Happy Poetry Month! Haiku Musings from Kathy Halsey

 

Haiku helps me see

  through this world into others

  unknown until now

Why Haiku? Why not? Haiku rescued me when I was told by an editor that I didn't tell stories, I wrote stage directions.

 FULL. STOP. I stopped writing for a few months. I sat on the back porch that I'm on right now, looking at clematis and told myself, "You can write haiku." After all, it's just three lines, 17 syllables, and a small contained easy package. However, as I delve into the craft of haiku and started to understand the Japanese version, read more, and participate in podcasts like Poetry Pea, I know what looks simple is much more complex. Haiku is what is said, but even more what is not said. The writer and reader engage in making new meaning through the space haiku opens in us.

That was three years ago. I'm sitting on my porch now instead of cleaning, washing clothes or getting ready for company. Why? Because poetry makes me stop  ordinary life and just be. And when I'm using my senses to just see what's around me, I relax and I open  myself up to new possibilities.

Haiku makes me anticipate the spark nature brings every week. Knowing I'll  write haiku every Saturday, I hunt for moments during the week that bring me solace, peace, and take me to other worlds. With my haiku practice, I meet new people and have been published in poetry journals.  In fact, my first book, Be A Rainbow by KiwiCo Press came from a poem that was an extended metaphor. Haiku taught me that.

All poetry makes us pause, linger, see life magnified in all its beauty and complexities. It allows us to wonder and wander, compose images and create art through words. Poetry allows us to play with words, create new words, compose word songs that can be sung with rhyme, rhythm, beat, and a healthy mix of risk-taking and pleasing oneself first. 

Read and write some haiku or poetry every day or join us at #HaikuSautrday w/host Susan Morhar Andrews, @AndrewsSusanM on X and Bluesky. It's our little sunshine spot on X that sheds light and resistance through our ability to connect and create better worlds.

Here's an image that I took in Lansing, Michigan when Bob and I hiked on a dreary day and found this beautiful park tucked away. Be with this image. Create your own poetry. Please share your haiku or any other poetry in the comments. Happy Haiku and Poetry month to you!