Encouraging other people to write is part of what I do. Lately, I’ve enjoyed talking about poems. Sometimes I say writing haiku is fishing, just like any creative practice, you sit and watch and wait. Once you feel the tug, there’s a dropping down and listening. Lure, line and movement (your body, pen and paper) bring the moment out of a beautiful murkiness where we can’t live (think water) and make it form. If you sit and really feel what’s around you long enough, you’ll make a poem.
And I also think haiku is a lot like photography. With the practice above, a snapshot materializes, and, due to the brevity of the form, it’s almost like a still image. Within the structure, which is bound by pretty strict limits without photoshop, a moment in time can develop. Try it! Happy New Year and Happy Writing.
At midnight, her hugs
tattooed glitter on our arms
the year gone, sparkling.
12.31.2015
A haiku unfurls
like Polaroid unveiling
–one chosen moment.
1.1.2016
Delicate tassels
of birch bark lift, then fall, in
a blessing of sky.
1.2.2016