Hello, friends!
We tried something new-to-us this month: Haiku Sonnets!
Truth be told, they’re nothing like sonnets except for being 14 lines long.
But, ok. How about 4 interconnected haiku with a couplet at the end that can serve as a punctuation point or something?
I played around with two of these, the first one more successful I think, but I’m sharing both anyway, just as a sort of process/brain dump. I’ve spent a lot of time in Wisconsin this summer, and the plants and birds and lack of heat are speaking to me, obviously.
The World at Work: A Haiku Sonnet
Liz Garton Scanlon
Crows shake us awake
Herons swoop in like a storm
Nuthatches keep time
Like grandmother’s hands,
the knottiest roots reach out
saying, what’s the rush?
Unannounced raindrops!
The weather report is wrong
and the day stands still
Warm, ripe tomatoes
Tiniest kernels of corn…
All of it pure luck
There’s something big at work here
I like not being in charge
Katydid Lays an Egg: A Haiku Sonnet
Liz Garton Scanlon
Dressed up like a leaf
Green, and lit from the inside
Certain proof of life!
Immortality?
Ovipositor take aim,
Planting eggs like seeds
So much left to chance
The coming winter weather
Life is delicate
Katydid’s mistake:
Laying eggs in cut flowers
Destined for compost
All the earth’s creatures striving
While we just bumble along
See my pal’s poems here:
Tricia
Tanita
Sara
Mary Lee
Laura
And Poetry Friday is being hosted by Mona Voelkel!
If you’d like to write with us next month, we’ll be using a prompt from Colby Sharp’s Creativity Project! The one we chose was “It was all my fault. Write a poem that uses this idea or these words or anything that this sentence makes you think of.” See you in September!
Liz, I both poems are fabulous: four gems in one with a bow on top! My favorite part: the knottiest roots reach out saying, what’s the rush?
These are lovely, Liz, both of them. But the first one speaks to me more. And that ending resonates with me. It IS lovely not to be in charge sometimes, just letting life and nature take their course and going along for the ride. That first stanza really wakes me up, too!
I think you did the thing with both of them – the thematic throughline of how we’re all sort of flotsam doing the best we can is so, so relatable and I love it.
When I think about it, I kind of do like not being in charge, even though I complain about it from time to time! Thank you for making me stop and think today – I always love your haiku so much.
“All of it pure luck” could be a prompt unto itself, Liz. (As well as a life philosophy.) 🙂
You carry on with the theme and the mood: “we just bumble along.” So true, so true. And so it goes.
Love the ending line in your first haiku sonnet! And the analogy of grandmother’s hands with the knotty roots, works visually so well.
That “dressed up leaf” has something on us, we ought to stop our “bumbling” and take action! Nice building/as your poem moves on, thanks Liz!
That first one is pure summer for me, right down to the unexpected rain. (I’m always saying: but it wasn’t supposed to…as I shake my wet head). And indeed, so nice to simply be part of the world rather than in charge of it.
I like the world at work with all the goings on…grandmother hands, especially. Love the feel of these.
I KNEW you would rock this challenge, because…Queen of Haiku and all. And you did. Both of these are fantastic and destined to be copied out into my notebook for rereading. (and studying)
I just love looking at the world through your wise eyes.
Such conversation in these poems — “What’s the rush?” “All the earth’s creatures striving/While we just bumble along” — sort of what goes on in my head these days!
Thank you, Liz. Both poems speak such truths about life.
Liz, well done. I can see the experiences in Wisconsin in your poems. The growing and that sweet punctuation of the last two lines is perfect–not being in charge of all the growth is such a good thing. This is my favorite stanza:
Warm, ripe tomatoes
Tiniest kernels of corn…
All of it pure luck
I also love the final two lines of the katydid poem. Both poems show the breadth and depth of life. Well done, both of them.