Do you remember when you first learned about haiku? Was it in a high school or grade school English class? I’m pretty sure that’s where my first exposure came. It’s a challenging form. Haiku begs for concision, pithiness, bold imagery to make a strong impression in 17 syllables. About a month-and-a-half ago, I set myself a challenge to write one haiku a day. A number of haiku that I’ve read recently take liberties and vary from the 5-7-5 syllable pattern. I’ve tried to stay within the lines on mine.
Here are several haiku about the moon. It should come as no surprise that our celestial next door neighbor is a frequent subject of my poems. She certainly seems to be a popular topic for a number of other scribblers, as well. Plus, one week ago was the fifty-fifth anniversary of man’s first walk on the moon. Besides, I have at least one halfway decent picture of the moon to use in this post.
Moon Haiku The moon slips herself half way into afternoon watching over us. Moon finally full barely seen over rooftops. Shyly she blushes. Washed out moon lingers near the western horizon reluctant to go. Where have you gone, Moon? Has the sun blanked you? Who let him out of his box? Moon at crescent. Cicadas lift hosannas to God’s fingernail. The moon’s a baby bump tonight—swollen and proud to be great with child. Saturday concludes, a day that held some promise— half moon rules the sky.
They’re VERY good. A fun challenge re: haiku reading is to see if you can make even one word improvement. No chance with these two…
The winners? Tie:
Moon at crescent.
Cicadas lift hosannas
to God’s fingernail.
The moon’s a baby
bump tonight—swollen and proud
to be great with child.
Wonderful.