One morning this week I woke up while on vacation to discover my friend Cathy, at Merely Day by Day is at it again! She is constantly inspiring me and pushing me to do projects with her and projects on my own. I love how she is using Instagram to share her poetry and photography. Maybe she will do a blogpost to share if the poem comes first or the photograph.
Cathy wrote a haiku poem about mornings at the ocean beach and I looked out my window at the lake beach and began pondering about my own haiku. For me, this image came first through observation and I snapped my photograph. Then while walking my dogs I began my pre-writing process to think about my own haiku. I started putting together word phrases and counting out syllables. When I returned from my walk, I went down and sat on the dock to draft my own haiku using the app Phonto because I believe that is what Cathy uses.
I decided writing a haiku was fun and having the syllable format made me think a bit more intentional about my word choice. I wrestled with the first line the most and like my final decision. Haikus are intended to be about nature and I found this poem easier to write than the one I tried later about doughnuts. Let's just say eating the doughnut was a bit distracting.
Thank you to Donna at Mainly Write
for hosting Poetry Friday and organizing the Round Up!
A beautiful haiku and an equally beautiful photo!
ReplyDelete"Glistening glitter" seems to perfectly describe your lake beach view. There is something new about being in a different space that inspires poetry. Like you, the image seems to come first. The poem captures what I want to remember about that image. I love Phonto, but you do know that all this poetry and image is a result of your whispering a about Instagram. It is the perfect space for sharing image and poetry.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the last days at the lake,
Cathy
That is why I use the haiku format of 5-7-5 also. I like the confines of the structure to "choose wisely"! Just my preference, though I see many beautiful haiku with different structures.
ReplyDeleteLove your lake of glitter!
Doughnuts are never around long enough for me to focus on them to write. :-) I need to look into Phonto! Thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteI think you could flip your first and third lines and have a slightly different but equally beautiful haiku!
ReplyDeleteI used the Color Cap app to make my non 5-7-5 haiku today, but It's a little clunky. I'll try Phonto -- thanks for the recommendation!
Mary Lee, I love you suggestion about flipping the first and third line. Since they are the same syllables I didn't think about writing it and re-seeing it in a new way. It's been interesting how a short piece can be so intentional.
DeleteOh, that picture is wonderful, Mandy, & the haiku too, "glistening glitter"-just right. I'd love to have that view every morning.
ReplyDeleteLaughed aloud about the doughnut - there aren't many haikus about them, are there? :-) As for haiku, I agree with you that certain restrictions of form help us slow down and think more carefully about our word choices! Always an important factor when free verse is so prevalent.
ReplyDeleteMandy, I am glad to meet you and connect. Haiku writing is an exercise in being precise, articulate, and reflective. Thank you for sharing. You may be interested in joining me in the next global gallery of artistic expressions that I will create after I unveil Spring's Symphony at my blog site. Cathy M. is one of the writers so you can see what she offered when the gallery is unveiled. YOu can consider sending me the haiku you created for Summer Splashings. I look forward to connecting with you in the future.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite time of day. You make me long to walk by water. And on my summer bucket list, I said I was going to buy a camera and check out some of these apps…
ReplyDeleteI, too, was taken by your "glistening glitter" line. Now I want to read your doughnut haiku... =)
ReplyDelete