While I’ve been actively reading and writing poetry this week, I don’t have much to share. I wrote three new haiku and posted them to my Medium.com page yesterday. Last night, for lack of a novel, I opened up Sage Cohen’s book on my bedside table and read a few of her short chapters. So much of her writing on poetry makes sense to me. Have you ever read her book, Writing the Poetic Life: An Invitation to Read and Write Poetry? It’s available, here, on Amazon. The price for a used copy is $1.30 right now! Grab it – you’ll be glad you did. It was published in 2009 and is still relevant today.
I’ve been forcing myself to write some contemporary haiku, so you’ll notice that these do not follow the traditional 5-7-5 pattern for the form. I find it hard to break out of this structural habit.
I went to the Golden Triangle website, and listened to some haiku resources this week. Then I tried writing more contemporary haiku. I’ve written two more, but am saving them in hopes of entering them into this year’s contest. The contest closes on submissions on February 5th. Good luck to you if you enter! I entered before with a traditional haiku and it was not accepted. I believe they are looking for more contemporary, Americanized haiku.
In listening to the resource pages, the point of making your haiku have seasonality was also stressed. As you can tell, I’m trying to incorporate that element in mine as well.
Thank you to all the poetry winter greeting postcards I’ve received with the Chinese New Year greetings from members of the Poetry Friday group! I appreciate all of you for this small token of friendship and camaraderie.
What’s next?
This coming week, my husband and I are escaping to somewhere warm for vacation! We are looking forward to this break in our routine and some warm weather! There are few, if any, places in the continental U.S. at this time of year that are warm. We are venturing a little farther to be able to have some beach time – more about our trip in the weeks to come!
That’s it for today! Our host for Poetry Friday is Jan at Bookseedstudio! Thanks for hosting, Jan!
As a postscript, after reading Jan’s post, I want to add that I’ve owned Lovejoy’s book, Trowel and Error, for years. When we moved this past summer, I got rid of hundreds (yes, you read that right) of books, but I’m happy to say that Lovejoy’s gardening book still sits on my shelf! (I was a master gardener volunteer for fifteen years and the book holds great appeal for me, both as a person and a gardener! Thanks for featuring her, Jan!
The Apples in My Orchard 
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