To sit silently
in the company of birds
Ambition enough

#LizSharesPoems
#30daysofhaiku
#nationalpoetrymonth

The beginning of April has been decidedly rushed and bumpy for me, friends, so I haven’t been able to be nearly as thoughtful about my haiku making or community building as I usually am. It really matters to me, though, so I’m going to take a few moments here to check in and catch us all up and make sure we’re moving forward from the same poetic page.

1. First, I want to acknowledge that much of our most vital haiku connections these past few years were made via Twitter. It was a beautiful thing. And, I can’t do it over there anymore, folks. I’m truly sorry if that’s a disappointment. I still have an account but I don’t do any active posting or reading and I haven’t for months, so here we are. I do post the poems every day on my blog (and you can subscribe so you don’t need to remember to look), and on Instagram and Facebook. I’m using the same hashtags (#lizsharespoems #30daysofhaiku #nationalpoetrymonth) as I have in the past and I would love to commune with you still. We will figure this out.

2. Haiku is a tiny, beautiful Japanese form that is three lines long. The westernized version counts syllables (5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables) and I tend to use that in my practice (I love constraints) but it’s not mandatory. Traditionally, haiku feature the natural world, refer (overtly or obliquely) to a season, and make a turn in tone, theme, or perspective after the 2nd or 3rd line. Sometimes I’m very attendant to these rules, sometimes I’m far sloppier. Do with them what you may.

3. I have been writing daily haiku every April for 15 years and have used various prompts and parameters to keep me honest. Some years I’ve typed every poem, or written about planets or colors or scientific processes. Some years I’ve used photos to accompany each one. This year I’m keeping things very general, within the broad idea of Things I’m Grateful For.

4. Toward that end, the first seven days of this round were tiny tips of the hat toward:

• 1 – Spring
• 2 – Rain
• 3 – Flowers/Roses
• 4 – My birthday
• 5 – Coffee
• 6 – Friendship
• 7 – The Moon/Eclipse

And, here we are on day 8!
Today I’m feeling grateful for seeds and all their possibilities.

Haiku 8

A glowy halo
like my hair on a hot day
or a far flung wish

#lizsharespoems
#30daysofhaiku
#nationalpoetrymonth

Thanks for sticking with me friends.
See you tomorrow.

I just got home from a beautiful and extraordinary event, hosted by Maria Popova of Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings) fame. It was a night of science and poetry and a little music and a lot of eclipse anticipation and somehow the way it all came together was enough to make a person weep.

It was one of those nights where you realize what a tiny miniscule amount of knowledge you really possess but instead of feeling dumb, you just feel awestruck.

We are in the path of totality tomorrow. We don’t know if it will be too cloudy to see the subtle shifting of the eclipse over time. We don’t know if we’ll be standing in the spring heat or the soaking rain. We don’t know what the birds will do when it grows dark, or the dogs, or the babies. We don’t know anything, really. Isn’t it amazing?

What must the moon think
on the eve of the eclipse
all of us, watching

#lizsharespoems
#30daysofhaiku
#nationalpoetrymonth

“Come out of your shell!”
“I’m just barely hanging on…”
Friends give their friends space

#lizsharespoems
#30daysofhaiku
#nationalpoetrymonth

Beans like beady eyes –
even ground down and worn out
they’re sharp, they mean it

#lizsharespoems
#30daysofhaiku
#nationalpoetrymonth

Broken-footed spouse
brings me love and birthday blooms
all via Door Dash!

Oh, what am I grateful for today? SO MUCH!
These gorgeous tulips… my husband, healing… delivery services… and having lived another year with health and love at hand. Whew… xoxoxo

#lizsharespoems
#30daysofhaiku
#nationalpoetrymonth

A humble stem dons
this floral fascinator:
I blush, swoon, curtsy

#lizsharespoems
#30daysofhaiku
#nationalpoetrymonth

For those of you just catching up with the fact that it’s even April, welcome and wow are you in good company. Blame it on the leap year/time change/eclipse/fool’s day, but who knows what way is even up anymore???

Enter… haiku!

This is my 15th year of writing a haiku everyday in April and there have been a lot of benefits of the practice, but chief among those is the utter presence it offers. Who doesn’t need a nudge to pause, draw in, and pay attention?

This year I’m writing about something grateful for each day. Please join me in doing the same or your own variation, using the hashtags below, so that when May arrives we will really know it! And without further ado, here’s haiku #2, with gratitude for last night’s rain.

Each leaf’s pearly gloss
A glistening confetti
Celebrating life

#lizsharespoems
#30daysofhaiku
#nationalpoetrymonth

It’s that time of year again, friends!

Happy National Poetry Month and more specifically, Happy Haiku-ing! This is my 15th year straight of writing a haiku every day in April and, as always, I invite you to join me for as many of those as you’d like! You might remember that last year’s theme was scientific processes, so my haiku were quite specific — glaciation, reproduction, evaporation. This year I’m staying a little looser and will just be writing, each day, on something I’m grateful for.

Starting, broadly, with spring:

Spring snowstorms give way
to warmth, pollen, pink blossoms
It’s flip flop weather!

#LizSharesPoems
#NationalPoetryMonth
#30daysofhaiku

NOTES:
— More on the specifics of haiku in the next couple of days but suffice it to say that if you’re writing three lines of observation you’re within shouting distance.
— Feel free to use the same hashtags I always use so I can follow you as you write!
— This year I’m sharing on my blog, facebook and instagram

Hello, friends!

This month our challenge was to pen a pantoum and — the only other rule — it had to include or feature an animal. Some of us used some version of this utterly lovely prompt by Pádraig Ó Tuama to get started, some of us used some version of this generator to get organized.

I drafted two — one about an owl (or rather, the absence of an owl — we didn’t get an owl in our box this spring!) and one about our dog who is, in his dotage, increasingly and utterly terrified of thunder. The dog won out this time around. And let’s face it… he usually does.

Busy week here so I’m definitely calling this a work-in-progress still, but here’s where it stands today:

Necessary and Too Much
By Liz Garton Scanlon

Forget the radar, storms bloom like magic
Disembodied over the aquifer
Each spring, these surprises are inevitable
But the dog quakes like bones of an old house

Things can be necessary and too much
Each spring, these surprises are inevitable
No thank you, we want to say but don’t
Forget the radar, storms bloom like magic

For more pantoums, visit:
Sara
Tricia
Tanita
Mary Lee
Kelly
Laura

And, bonus, our very own Tricia at The Miss Rumphius Effect is hosting Poetry Friday!