INTERNATIONAL HAIKU DAY and POETRY FRIDAY
International Haiku Day on April 17 is a great opportunity to dust off haiku skills. Our backyard forsythia inspired me. We have never had the good fortune to witness this New England harbinger of spring in our yard until this year in a new home.
A bit of process here - notebook, pencil, phone camera were my tools. Next, close observation, appreciation, brainstorming. Blossoms, bloom, yellow, lemon, burst, thicket, hope filled my list and crafting began. I don't feel constricted by the 5-7-5 syllable "rule", because English words tend to be longer than Japanese, and I feel a shorter syllable count is more true to the nature of the haiku form.
"Yellow thicket became lemon thicket, and you can see where this is going... "Lemony Snicket" popped into my brain, and the rest fell into place. "A Series of Unfortunate Events" is a polite way of describing the times we're living through, and probably best for a poem. I have found it difficult to maintain the optimism with which others often characterize me. Hope is sometimes buried, but the re-appearance of spring encourages me.
hope blossoms
midst unfortunate events -
lemony thicket
I was pleased to have some haiku accepted by Moonstone Arts for their April 17 celebration. It's my first experience with them, and I like their philosophy and mission.
I've been away for a long time. It's wonderful to know that Poetry Friday celebrations are as robust as ever. Thanks to Heidi over at My Juicy Little Universe for rounding up the poetry community and posting a video on teaching poetry!
Hi, Joyce. It is good to see you at Poetry Friday this week. I enjoyed your post and the forsythia poem with the clever ending. If you are interested, I am creating a new spring gallery of artistic expressions. The invitation is at my post that is next to your icon at Heidi's blogpost.-Carol Varsalona
ReplyDeleteHi Carol. Thank you for your invitation. I will submit the haiku!
DeleteThank you. That is great.
DeleteWelcome back, Joyce! Love your "lemony thicket!"
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mary Lee. It must have been a lemon kind of day!
DeleteThank you for your clever haiku, Joyce. We are indeed living "midst unfortunate events."
ReplyDeleteI agree, Rose! Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteJoyce! In so few words you have captured the dire circumstances, the antidote of spring, and the only way to stay afloat--upon a lemony thicket of humor! Most enjoyable, and thank you.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Heidi. I can count on my literary peeps to appreciate the humor!
DeleteI love that you shared your process and just wanted to say that the connections you made/created shone through brilliantly. I caught it all on the first reading — Snicket/thicket, unfortunate events — love that!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Karen. Thanks for visiting!
DeleteForsythia--one of my mom's favorite hedges (she also adored lilacs). Your haiku is great; I like the first line. But I really enjoyed reading your process, especially how you moved from "yellow" to "lemon" to "lemony."
ReplyDeleteAlice, my mom loved lilacs, too! Every May I have to put lilacs in her vase. Thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteJoyce, it's nice to see you back. I don't know if I've had a chance to meet you yet. I'm a little newer to Poetry Friday. Thank you for going to my blog this weekend. I've had a very busy week traveling and being with my grandson, so I'm just getting around to the posts this week. I did see what you did there with the unfortunate events we are living through, and yet the lemony thicket of hope blossoming is evident at your new house. Spring is a great time to be reminded that there is hope. Thank you for this gem. Happy Haiku Day! I appreciate the way you explained why you don't feel the need to count syllables--it made sense in a way that it hasn't to me before.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting, Denise. I can't remember where I picked up the info about syllable count, but the Haiku Society of America says this on their site: "(Some translators of Japanese poetry have noted that about twelve syllables in English approximates the duration of seventeen Japanese on.)" https://www.hsa-haiku.org/hsa-definitions.html
ReplyDeleteI strive for lines that are short, long, short and have fun!