Haiku By Two welcomes a new guest haiku’er:
Eileen Beha.

Beha is the author of a newly released middle grade novel called Tango.

It’s the story of a pampered Yorkie from NYC, who is named Tango. Tango gets separated from his owner during a vacation on Prince Edward Island, and the book follows this scrappy little dog as he tries to find his way back home.

Over the next five days, however, Beha will ditch doggie tales for garden tales. Her haiku all depict scenes from her own backyard.

About the haiku writing process, Beha had this to say:

Although I write poetry, “My Backyard Haiku” are the first haiku I’ve ever written.

At first, I struggled mightily because I didn’t understand the conventions of the haiku form; I thought of haiku as being a poem with less words.

Once I learned that “awareness in the moment” was critical, and, that this “Aha” moment often occurs in the natural world, I threw away all the words I’d been arranging and rearranging into 17 syllables and went out to my backyard.

Over a period of a week or two, I forced myself to describe what I was seeing. Then I stilled myself, trying to be open to any kind of feeling or insights that my brief experience invoked.

Arranging and rearranging words into 17 syllables in a 5 - 7 - 5 pattern was still challenging, but at least I had a subject — a single glimpse of meaning that I was attempting to communicate.

I now realize not only how difficult writing haiku is, but also how practicing this miniature art form could enhance my writing of literature for children.