Jan
2020
Poetry Friday: A year of haiku
Happy New Year! I’m a little late the the new year party, but I’m glad to be here. This year I’m trying something new. Each evening (or sometimes the next morning), I am capturing a moment from the day in a haiku. Even though it’s been just a little over a week, I am delighted to have these little snapshots to remind me of things that have happened. Here are a few from this past week:
out of scraps
of bones and peelings
rich broth simmers
dungeons and dragons
calls heroes to adventures
ending in doom and death
rural crossroads meet
where past dreams and future hopes
collide today
This last haiku is in response to my visit yesterday to the Smithsonian Travelling Exhibit, Crossroads: Change in Rural America. It has been making its way across the country and is stopping in various communities in Indiana. If it comes near you, I highly recommend. The stop in our former home community included art and literature from area students, including a variety of Where I’m From poems as well as recorded stories from across the country.
I am also enjoying receiving poetry postcards. My husband is a little befuddled. Each time one arrives in the mail he asks, Who are these people? Why are they sending you poems? Because it brightens my day. I’m a little behind, but hope to send my postcards out this weekend! Enjoy these gems that brighten my new year.
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- from Irene
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- from Carol
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- from Kimberly
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- from Linda
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- from Linda
Here is the poem on the back of Kimberly’s card:
Crackle, fizz, flash, bang!
Bold dreams bursting from the sky.
New hope springing forth.
Each Friday, I am excited to take part in Poetry Friday, where writers share their love of all things poetry. Sally hosts the Poetry Friday Roundup today at sallymurphy.com.au. She shares lots of exciting good news including a new book cover reveal, an upcoming resource of verse novels and a way to help Australia with the devastating bush fires. Hurry over and check out all the poetry morsels offered up today.
Carol Varsalona
January 16, 2020 at 9:52 am (4 years ago)Kay, your haiku diary is a wonderful way to connect poetry with our daily living. Since I enjoy making fresh soup, I love that you recounted your soup-making experience but the last haiku fascinated me. I explored more about the event and sad to say that it is not coming to NYC or Washington, DC so I can see it.Thank you for sharing your poetry and sharing mine.
Mrs. McGriff
January 17, 2020 at 8:21 am (4 years ago)Thanks Carol. The travelling Smithsonian exhibit is pretty amazing. I’m grateful it’s coming to areas that don’t always have easy access to such exhibits.
Michelle Kogan
January 16, 2020 at 12:19 am (4 years ago)Your haiku diary sounds like an interesting way to travel and mark the year, have fun with them–your off to a great start! I like the colliding hopes and dreams you created in your last haiku from the exhibit. I like Tabatha’s take above on your postcards–aren’t they fun to receive. Thanks Kay I just got your postcard today and love the textural quality it has!
Mrs. McGriff
January 17, 2020 at 8:19 am (4 years ago)Thanks, Michelle. I’m glad you liked the postcard. I enjoyed creating them. And yes, I love Tabatha’s take. The postcards are such a bright spot in this dreary (at least weather wise) time of year.
Kimberly M. Hutmacher
January 15, 2020 at 10:41 am (4 years ago)So happy my poem postcard brought you joy, Rebecca. These mailbox treats are doing the same for me. It’s my first time participating, but it won’t be the last. Love your haiku poems. The exhibit sounds so interesting, and your poem makes me want to go!
Kimberly M. Hutmacher
January 15, 2020 at 10:43 am (4 years ago)Sorry, Kay! I saw Rebecca’s post below, and accidentally typed her name. Blame it on age, winter, and the lack of caffeine 🙂
Mrs. McGriff
January 17, 2020 at 8:25 am (4 years ago)Thanks, Kim. I hope you can find a place near you where the exhibit will come.
Rebecca
January 12, 2020 at 8:15 pm (4 years ago)Low your haiku, especially the 2nd. I run a dungeons and dragons campaign for my 9yo and her friends.
Mrs. McGriff
January 12, 2020 at 8:58 pm (4 years ago)Thanks, Rebecca. My college daughter and her friends let me join them on their one-shot campaigns. I’m having such fun with them.
Heidi Mordhorst
January 12, 2020 at 4:22 pm (4 years ago)“Haiku Diary”–a wonderful idea. Your soup one is tasty. The post cards are delightful!
Mrs. McGriff
January 12, 2020 at 8:58 pm (4 years ago)Thanks, Heidi. I’m enjoying lots of soup! The postcards brighten my day!
Sally Murphy
January 11, 2020 at 11:14 pm (4 years ago)What a lovely way to journal your year Kay. I look forward to seeing more snippets like these. And yes, it can be hard for non-participants to grasp what and why we do. I like the idea of telling him it’s a secret code 🙂
Mrs. McGriff
January 12, 2020 at 8:57 pm (4 years ago)Thanks, Sally. I hope to share more snippets and get back to writing more this year. I am having great fun with the secret code idea!
Kiesha Shepard
January 11, 2020 at 3:05 pm (4 years ago)This is a marvelous idea! Thank you for sharing it with us, Kay! I especially love your one about the crossroads 🙂
Mrs. McGriff
January 11, 2020 at 8:53 pm (4 years ago)Thanks, Keisha. I hope I can keep it up. If I do, it will be a wonderful way to recall the year.
Linda Mitchell
January 10, 2020 at 8:44 pm (4 years ago)Tee hee! Tabatha has just the ticket! A haiku diary. That’s as good or better than a olw. I love it! And, just the idea of making soup….mmmmmm. Love that too. It sure is fun traveling through a year of poetry with you. Here’s to many, many wonderful haiku and postcards to baffle the husbands 😉
Mrs. McGriff
January 11, 2020 at 8:52 pm (4 years ago)Thanks, Linda. I love Tabatha’s take on the postcards. I hope many more poems come and go through the year!
Linda Baie
January 10, 2020 at 1:05 pm (4 years ago)How wonderful that you’re keeping a haiku diary for the year, Kay. I love them all, but the broth one feels like a new year beginning for sure! It’s fun to hear your husband’s comment, mystery friends! And yes, the postcards are wonderful mail surprises, much better than the never-ending ads! Happy New Year!
Mrs. McGriff
January 10, 2020 at 4:22 pm (4 years ago)Thanks, Linda. I love making broth–and then yummy soups from it. I love the term haiku diary.
Ruth
January 10, 2020 at 10:50 am (4 years ago)What a fabulous idea! I love your haiku! Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
Mrs. McGriff
January 10, 2020 at 4:21 pm (4 years ago)Thanks, Ruth. If I can keep it up (or at least start back when I slack off), it will be a wonderful journey through the year.
Tabatha
January 10, 2020 at 10:39 am (4 years ago)You should tell your husband that they look like poems, but they are actually codes for a hidden treasure/secret plan/all-woman heist/?
I love your haiku, especially the first one.
Happy New Year!
Mrs. McGriff
January 10, 2020 at 4:20 pm (4 years ago)Ha! I should tell him that–he might even believe me! After all, they are treasures.