Say It With Seventeen…haiku inspiration

                                                                          (April Iris, Author’s Back Garden)

As a writer, I find it useful to explore all types of literary expression. Writing poetry is an excellent exercise in making every word count. And the traditional Japanese poetic form—haiku—significantly reduces the amount of real estate on the page and demands creativity within clearly stated rules:

—No rhymes.

—Total of seventeen syllables.

—Three lines constructed with:

    -First line—five syllables.

    -Second line—seven syllables.

    -Third line—five syllables.

Originally, haiku verses invoked seasons of the year.

So—inspired by my birth month of April, which happens to be National Poetry Month, I took the haiku challenge of celebrating Spring and wrote five poems in seventeen-syllable bites. Each little poem is to be read as a self-contained, stand alone entity and not meant to be read as part of a whole. In accordance with tradition, the poems are not titled.

(“Yellow Moth” – courtesy of Pixabay.com)

 April inhales Spring—

soft rain, pink mist, warm sunlight—

and exhales flowers.

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Sun-butter moth wings,

spring-dancing with new flowers—

pollen flies, blooms blush.

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Sweet April sings out

my new trip around the sun,

kind month of my birth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Old, gnarled, twisted tree,

flushed with spring rain and sunlight,

gives birth, yet again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I dip my brushes

into pots of spring starlight—

the full moon poses.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(Sleepy Daisy with Irises, Author’s Back Garden)

Thanks for stopping by. Y’all come back, now!

Wishing you a Spring in your step,

Kathryn

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