first warm day
the twitching of the cat’s nose
at the screen door

 

 

gray morning
even the daffodils
drop their heads

 

I’ve been working on two great poetry projects. Oddly both of them are taking me away from the natural world around me. As spring awakens I’m feeling a growing need to reconnect with everything outdoors. Nothing draws me closer to the world than haiku, so I’ve been spending more time reading and writing them. I have a few wonderful anthologies, but lately I’ve been re-reading Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years, edited by Jim Kacian, Philip Rowland, and Allan Burns. I’ve been going through and tagging my favorites and then copying them out in my notebook. Copying helps me pay close attention and internalize them. When I want to write, I go for a walk. I walk slowly and look carefully. I bring a notebook and scribble words and phrases. At home I transfer them to my computer and develop them into complete haiku. My goal is to give my readers the same experience of noticing that I’ve had, without getting in the way and interpreting it for them. I wrote these haiku this week as spring finally settled in. I hope you enjoy them.

For more Poetry Friday visit Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge.

Liz