The One Haiku Nino Will Understand

Food! Treat! Potty? Ride!

Grandma? Bed. Sit. Down. Jump!

Good boy. Good dog. Goooooood.

Read all of Stephanie Watson’s haiku.
Did you know that Stephanie Watson is a published author? It’s true!
Check out her author web site.

Sunday Noon

Church bells clang. Dog asks

with tilted head—What is it?

Why are they singing?

Read all of Stephanie Watson’s haiku.
Did you know that Stephanie Watson is a published author? It’s true!
Check out her author web site.

The Nose

It leads us to trees

Reads outdoor smells like novels

Knows who, what and why.

Read all of Stephanie Watson’s haiku.
Did you know that Stephanie Watson is a published author? It’s true!
Check out her author web site.

Forgiveness

Wilted ears tattle.

I did it again, they say.

Do you still love me?

Read all of Stephanie Watson’s haiku.
Did you know that Stephanie Watson is a published author? It’s true!
Check out her author web site.

Caught

Dog darts out the door

Bolts for gaping backyard gate

Escape! Escape! Es—

Read all of Stephanie Watson’s haiku.
Did you know that Stephanie Watson is a published author? It’s true!
Check out her author web site.

Here to help us kick off National Poetry Month is Stephanie Watson, author of Elvis & Olive, a middle-grade novel.

It’s a story about two girls who spend a summer spying on their neighbors, discovering secrets, eating junk food and getting in trouble. Sounds like good fun if you ask me.

She also wrote Life is Life, a story about a very sad frog named Angelo. Angelo lives in a cereal box and spends his time trying to compose the perfect love song to honor his dead wife.

The story can only be found online and it is altogether so cute, creative and touching that everyone simply, simply, simply must check it out!

Right now, Stephanie is supposed to be working on the sequel to Elvis & Olive. Some days, though, the novel-going gets tough.

That’s when she turns to haiku, and this is why:

Writing haiku and reading haiku is very nourishing and necessary to my work.

It’s a good, swift teeth-brushing after eating the Dagwood Bumstead multilayer sandwich that is novel writing.

I wrote these five haiku in homage to my dog Nino, a Yorkie who turned five this year.

I didn’t get him a birthday present, and I didn’t make him a cake from lunchmeat and wet dog food like I did when he turned one. No party hats, no photos.

So in belated celebration, I offer him these humble poems, which are quite as small as he is.

Stephanie’s haiku tribute to Nino will appear for the next five days.