by Alison

bright moon

makes the woods seem

so familiar

Okay, so Kelly has convinced me. I am taking on the NaHaiWriMo challenge, too! And I’ve decided to add my own resolution along with it. For some time I’ve been interested in experimenting with the short form of haiku, also called “Modern Haiku” by some. I did some experimentation this past year but often return to 5-7-5 without truly getting comfortable with the shorter form. So that is my goal for this month - to experiment with short haiku, in various ways. Perhaps some of my short haiku will not have a break, such as the one that I wrote above. Or perhaps some of my short haiku will not even have three lines or a nature reference. But I’m hoping to get back into the spirit of haiku, which to me is an incredible connection with and awareness of a moment. So here we go! Kelly and I, back to haiku with NaHaiWriMo!

by Kelly

I notice the moon,

evening clouds, the sound of wind

but don’t pen haiku

Lately, I’ve been having a hard time keeping up with my haiku duties. My attempt to earn a few extra bucks this fall by taking on extra hours at work has backfired on me by sucking up any energy I might have had to dabble in the creative arts.

But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been thinking about haiku. I think about haiku all the time. I’m always on the lookout for haiku moments. And I find them. Often, in fact. If only I could find the time to write them all down. I know it shouldn’t be that hard. After all, a haiku is only three little lines. But inspiration has been in short supply these days.

Instead of writing haiku, I keep picking up and rereading a poem I came across a few months ago. It was written by Mary Oliver, and it strikes me as very haiku-like. The last two lines of the poem will probably be familiar as they are often quoted. But those last two lines aren’t where I see the haiku. I see the haiku in the attention paid to the grasshopper. Do you?

The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?

Who made the swan, and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper, I mean –

the one who has flung herself out of the grass,

the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,

who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down –

who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.

Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.

Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down

into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,

how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

by Kelly

one decade ago

airplanes crashed, buildings toppled

tonight, a full moon

by Kelly

cancer moon rising —

meanwhile a man and woman

grill dinner for two

by Alison

wedge of a moon

brightens the remaining snow -

possibilities

by Kelly

like rows of shark teeth

icicles glint in moon light —

I swallow back tears

by Alison

full winter moon

shines through my dark curtains -

Does she care for me?

by Alison

bright moon overlooks

the deep dark forest beyond -

we struggle for words

by Kelly

there’s so much to say

but I don’t how to start —

white Capricorn moon

by Alison

Why am I not there?

I think as I watch the clouds

roll over the moon.