You aren’t the only one! I have to admit I have just learned that today, April 17, is National Haiku Day. I can’t let it slip past without posting some of my favorite musings in this classical Asian literary form. It’s only natural that I would favor haiku poetry since it’s a written reflection of the moments I’m always capturing with my camera. Haiku are excellent practice for children’s authors. They contain only the most evocative images in words clear as glass. Like children’s picture books which are anything but simple in conception or creation if they are to be fresh and memorable, haiku are flashes of realization. They should be lightbulbs of recognition and identification, or provide new ways of seeing. It’s scary to write one because of the danger of falling short of the ancient masters. Still, writers seek to join the tradition because of the zen which haiku creation brings. Here are some of mine which follow the three-line, five-seven-five syllable structure:
Gobbled in mindless frenzy
Soon, a butterfly
Bumpy wrinkled thing
Some say you have no beauty
But your song is strong
I watch a small wren working
and find great comfort
Full skirts shield shy eyes
like fish among pond lilies
Youth and spring repeat
Cold and mist unite
trailing veils of winter white
snow is rain’s soft bride
Small bird sends his thoughts
speaking worlds in two bright eyes
before the singing