I’ve been writing haiku for close to ten years now and managed to publish a book of them in 2018. Admittedly though, some (most) of the early ones weren’t that good. I like to think I’ve gotten better at it but how do you judge your own work? I do that by comparing what I do to the work of other writers whose haiku I … Continue reading Just Write!
monarch the beauty of a sunset with wings prayer may the poor be rich in spirit garden grace uplifting spirit within and without Continue reading Friday haiku
floating peacefully the coolness in the breezes hints at winter chapel on the lake whispers of ancient lives my past emerges bank of the river a stone to throw across and a wish to make Continue reading
taking a path an unknown destination cleansing the soul ————————————————————————————————– daylight returns after the darkest night lit by stars ————————————————————————————————– reaching for darkness to sooth the pain light returns ————————————————————————————————– joy is found in the simplest things rejoice ————————————————————————————————– joy in haiku a simple answer to hardship Continue reading Haiku
Here are some haiku from my book, “A Mosaic of Color and Light”. she touches his hand over coffee and tears saying goodbye ———————————————————————————————- an old house holding memories and dust a mouse stirs ————————————————————————————————– lightning forks blue white in a treacherous storm sky thunder rolls aloft ———————————————————————————————— a thousand stars light the mountain path after the sun ————————————————————————————————– insects buzz a cacophony of sound … Continue reading Haiku
sunset closing the window blind at the same time The best way to get better at writing haiku is to keep writing them. Even if they don’t turn out so great, keep doing it. I also recommend reading “How to” books. There are a lot of them out there, and I would say, read as many as you can afford to buy. There is some … Continue reading Reading and Writing
For years, my friend Bill had a bumper sticker that read, “Kill Your Television”, so I’m sure this haiku will interest him. It’s by Joseph Massy: television light lies on the American lawn Haiku has been used for social commentary in the U.S. for a long time. People like Langston Hughes, e.e. cummings, Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, and Jack Kerouac have all written haiku. Here’s … Continue reading Social Significance
hazy yellow sun in a forest fire sky giving no quarter This haiku is an example of one that contains a fragment and a phrase. Because haiku do not contain full sentences, the parts are labeled, fragment and phrase. “giving no quarter” is a fragment of a sentence. It’s as if there were a longer sentence and part of it was removed and used elsewhere. … Continue reading No Quarter
Last night after dinner, I sat outside in a lawn chair and wrote four haiku. All I did was sit in the chair and observe. Once you train your mind to block out unwanted thoughts (try Buddhist meditation) you can observe the world around you much more clearly. As I sat, a Blue Eyed Darner came along and investigated me. I wrote: curious blue eyed … Continue reading Evening Breeze
full moon slowly sets into my tea cup Sometimes odd ideas come to mind for an interesting haiku, like the one above. Someone may ask, “What does it mean?” The nice thing about writing poetry, (one of the many) is that you can leave the interpretation of your work up to the reader. As a reader, I like it left to me to decide what … Continue reading Full Moon
When you write a haiku, word it so what you felt when you experienced it comes through clearly, even if you don’t describe the feelings. The reader needs to know how it felt, what emotions were stirred. winter stars reaching to grasp a handful so far away Looking into the clear night sky is awe inspiring and can be felt even when someone else is … Continue reading Feeling
Where does haiku inspiration come from? That’s a good question. When I began writing haiku, I began by reading a lot of it. Basho, Buson, and other celebrated writers, and amateur writers as well. My haiku inspiration comes from life. Just simply, everyday life. Things I see, things I do, things that happen to me. Take for instance, these two that I wrote recently: warmth … Continue reading haiku inspiration
Sometimes I do certain things with as few outside distractions as I can manage just to get immersed in the experience and enjoy it as much as I can. This morning I sat at my kitchen table and ate some trail mix. Just that, just eat trail mix. The trail mix that I currently have has almonds in it and I’ve never really enjoyed them. … Continue reading Distractions
It seems I’ve been here before. This place, where I feel it’s time to make a change, and I’m just not sure which way to go. The other blog ideas that I have tried have not worked so well, have not attracted many readers, and so, here we are, at a crossroad. Unfortunately, my personal interests are not those of the majority of blog readers. … Continue reading Crossroads
Wind in the Trees, a haiku journal 