Winter haiku

Read on to find out why the bath is significant...

At a party recently, we talked of poems and poetry, and how I really just don’t get it. For me, poetry is Dr Seuss, and I recited a huge chunk of Green Eggs and Ham with real meaning. Everybody laughed, but I love the rhythmic, sing-songy way it sounds, and almost feels in my mouth. Similarly, when I was a practicing nursery nurse, my children also enjoyed Burglar Bill or Cops And Robbers by Janet and Allan Ahlberg for the same reason. I could ‘read’ these time and time again without needing to see the pages as I turned them for the children to see the pictures. “Here are the cops of London Town, hardworking, brave and true…” Go find it, and read it out loud. It really is a delight, and a great way to practice speaking out loud with intonation if public speaking or reading out loud makes you nervous.

And then at an early Writers Group some time back, we had a poetry special, where one of our number talked us through poetry basics. She gave us exercises, challenged us, but without any pressure, and I realised poetry wasn’t that bad after all. I didn’t need to make my words rhyme for them to feel like poetry, and by the end of the evening, Jackie’s encouragement helped me write my first real poem. And, hold the front page, I thought it was quite good.

To finish, she talked us through the structure of a haiku, the 5-7-5 format and encouraged us to build on our work so far with a final haiku. This was my finished piece (referring to a place that made us feel safe with a wintery theme):

Winter rain pours down

I’ve escaped inside my bath

Lost inside my head

It’s clearly not a work of genius but it totally sums up how I feel in my glorious bath, listening to the rain hammering on the window, with just a glass of wine and a book or my thoughts for company. Almost makes me wish it was raining right now so I had an excuse to sneak away to my bath, but honestly, we have had SO much rain in Scotland this year that I couldn’t wish another drop on anybody. Instead, I will glory in the frost still covering everything and stay warm inside.

So when today’s Winter Writing Sanctuary ‘homework’ was to write a couple haiku, I was instantly up for the challenge. Even more so as Beth offered us some words or phrases that we might like to include. There are 6 overall, but I thought I might share just a couple with you. Starting with this Hoar Frost because that is exactly the beauty that we have today.

Hoar frost lies crisply

Revealed as morning rises

Beauty surrounds us

I feel quite proud of that if I’m honest. And then we have this, which describes exactly how I feel about the prospect of snow:

First snow: exciting

Comes the thaw: slushy slipping

Now the rain: all gone

And yes, I do know that I’m not supposed to include punctuation, but I hope you’ll forgive me on this occasion. I wanted to finish with something we have recently been privileged to see from our own back garden: the aurora borealis. Not just because I get to share my very amateur photos of them, I promise.

Winter moon bright sky

Aurora borealis

Unexpected treat

Now look at me. I’m not only comfortable creating these haiku, but here I am sharing them with you. Makes me feel even more like a writer.

---

Thank you Beth, again, for your writing sanctuaries, and for empowering me/us to do this, growing stronger by the word.