A Few Haiku
sidewalk race–
the boy slows to watch his sister
pull away
some sun–
his sister agrees to play
the wolf
flying home–
seeing the shadows
for what they are
I’ve had good luck with my haiku this year. I’ve managed to place a handful in a variety of wonderful journals. Notably, at least half were accepted by the second or third place I sent them. Still, some of my favorites have come back unaccepted time and time again. The three above fall into this category. Oh well. I hope you don’t mind my sharing them here with you.
I also want to mention that Kwame Alexander was on the Kojo Nnamdi Show on NPR yesterday with Heidi Powell, the manager of the children and teens’ department at my very own local book store, Politics and Prose. Their conversation about kids’ books and poetry and diversity in children’s literature was interesting and entertaining. It’s certainly worth a listen. Kwame and Heidi also posted summer reading lists.
I hope you are enjoying the summer and have a great 4th of July!
For more Poetry Friday, please visit Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe.
Wonderful haiku, Liz. I’ll check out that reading list, I love hearing about new books. Happy 4th!
I love hearing about new books too. There are some on both lists that I hadn’t heard of and now want to read.
Congratulations on placing so many haiku!
Thanks, Cynthia! I’ve been thinking about you.
Loved the last one, especially. The photograph of the scooter stayed with me as it read it – and I was visualizing children racing home after a day of play.
Thanks, Tara. I love that your connection was different than mine.
Nice job on these – and congratulations on the publications!
Thanks, Matt! Congratulations to you too. I can’t wait to see the anthology on agriculture and food.
I love the ‘sidewalk race’, Liz, & congrats on more poems being accepted. Funny how we have our favorites, perhaps because of the memories… Thanks for the links too, & Happy Independence Day!
Hi Linda, I think you might be right about the memories. The first one was inspired by kids I saw on the sidewalk. The last one is about my own experience flying home after visiting my mom.
You have had a great result with placing your Haiku. Acceptances and rejections are so arbitrary. I really like the third of these three poems. Enjoy your holiday as well.
Congratulations on your many well-deserved acceptances, Liz, and thanks for letting us benefit from the ones that didn’t get immediately snatched up. Of these, I’m most drawn to “flying home.”
Thanks, Michelle,
That one is a special favorite of mine.
Thanks, Rosi. Yes, acceptances and rejections are arbitrary. It’s reassuring to have first-hand proof.
Liz, your last haiku resonated with me and made me curious as to what the shadows meant for the speaker. I also thank you for mentioning that a friend of mine, Kwame Alexander was on the Kojo Nnamdi Show. I hope to listen to that thanks to you.
Yay for your haiku! Yay for our fortune to read the three “accepted” gems. Sidewalk race is my favorite. Thanks for sharing and Happy 4th!
Hi Carol, it’s nice to meet you. For me the shadows are the cloud shadows you can see on earth when you’re up in the plane but they are also the dark moments when you lose your perspective. Flying home gives me distance and I can see that the dark places were clouds all along. But I should add that’s just my take on it and I’m very comfortable with other people reading it differently. Maybe next time I fly I’ll try to take a picture and turn it into a haiga.
That’s wonderful that you’ve placed a number of your haiku. Sidewalk Race and Flying Home both leave me with strong images in my mind. Some Sun makes me wonder if it’s a story that might want to be told in another form? But whatever you do, keep haiku-ing! Very nice.
It’s nice to see how the “flying home” haiku works on both a real and metaphorical level at once. – I like it best, though I love the mystery (what gets left unsaid) in “some sun.” Congratulations on placing those other haikus you mention!
Congratulations on both writing and placing your poems — I think writing them deserves accolades, too, whether or not they find a published home. I like the bit of mystery in all three of these haiku.
Now I understand the “unwanted”–which is completely unwonted! I’m very glad to hear you’re having success (not luck) in placing your haiku, Liz. I’m chipping away at my project, but I’m already beginning to feel that it’s not the best form for my instincts.
Thanks for the link to Kwame on the KJ Show–besides Poets’ Garage, what other critiquing are you doing these days?
And “flying home” was my favorite, too–I pictured the way, from a plane, you can see how the clouds’ shadows fall on the earth…all a matter of perspective.
Like everyone else, the last one spoke to me… the shadows and the flight back home. 🙂 Best of luck on your publication – everything in its own time. 🙂
Definitely cheering for you from down South, Liz – on all your recent great news. And, is it time for me to send you more sparkly stick-on gems? I will have to bulk-order them for you!!!