Renee Tulippe at No Water River has this week’s round up!
Months ago Diane Mayr graciously guided my reading for learning more about haiku. I’ve been sipping at The Haiku Anthology before bed, rather like a cup of hot tea. It’s comforting to read timeless observations of the natural world when everything in 2014 seems in turmoil.
The other night I was nearing the end of the book. I grabbed a notebook and pen, opened the anthology, and copied down a first line — randomly selected. Then I jotted down two more lines. I quickly churned out several haiku drafts, then moved on to longer poems. It was the perfect way to warm up my writing muscles.
In the dim recesses of my memory, I *think* I remember hearing Ron Koertge speak at an SCBWI event, and I think he recommended writing haiku for just this purpose. He also talked about writing haiku in the classroom as a group exercise to warm up for in-class writing assignments.
If you don’t own The Haiku Anthology, I highly recommend it. Here are some of the first lines I used, just in case you want to have some haiku fun.
freshly fallen snow
spring rain
a bitter morning
heat of the day
long winter night
morning surf
summer afternoon
the silence
***
Here are a couple of my drafts:
summer afternoon only the cicadas have energy heat of the day cannot penetrate the old adobe
I haven’t got that particular haiku anthology yet (it’s on my list). I like your method of using the first line from the haiku to jump-start a haiku of your own. My own method is to copy a haiku from a book into my composition book, and to use the original poem as a model.
I think your method works well for all kinds of poems, including haiku!
I’ll have to look for this anthology, Keri!
I think you’ll love it, Jama! The size is very satisfying to hold in your hand.
Two admirable haiku, Keri! I’m glad you like the anthology. If I could only recommend one haiku book, it would be that one.
Ah, high praise from my haiku mentor! thanks, Diane! I’ve loved the book and I’m so glad you encouraged me to get it. Now I can turn my attention to some of the other titles I picked up from your list!
If Diane recommends it that highly, then into my shopping cart it will go!
PS — great idea for getting your poem-brain going. Obviously, it worked for you!
Oh I’m putting this book on my list. Thank you for sharing it. And I love your first haiku. Made me giggle.
You will love it, I think! Giggling is good! I love to laugh!
Well done, Keri! I especially like Summer Afternoon. So here’s some extra motivation for you: how about being my guest in the Haiku Garden on October 10th? All I would need is a haiku from you (any subject) by Monday morning, 10/6. Drop me an email at Michelle (at) MichelleHBarnes (dot) com to let me know if you’re interested.