13 Ways to Write Haiku: A Poet’s Dozen

I posted Five Haiku, published in THIS ENDURING GIFT – A Flowering of Fairfield Poetry, 2010. They were selected by editor Freddy Fonseca from: 13 Ways to Write Haiku: A Poet’s Dozen, originally published in The Dryland Fish, An Anthology of Contemporary Iowa Poets, 2003, edited by Matthew MacLeod. The 5 haiku already selected were: Defined, Translated, The Fall, Winter Memo, and Forest Flowers, numbers I, IV, VII, XI, and VIII, respectively. Rather than present the remaining 8 haiku, here is the complete collection in their original order.

13 Ways to Write Haiku: A Poet’s Dozen

I
Defined

3 lines, 2 spaces,
17 feet to walk thru;
then, the unending

II
Discovered

a poem unfolds
as words take their place in line
this one’s a haiku

III
Transformed

Caterpillars spin
increments of commitment;
Butterflies fly free!

IV
Translated
(Inspired by Gareth Jones–Roberts’ painting “Egrets in Morning Light”)

on the edge of space
two egrets in morning light
woken from a dream

V
Galiano Island

West Coast Island Time
Nothing Moves, Nothing Changes;
Roosters Crow At Noon!

VI
Cliffhouse Deck at Dusk

Tiny bells call me
Arbutus blossoms falling
Sounding the Silence

VII
The Fall

sudden drop of leaves
a negligée to the floor
trees stand stark naked

VIII
Forest Flowers

tiny white flowers
a constellation of stars
so low yet so high

IX
Be Spring

Brown Branch Bursting Buds
Beneath Benevolent Beams
Boughs Bearing Beauty

X
I Wonder

Do trees have a say
When to drop anchors away
As ripe acorns fall?

XI
Winter Memo

On seeing snowflakes
written on a piece of bark
I copied this down

XII
Foggy Perception

a yellow raincoat
from out of a thick white fog
appears to be seen

XIII
Concrete Impression

cement truck droppings
on the road solidified
········like elephant dung

Also see Another Fall Haiku

This entry was posted on December 17, 2010 at 1:15 am and is filed under My poems, Poetry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “13 Ways to Write Haiku: A Poet’s Dozen”

Carla Brown Says:
December 17, 2010 at 5:53 am | Reply
Reading your poems
Takes me to an ancient place
But better, Now
Tweets that mention 13 Ways to Write Haiku: A Poet’s Dozen « The Uncarved Blog -- Topsy.com Says:
December 17, 2010 at 6:35 am | Reply
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Carla Brown, Ken Chawkin. Ken Chawkin said: 13 Ways to Write Haiku: A Poet’s Dozen http://wp.me/pD0BA-1Hk [...]
Vancouver Park Poems by Ken Chawkin « The Uncarved Blog Says:
January 23, 2012 at 4:41 pm | Reply
[...] a very tall tree, which inspired another haiku, Forest Flowers. It was later published in a group, 13 Ways to Write Haiku: A Poet’s Dozen for The Dryland Fish, and in Five Haiku for This Enduring [...]

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