The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    haikus for a friday afternoon ...

    By MrSmith1 on Fri, 08/12/2011 - 5:45pm |

     

    I think I've shared some of my haikus here before.  I've recently started working with a photographer I know to put some images and haikus together for a book proposal.  

    I used to write haikus just as a warm-up exercise for my other writing, now I write at least a couple of haikus a day just to post on twitter and facebook for my friends and my own  amusement.  Almost all of these haikus were all written in the last week or two.

     

     
    haiku: "walking through the woods,
    I find a weathered birdhouse,
    nailed onto a tree."
     
    haiku: "If you've loved and lost,
    You know hearts will never heal,
    'til they love again."
     
    haiku: "Lock the cellar door!
    There's a MONSTER lurking there!
    (My sister says so.)
     
    haiku: "the arc of each life,
    pierces many hearts, which sews
    tapestries of hope."
     
    haiku: "he expects to learn,
    through obtuse introspection ...
    (it will take a while.)"
     
    haiku: "When you withhold love,
    Your link to all souls withers,
    And your life force dims."
     
    haiku: "Winking at strangers,
    With whom you come face-to-face,
    Might just make their day."
     
    haiku: You think you've won, BUT ...
    Like the phoenix from ashes,
    I shall rise again!"
     
    haiku: "Saw a sign today,
    That said 'Stand Up MRIs'
    Comedy x-rays?"
     
    haiku: "Where-ever you go,
    You'll never find a light that,
    Shines as bright as home."
     
    haiku: "Whispering biddies,
    Sitting in their parlour chairs,
    Can, sometimes be right."

     

    haiku: "What, she asked, is Hope?
    Hope's the thing that blossoms,
    From seeds of despair."
     
    tanka haiku: "Yes, you know my heart,
    For we are kindred spirits,
    Walking the same path.
      But stay wary, my friend, for
      Paths, like lover's hearts, may turn."
     
    haiku: "Where do you get off,
    I mean seriously, where?
    The corner okay?"
     
    haiku: "So, the years went by,
    He didn't feel old, but then
    He lived in the past."
     
    haiku: "She laughed wickedly.
    Such a chill went up his spine,
    that he sneezed ice cubes
     
    haiku: Yesterday, I saw
    A man with an umbrella,
    Jogging through the park."
     
    tanka haiku: "Will you take my hand?
    Will you walk with me awhile?
    Will you be my love?
      Questions must fly through the air,
      Answers may come through actions."
     
    haiku: "In a wooden box,
    hidden in her portmanteau,
    Was poor Portman's toe."
     
    haiku: "If we just pretend,
    Life's filled with happy times, we'd
    never light candles
     
    haiku: "He was mesmerized,
    by her stunning beauty and,
    how sweetly she laughed."
     
    haiku: "Her deepest regret,
    Was that she'd let him go, and
    now he won't come back."
     
    haiku: "They shared common goals,
    Joined forces and worked as one,
    And never looked back."
     
    tanka haiku: "While waiting on line,
    He slowly peeled an orange,
    And then, he ate it.
      The line did not move at all,
      Until his third banana."
     
    haiku: "Fridays after work,
    She'd really let her hair down,
    And would dance till dawn."
     
    haiku: "Now he understood,
    All the stories in his head,
    Needed to be told."
     
    haiku: "It does not add up,
    That the way to multiply,
    Is through division."
     
    haiku: "Sitting in his room,
    Pondering his hopes and dreams,
    He soon fell asleep."
     
    haiku: "All one ever knows,
    Is what they've experienced, 
    Or taken on faith.
      But, like silt in riverbeds,
      Both can muddy the water."
     
    haiku: "After the rainstorm,
    The Neon lights shimmered in
    Street corner puddles."
     
    haiku: "Flung 'cross space and time,
    Echoing through centuries,
    Landing on the moon."
     

     

    haiku: "In a storefront church,
    A young girl began to sing,
    And the angels wept."
     
    haiku: "I am quite in awe
    of the lives that have touched mine
    Each brought a lesson."
     
    haiku: "Windows to our souls,
    Eyes may behold the world, but
    Minds create vision."
     
    haiku: "Across that river,
    Lies the land where dreams still thrive,
    Help me build a bridge."
     
    haiku: "A gigg'ling toddler,
    plays 'soccer' on the sidewalk,
    with his patient dad."
     
    "Underneath his bed,
    Lies a shirt that she once wore,
    And still does, in dreams."
     
    haiku: "Try imagining, 
    That strangers you encounter, 
    Are friends from past lives."
     
    haiku:  "Often those closest,
    Can take comfort in knowing, 
    We re-create them."
     
    haiku: "Troubles never last, 
    Like cream poured into coffee, 
    They'll soon swirl away."

     

    Comments

    Just like I told Jolly; this is great!

    Damn. Just me and C. hahhahaahahah

    Now its movin!

    Oh my dreams....It is funny but those memories never are lost and I must recall about 7%.

    She actually wore costumes sometimes...what the hell did I know?

    I would play behind closed doors but then i would have to kill myself.

    hahahahahah

    I'll be back. we got time. hahahaha


    by Richard Day on Fri, 08/12/2011 - 6:01pm

    I note that you have cast off the tired obligation to make a seasonal reference, which can be a pain in the ass and has caused me to cheat, on occasion.  It is controversial.


    by jollyroger on Fri, 08/12/2011 - 8:23pm

    Well, since there are only four seasons and I'm writing 3 and 4 haikus a day, a mandatory seasonal reference seems silly to me.  I often use seasonal references, but not in every haiku, and if the seasonal references are under-represented here, it's from my random choosing rather than any repudiation of seasonal references on my part.  I also don't always include a reference to nature, which some people seem as essential.  I use a lot of references to nature, mind you, just not as a hard and fast rule. Besides, I lean toward a pretty wide interpretation of what is meant by the term, 'nature'.

    What I do adhere to is the strict haiku form.  I know some people think the form, when written in English, is unimportant. I strongly disagree. To me, that's the whole game; communicating an image, idea or scenario in 17 syllables in a pattern of 5-7-5  or in the longer form of 31 syllables in a pattern of 5-7-5-7-7.  That can be a real challenge.   I like to think of a haiku as having the potential to be a 17 syllable one-act play.  

     

     


    by MrSmith1 on Fri, 08/12/2011 - 9:28pm

    Well, without the 5-7-5 it might as well be a sonnet--altho why we should adopt a stricture from a language not even in our own indo-european group is problematic.

    Since we are trading haikus,

     

    Cialis All Gone Haiku

    *Winter angst at Ray's

    Doug's prostate hygeine program

    Wasted all the pills.

     

    (*I do adhere to kiga)


    by jollyroger on Fri, 08/12/2011 - 9:35pm

    Excellent!  More please.


    by MrSmith1 on Fri, 08/12/2011 - 9:39pm

    Before time runs out,

    a scene plays backwards in dreams,

    warning of new snow.


    by moat on Fri, 08/12/2011 - 9:49pm

    Beautiful, moat!


    by MrSmith1 on Fri, 08/12/2011 - 10:21pm