Ah, haiga. If I were to envy an artist it would be the haiga poet…. (continue and revise + add picture)

Teacher, friend, lover, writer, poet, and photography nut are all words that accurately describe me. I live in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia (with my six zebra finches) and spend most of my waking hours thinking about nature and haiku. I am one of those poets who finds it difficult to separate the two things. I have volunteered my photography skills to organizations like the Sierra Club of Georgia and the Atlanta Audubon Society.

For the past thirteen years, I have taught elementary students and moved into teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) about three years ago. In my spare time, I ride the lovely byways and highways of Georgia looking for my next photo opportunity.

For haiku poets, images are created from experiences which translate into words. For me, I document those images and experiences through digital photography and use them as my source of inspiration. I have found that as I move deeper into my fabulous forties, my memory simply isn’t as good as it used to be. Also, I am able to share the images with my students and motivate them to learn more about nature and to write haiku.

As a teacher, friend, lover, writer, poet, photography nut, I hope to inspire a generation of children to love and to appreciate haiku and nature as much as I do.

by Alison

Yes, I am one of those - I am Hello Kitty obsessed. But how can I not be? And who cares if I’m pushing 40? Life is good in Hello Kitty Land.

So of course I greatly enjoyed reading Hello Kitty Through the Seasons, a lovely book of haiku written in the voice of Hello Kitty herself.

Each candy-coated haiku is paired with an equally sweet photo of Hello Kitty in various seasonal settings. The book is a sort of Hello Kitty haiku diary taking us through spring, summer, fall and winter.

One of my favorite photograph-haiku combos takes place in fall and pictures Hello Kitty in her lovely and bright art studio with pallet in hand:

In my chilly loft,

the flowers reassure me:

spring will come again.

So artsy and romantic,  I swear I want to start painting again. See what Hello Kitty can inspire?

And this winter wonderland haiku features Hello Kitty dressed in a pink pom-pomed snowsuit sitting in a snowy field of lollipops:

Storm of white sugar -

a wintery confection,

I sit happily

As my first New Hampshire winter is fast approaching, I can only hope that I too will look upon it as a season of powdery white sugar yummy confections.

by Kelly

Ahhhh. What can I say? I’m soooo not a Hello Kitty fanatic. Not that I have anything against her cute little face. I just don’t get the allure of all the Hello Kitty paraphernalia out there.

And I had no idea Alison was such a fan of said paraphernalia. I knew our year of haiku would bring us closer together, but I must admit, I had no idea it would lead to me reading Hello Kitty haiku. Yet it did.

While Alison was busy checking out the photo-haiku combos of Hello Kitty Through the Seasons, I was reading Hello Kitty Everywhere!

Just like the first book in the series, this book features Hello Kitty all dolled up and looking cute on every page along with a coordinating haiku.

Hello Kitty shows up where you least expect her, like at the sidelines of a football game, rock climbing on a high cliff or dressed as a giraffe while watching a real giraffe at the zoo.

Perhaps my favorite photo in the book shows Hello Kitty all dressed up in a kimono. She’s got flowers in her hair, a fan in her hands and those geshia-girl flip-flop clogs on her feet. She’s pictured looking over a koi pond and the multitude of jeweled fish echo the colors of her dress.

The coordinating haiku reads:

Entranced by the koi,

I did not hear you approach –

Won’t you walk with me?

With that invitation fresh in my mind, I decided to open my eyes to Hello Kitty, and you know what … she is everywhere, just as the title of this book suggests.

Since reading this book, I’ve noticed Hello Kitty lurking about in many of the places I go in my usual life. For example, here is a Hello Kitty haiku I wrote after she popped up in one of my shopping trips:

Mexican deli–

gummy Hello Kitty waits

in the candy aisle

Each moment you live

Could be revelatory

So pay attention

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..Did you know that Sarah Bloom has a photography website? It’s true. Check out more of her work at Sad and Beautiful World.

Break free of the crowd

Fly in your own direction

Embrace your cliché

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..Did you know that Sarah Bloom has a photography website? It’s true. Check out more of her work at Sad and Beautiful World.

Our days of wine and

Roses are long gone honey

Pass me the coffee

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..Did you know that Sarah Bloom has a photography website? It’s true. Check out more of her work at Sad and Beautiful World.

My heart is un-caged

Yours forever unchanged

Forgiveness freed me

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..Did you know that Sarah Bloom has a photography website? It’s true. Check out more of her work at Sad and Beautiful World.

A single moment

Stretches out in front of you

Remember to breathe

…

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..Did you know that Sarah Bloom has a photography website? It’s true. Check out more of her work at Sad and Beautiful World.

This week, Haiku By Two is thrilled to be presenting the haiga of Sarah Bloom. Sarah is a professional photographer who lives in the Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania and her haiga will appear on this page for the next five days. Check out more of her work at her website  Sad and Beautiful World.

What is haiga, you ask? I have recently learned that haiga is the marriage of a haiku and an image. Traditionally, this would be a watercolor painting and a calligraphy haiku although today’s haiga are much more varied. But whatever the medium or approach, the image and the haiku work together for a complete affect.

Let’s welcome Sarah as she describes her approach to haiku, photography and haiga:

I have written poetry since I was a child and for a while in my twenties, was actively submitting and reading throughout the city of Philadelphia. I’ve dabbled in haiku off and on, and even spent a whole day on Twitter once using only haiku! I love the simplicity of its form and the way it forces me to condense my overabundance of description into something quiet and calm. I tend to ramble, so restrictions are good for me.

I have begun to look at my photographs in a similar way, to stop trying to force too much meaning into them but rather, let the meaning emerge. I’m drawn to lines and shadows lately.

For this exercise I decided to pick 5 images of mine that already felt like haiku to me, and create the poem as an extension of the image.

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