Our group project this month was a form — The Skinny Poem — and it’s a good thing, too. In these days of open-endedness, it can really help to have a puzzle to solve, a container to fill, a model to follow.

Yes, even when being creative.

As some of you know, I’ve been writing a haiku every day this month, in honor of National Poetry Month. It’s an annual affair for me, but wow did I cling to it like a life raft this year. This daily assignment that gave me both room to breathe and rules to follow.

So, speaking of rules, here’s the scoop on The Skinny Poem:
Eleven lines long.
The first and last line use the same words, although they may be re-arranged.
Every other line is made up of single words only, with repeating words on lines 2, 6 and 10.

I know. Math. Nevermind all that for now. For me what is funny (after all this talk of liking plans) is that all of my poems are but the push-pull of going by the book vs. going by the gut… of openness vs. answers… of leadership vs. resistance. (No surprise there, but sill. Funny.) Anyway, here are a few Skinny Poems, and then links to more below.

A Skinny Question
Liz Garton Scanlon

Which is greater, knowledge or
curiosity
(doesn’t
kill
cats)
curiosity
opens
windowed
hearts
curiosity
which is knowledge, or greater

A Skinny Equation
Liz Garton Scanlon

You want to think
answers
all
add
up
answers
can
be
proven
answers
you want to think

A Skinny Map
Liz Garton Scanlon

Maps followed or
ignored
like
horoscopes
exalted
ignored
like
leaders
revered
ignored
or followed, maps.

Here are…
Tricia’s
Andi’s
Tanita’s
Sara’s
Kelly’s
Laura’s
Rebecca’s

And sooo much more poetry at Poetry Friday, here!

Stay safe and well, friends….

The fun continues at our house, in spite of everything…

Haiku 23
April 23

It’s all love and fur
or, if you misunderstand,
a dog eat dog world.

Haiku 22
April 22

The quarantine is:
Willa made loquat chutney
but she hates loquats

#nationalpoetrymonth #30daysofhaiku #lizsharespoems

Haiku 21
April 21

See this backyard duel?
We’re birds aiming for gladness
and our throws are true.

I know it feels important to lots of folks to be marking time right now. I get it, I do. There’s an archivist’s desire to make note of what we’re experiencing, and a baffled survivor’s need to double check that this is really real. (Also, for some of us, it’s just a way of keeping track of what day it is.)

Me? I’d rather not. Every time I telescope out and look at the past (remember 17 years ago when it was January?) or the future (aaaand now July’s cancelled), I get sadder and more overwhelmed. Call it denial (I mean, that’s fair), but I’m only staying very foggily connected to the calendar.

Thus, this:

Haiku 20
April 20

I don’t count the days
stacking up like river stones.
Today is today.

I’ve been walking and running a lot lately.
I always did — I always needed both the fresh air and movement — but this is different.
Is desperate the word? I dunno, but here’s what I do know.
Every time, at every turn, there’s some little miracle…

Someone playing music in their yard. Someone hanging trivia questions from their tree. Someone walking their dog in the a dinosaur costume. (And I mean the human in the costume, not the dog.)

Anyway, today it was this: A man in his kayak on the nearly empty lake sending big loopy bubbles out into the misty morning. Just for kicks. Just for us…

Haiku 19
April 19

“What’s with the bubbles?”
someone shouts from a distance.
Iridescent hope!

Haiku 18
April 18

It’s an illusion
No matter the circumstance
We are not alone

#nationalpoetrymonth #30daysofhaiku #lizsharespoems

Everywhere you go these days, things are different.

Haiku 17
April 17

Water clear and cold
Rope swing hangs at the ready
Only the dog swims

Come on, computer. Are you kidding me?

Hey! Spinning beachball!
This is not the time or place.
Take it outside!

I’m pretty sure it was Franklin who said that thing about death and taxes and yet, here we are, floating in uncertainty, this marked day on the calendar suddenly no different than any other.

Haiku 15
April 15

It’s April fifteenth
Receipts sit stacked on the desk
Taxes AREN’T certain!