It is nearing the end of April (designated as National Poetry Month here in Canada) and I am very pleased to share that a haiku I wrote for a contest in my local library system was chosen to be the first place winner. It’s always exciting to “win” something, especially when, in this case, the win was actually achieved earlier, during the process of writing the poetry. I like writing haiku – there is something about distilling your creativity into syllables that is a perfect art/science exercise for me. It is the poetry form of the unsaid… you are meant to feel the space around the words and to see the meaning behind the visual that is being described. Use of punctuation to enhance meaning is often utilized (which mine is not a good example of). Rather than being limited by the 5/7/5 syllables, you are freed by their constraint. Or at least that’s how I think about it.
The theme for this year’s poetry month was “Joy”, and the haiku submitted were to reflect that emotion/inner state/destination somehow. I would like to thank the Vancouver Island Regional Library for hosting the contest and for celebrating poetry in general. It was fun to read all the submissions and exciting to know my work will be seen by others.
The winning piece, pink wind, is below, as well as some others I wrote along the same theme.
Joy gusts on pink wind
Confetti swirls triumphant
Blossoms rain and reign
Underneath spring skies
Sunbeam glisks edge heavy cloud
Lifting hearts anew
Spring bursts forth violent
Exploding blossoms. Hail storms.
Seeds shoot joy through soil
Wet baby kisses
Chubby wrists, wigglin’ fingers
Possibility
Here is the Vancouver Island Regional Library’s contest post on their Facebook
2 Responses
Hi Anne, Lovely job - I'm using your blog and poems in my poetry writing lesson for today. It's so fun to have you here in the classroom with me.
Well doesn't that just warm my heart!? Would love to see what they come up with. Yay for teachers!