By ALICIA WOODWARD, guest columnist
Inspired by a recent spring day filled with happy moments, I penned this haiku:
April drive with Mom
Yellow forsythia blooms
All roads lead back home
You probably tried your hand at writing haiku poetry in a classroom long ago. In honor of National Poetry Month, could I entice you to explore your creativity and try it again?
To refresh your memory, a haiku (pronounced hi-koo) is a form of Japanese poetry. Traditionally, a haiku is about nature and has just three short lines that don’t rhyme. The first and third lines have five syllables, and the second line has seven syllables. Do you remember tapping your pencil on the desk to count syllables?
Haiku poetry can be traced back to 9th century Japan and was a way of celebrating the natural world. Matsuo Basho wrote this oft translated haiku in the 1600s:
An old silent pond
A frog jumps in the water
Splash! Silence again
I always looked forward to teaching a unit on haiku poetry. Even the most reluctant students enjoyed it, especially when I brought out the cardboard box of individual watercolor sets and urged them to illustrate their poems. Their work made the most beautiful spring bulletin boards!
Knowing my love for poetry, my husband often writes me poems. He casually leaves them for me to find on Post-it notes and torn sheets of notebook paper. They are written in the same distinctive handwriting that made my heart skip a beat when he passed me a note in high school.
A quiet rebel, he usually breaks the rules of haiku poetry, so we call his poems Mikus. Just like Mike, they are always sweet, often funny, and sometimes romantic like this favorite:
Wooden rocking chairs
Sitting on the porch with you
Forever and ever
National Poetry Month is a perfect time to be creative. Go outside or look out the window and find something in nature to write about.
Follow the rules, or don’t. Artistic rules are made to be broken.
For extra credit, get out some colored pencils, crayons or watercolors and make a picture to go along with your poem.
If you’re feeling brave, share your haiku with someone. I know from experience your poem will spark creativity in others and invite them to look at the world in a more beautiful, artistic way.
Alicia Woodward and her husband are empty-nesters who live on Sweetwater Lake in Brown County. She taught middle school literature and language arts for more than 25 years and writes a weekly blog, The Simple Swan, inspired by the wisdom, beauty and simplicity of nature. Subscribe at thesimpleswan.com. She can be reached at [email protected].
