku the best:

Glorious August.
Long days, borealis nights.
Cukes, by the bucket.

And even though summer’s heat seems to have passed me by (fall has come on with a vengence here) I can’t stop myself from thinking about the recipe suggested by this cucumber haiku:

Lemonade Chiller,
tart and sweet. Leaves you cool as
any cucumber.

by Kelly

Haiku poets of yore used the measured three-line form to express moments of quiet clarity. Today, though, writers are using haiku to express all sort of emotions, including rage.

Enter F U Haiku, a new collection of 5-7-5 haiku written by Beth Quinlan and Perry Taylor.

Roughly 200 poems are gathered in its pages. Each one is filled with bitterness and spite. These “pissy poems” (as they are described in the introduction) are aimed at everything from traffic jams to taxes to bad waitresses to bonus-taking bankers.

This one aimed straight for the airlines:

Flight to France canceled

All I got was this lousy

Voucher. What the F * * * ?

While I bleeped out the swear word here, the book doesn’t.

And, of course, you can’t have a collection of angry little poems without including several on the topic of “my ex sucks.” Like this one:

You told your friends I

Sucked in bed. I proved you wrong

One friend at a time.

I was hoping that F U Haiku would be funny in a sarcastic sort of way. And it was, I guess.

But after reading through the whole thing, that’s not the vibe I got. Instead, I felt overwhelmed by anger. I wasn’t angry, but I felt like the writers definitely were — which perhaps I should have picked up on from the title. But to be totally honest, all that anger was a turn off.

It was a bit like watching the polarized pundits on some political talk show take swings at one another. Their bickering holds your attention for a while, but then it gets to a point where they are just so obviously enraged that you can’t stand to watch them anymore.

Maybe I would have been better off only reading two or three F U Haiku at a time. Maybe then these “pissy poems” would have stuck me as funny as opposed to resentful and irate. But since I didn’t …

If you’re looking to get yourself worked up into a tizzy, let me know. I’ll send you my copy of F U Haiku.

by Alison

I’ve been thinking about poetry lately.

Where do I want to go with haiku? What new areas do I want to explore? And specifically, do I want to stay exclusive with 5 - 7 - 5?

Then I happened upon the results of the fifteenth Caribbean Kigo Kukai haiku contest hosted by Gillena Cox and I became inspired.

The haiku in this contest are of the modern shorter variety. There is no strict 5 - 7 - 5 syllable count in these poems. Rather, the poems contain a kigo (seasonal reference) and most contain a break. In less than seventeen syllables!

The fifteenth Caribbean Kigo Kukai features the word “umbrella” as a prompt and it is interesting to read the variety of haiku that come out of using this word.

Here are a few that struck me.

This one, by Magdalena Dale, spoke to me with it’s simple universal appeal.

Red umbrella -
the sounds of rain drops
around us

I can imagine the color red and the music of the rain working together for this beautiful moment.

This one, by Bill Kenney, won first place.

summer rain
my umbrella
unopened

I love the brevity of language in this one while at the same time it says so much. The whole idea of contrasting caution with joyful spontaneity is so appealing. And in only 10 syllables!

This one, by Catherine J. S. Lee, won second place and is another favorite.

after divorce court –
still, she offers to share
her umbrella

I love how this one gets personal (we like to do that here at Haiku By Two) and I appreciate the way Lee melds the personal with the seasonal. It’s real and contains emotion and yet the emotion is grounded by nature. Fantastic!

Thanks to Gillena for hosting a wonderful Caribbean Kigo Kukai that has inspired me so! And keep checking the site. New contests with different kigo are posted on a regular basis. I hope to try my hand at the shorter haiku sometime soon although I must admit I am not sure where or how to start. If you have any suggestions, please share them in comments!

by Kelly

I have a confession to make: sometimes I eat frozen dinners.

I know boxed and frozen food isn’t the best meal choice in the world, but sometimes I just can’t get it together to chop my own vegetables. And frankly, I know I’m not alone. The frozen food aisles aren’t stocked with options beyond options just for little ol’ me.

A few months back, in my ongoing quest to find a healthy frozen meal, I purchased a few boxes of Kashi brand dinners.

The brand promotes itself as a health-conscious alternative and since I’m a fan of Kashi cereal (I love Kashi Honey Sunshine cereal so much that I don’t allow myself to buy it anymore), I decided to give the frozen entrees a try.

Imagine my surprise when I got them home and noticed that not one, but all three, had a haiku printed on the box!

There on the side, next to the UPC code is a haiku that reads:

Seven whole grain meals

Awaken all my senses

Warm and delightful

The haiku is the same on every box whether I’m eating Pesto Pasta Primavera or Sweet & Sour Chicken (neither of which I like as much as the Honey Sunshine cereal). Included next to the haiku is an explanation as to why it is there:

“Haiku are expressions of complex ideas distilled into simple words. They serve as metaphors for the richly complex flavors crafted from Kashi’s honest ingredients.”

While that is nicely said and all, it doesn’t answer my questions, which are — Which Kashi employee came up with the idea to stick a haiku on the side of the box? And why?

Is there a lover of haiku lurking in the Kashi marketing department? Or in the packaging department perhaps?

Or maybe it’s the CEO of Kashi him (or her) self!

And how much convincing of the marketing/packaging/upper management staff did it take to make sure that the haiku ended up there?

And why isn’t the Kashi haiku printed on Kashi cereal boxes? Why do Kashi frozen dinners get haiku when Kashi granola bars don’t?

These are burning questions, people!

I wonder whether or not an email submitted to the Kashi “contact us” page outlining all of my haiku inquiries would be answered . . .