Recently, I’ve been on a haiku roll. (Sounds like a special at a Japanese restaurant! lol) I haven’t ever meditated, but I imagine that writing haiku is similar–it narrows my focus and slows me down a bit. It brings me into the present, but also out of the present. I suppose that all writing does this, but the brevity of the haiku really intensifies that process for me. Also, the more I write haiku, the more I realize how much there is to learn about how to do it well. I’m enjoying that challenge. (mostly!)
With lots of distractions and less writing time recently, it’s also been helpful to have a poetry invitation to motivate me–Mary Lee Hahn’s #haikuforhope or #haikuforhealing. This year, as for the past several years, she’s invited people to write haiku each day during the month of December. Even when I don’t tweet my efforts, I’m doing my best to participate daily. Thanks, Mary Lee!
inside the coffee shop
rain-streaked foggy windows
swaddle us
©M. Hogan, 2018
amidst whirlwind days
reading and writing create
an eye in the storm
©M. Hogan 2018
on the Christmas tree
faded paper and yarn ornaments
induce time travel
©M. Hogan, 2018
Also, I submitted a haiku to “A Sense of Place: City Streets–hearing” at The Haiku Foundation (they have a weekly theme), and it was selected for that week’s final post (along with a whole lot more!). Yippee! Here it is:
hope in an inhaled breath
indifferent footsteps pass
the weight of a sigh
©M. Hogan, 2018
This week’s Poetry Friday Roundup is hosted by Elizabeth Steinglass at her blog, My Blog About Me. She’s sharing a lovely poem about a menorah. Stop by to add some poetry to your holiday festivities!
Nix the comfort zone 
The woman is a haiku savant. Love the third line surprise every time.
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Thanks, Dan!
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poetry
sparks longing
and connection
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I always enjoy your poetic comments, Brenda!
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I love your haiku. Well done.
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Your haiku are like little meditations. I stop, breathe, read, imagine.
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Congratulations on the birth of your grandson!!! How exciting!
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First, congratulations! SEcond, these are lovely. I especially like the eye of the storm one. Third, did you get my email about Lion of the Sky? I emailed you Monday to see if you wanted you F&G signed, and, if so, to whom? Let me know, and I’ll get it mailed out to you!
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Thanks, Laura! I didn’t get the e-mail. I’m not sure what happened, but I went back and checked and didn’t see it. Hmmmmm…can you try again? mbhmaine@gmail.com Thanks! I’m so excited to get my hands on Lion of the Sky 🙂
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I like your description of haiku bringing you both into and out of the present. Your second haiku particularly spoke to me. Looking forward to reading more of your December poems!
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Thanks, Tabatha! It’s so easy for writing to get pushed to the side during this hectic season, and I always enjoy the motivation of participating in a challenge.
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That’s why I love haiku too. I feel very present in the coffee shop with the foggy windows and looking at the tree with yarn ornaments.
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Being present is what it’s all about, but it sure can be hard to manage sometimes!
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Woot! Congratulations on your haiku publication. And, I completely agree with the way that the brevity of haiku brings a kind of meditative focus. I’m especially in love with “an eye of the storm”. What a powerful image.
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I’m not sure it’s exactly a “publication”, but I thank you for the congrats and accept them! 🙂
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Congratulations on your publication! It has been great to slow down for haiku again this December. I started the month trying to hard, but the more I approach the writing as meditation, the more the small moments are coming to me.
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Mary Lee, I think “publication” might be an overstatement, but thanks! I love your challenge even though I don’t always manage to participate daily. I agree that it seems to flow easier as the month moves along. I also find that some days I write two or three and others none.
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How wonderful to have your haiku accepted, Molly. I shared the haiku I’ve written, too, today. It is a pleasure to slow the busy life and write. Your words take me to new places.
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Thanks, Linda! I need all the nudges I can get to slow down. I tend to get a bit caught up in the whirlwind pace at this time of year.
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Yes! Perfectly expressed! Writing brings us both into and out of the present. Lovely haiku. Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
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Thanks, Ruth! It’s funny how that works, isn’t it?
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Good news to hear about your haikus being published–Congrats! These are all moving and your last one hits a sweet spot with me.
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Thanks, Michelle. It’s been fun writing haiku each day–a nice bit of focus amidst the holiday blur.
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