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:

A green leaf withers             

Gobbled in mindless frenzy

Soon, a butterfly

Bumpy wrinkled thing

Some say you have no beauty

But your song is strong

You have gone away

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