Well, that week flew by like lightning. Sheesh.

The annual Texas Library Association Conference — so much goodness in one place it’s just hard to put it into words.
But I tried! 🙂

Haiku 15
April 15, 2015

Oh, librarians
You love books and I love you
We both love readers

And then it rained….

Haiku 16
April 16, 2015

Each drop leaves traces
of having been real and here
What an impression!

And then everything glowed green….

Haiku 17
April 17, 2015

Blessed be the green
kneeling at a city’s feet
Humble but sacred

And then it was the weekend!

Haiku 18
April 18, 2015

There is something about
pecan trees and mandolins
I’ll sleep well tonight

And then it rained again!

Haiku 19
April 19, 2015

The morning after:
Boughs and branches littering
the rain-swollen creek

And then, a Monday…

Haiku 20
April 20, 2015

A cloud-covered day
All the news is cold and grim
Then, these little suns

And finally, a normal day. A dog walk. Cool breeze. Happiness…

Haiku 21
April 21, 2015

The dog as dervish
spins, whirls, erases real time
This is nirvana

Since the beginning of April, I’ve continued my daily practice of writing haiku, and they’ve made it up onto facebook but I’ve missed posting here. So, without further delay, here are haikus 8-14.

Haiku 8
April 8, 2015

There are other paths —
fruitful, dead-end, better, worse
I’ll walk here for now

Haiku 9
April 9, 2015

Bright whisper of red
A taunt, a dare from the day
Then he flies away

Haiku 10
April 10, 2015

Broken bark, peeled shell
The tenderness underneath
Still whole and standing

Haiku 11
April 11, 2015

Best part of road trip:
Daughter reading Penderwicks
aloud to her mom

Haiku 12
April 12, 2015

Can’t see my way home
Heading straight into the sun
But clouds clear things up

Haiku 13
April 13, 2015

Beach glass sanded smooth
Each cutting edge rounded down
Will we soften too?

Haiku 14
April 14, 2015

Oh, bamboo — you’re back?
Sisyphus got off easy
I chop and you thrive

Some days, on their face, don’t feel especially poetic.
So you just have to look a little harder.

For humor, too.
On those days, days like today, it’s good to look for what’s lovely and what’s funny.
Y’know?

Haiku 7
April 7, 2015

Heard at college fair:
Fifty-four thousand dollars?
As in, REAL dollars?

Everyone I know right now is sneezing.
My daughter actually texted me from the school bus this afternoon to try to describe the magnitude of one of her sneezes.
Really, the whole situation is out of hand.

I love Spring.
And I love live oaks.
But really?

Haiku 6
April 6, 2015

Neon-green pollen?
Don’t be such a show-off, Oak.
We know you’re alive.

Sometimes on the weekends, I barely slide in under the wire to post my haiku.
Not because I don't have time to pause, notice or breathe but because I don't have time to spend at my computer.
Isn't that lovely?

I am a big fan of weekends….
Hope you all had a good one!

Haiku 5
April 5, 2015

Chicken? Egg? Jewel?
So many ways to see things,
to know which came first.

My best birthday present this year is how many of you are joining me in writing a haiku each day!
I've been doing this mostly on my own, every day in April, for seven years.
But it is such a fun and easy and accessible practice to share.

So if you're one of the folks who've been writing along with me — thanks!
And if it's not, feel free to join in starting today!
No better occasion than a birthday to remind ourselves that it's never too late to start anew….

Haiku 4
April 4, 2015

Everything is new —
rose bud, wind, spring rain.
But I'm forty eight?

Having already posted one poem today, I think I'll just post my flirty little haiku without comment or further ado.
Happy Friday, ya'll….

Haiku 3
April 3, 2015

Here's my love letter
dear Iris, for your wild ways
and making me blush

Hello friends….

We briefly interrupt this month's haiku-a-thon to share my Raccontino, which is the form the Poetry Princesses decide to tackle this go-round.
I am starting to think the Poetry Princesses are more like Poetry Ninjas or something because these forms? Are fierce!

The Raccontino is a set of rhymed couplets where the second line of each couplet rhymes and the end of the first line of each couplet can be read vertically to make a statement or story! I know!! The guide I used also suggested using the same number of syllables in each line, so I did that although I don't think that's always part of the game.

Anyway, this process felt very chicken-and-egg to me. Do I make up the vertical story first? Or pick the rhyming words? Or just start writing and hope to high heaven? Who knows exactly how it all puzzled it out, but here's what I came up with. (The vertical poem is bolded):

I ask my skin and breath and heartbeat: How?
If even each spring blossom slips away

Then what to hold and trust, to know and do
that will not rot like wood, collapse, decay

Does the answer on the wind say you
or is that wild wishing, child’s play

I think of everything I’ve come to know
I gasp for breath, tip toes above the fray

The mourning dove and owl echo Who
I reach, I try to meet their songs halfway

And when I do, it’s you I’m singing to
Without answer, promise, sweet cliché

We use up minutes ‘til we both lose count
and look, it’s only time that we betray!

The things that last like birdsong, on and on?
Those things are us, at least another day.

I think you'll love some of Poetry Sisters' pieces:

Sara Lewis Holmes
Tricia Stohr-Hunt
Andi Sibley
Kelly Fineman
Tanita Davis
Laura Purdie Salas

More Poetry Friday poems are here!

And I'll be back later today with my daily haiku.
🙂

Happy April 2nd!
Day two, Haiku!

Here's one of the cool things that's happening: A bunch of folks who aren't me have also set out to write a haiku every day this month, and they're sharing them on my facebook. That's what you guys should do, too! I'd love the company.

OK, today, a few little things about haiku:

The 5-7-5 thing, that we learn in 3rd grade? That's an English/American construct. The poets writing in the original Japanese — Basho and company — wrote very spare poems in three phrases and sometimes counted on (which are sort of like syllables), but not always. Those poems closely resemble ours aesthetically, but I guess what I'm saying is: 5-7-5 is not a rule you have to follow.

That said, I am going to. I like having to work within that structure — it's a fun puzzle. You do with it what you may.

The cooles thing about haiku, though, isn't the syllabics — it's the kiru, or cutting, between one phrase and another. All this means is that in either the 2nd or 3rd line of the poem, there will be a surprise or juxtaposition. I love that even a tiny little wisp of a thing can do and say so much.

So, without further ado, today's poem….

Haiku 2
April 2, 2015

Look who's caught off guard —
dog in the disallowed chair.
Squirrels run unopposed.

Oh, I'm so happy to welcome April to the world.

March behaved like a lion on both ends this year, and I'd like for life to be a little more lamb-like for awhile. No guarantees, of course, but it doesn't hurt that it is National Poetry Month, which means — for me at least — undertaking the practice of writing a haiku each day for the next 30 days.

I've been doing this for quite a lot of Aprils now, and it is the most lovely meditation and you're welcome to join me if you'd like. I'll be posting here, and on Facebook and Twitter, but you can participate in whatever way you'd like — in my comments, on your own blog or facebook, in a journal.

I'll talk a little bit more about haiku over the next few days but for now I'll just say that in my mind, the purpose of this practice is to slow things down a bit, to take a breath and take note of what's going on around us. To devote just one small chunk of time each day to awe, humor, wonder, beauty or surprise.

That's it.
That's all.
Ready? Go….

Haiku 1
April 1, 2015

Sky, are you up high
or in the rocky bottom?
Green clouds, glassy sea