Haiku "Chains," Multiple (Student) Authors

At St. Johnsbury Academy this week, Mrs. Mackenzie's Creative Writing students tackled a Japanese poetry tradition: writing haiku in "chains," with each author building on another's verse. As you read down on these, each stanza is by someone else:

It can't be April --
It's spring, but the sky is gray:
I just want to sleep.

Let me hibernate
Like the ground squirrels, still asleep
I pull the blinds shut.

I feel my eyes close
I crave for a nice slumber
I'll finally sleep.

Under this maple
buckets ring with dripping sap
my odd alarm clock.

***
I open the door
The smell of fresh air is clear
But now it's raining.

I had such great plans
and you were in them, always:
rain keeps you away.

I had such great plans
and she was not in them
sun keeps her away.

Sun is my friend, now
though we don't get along well
sun and I are good.

***

When April spits out snow
I unfreeze fruit and make jam
The winter stews me.

Steaming in kitchens
are sweaters, coat, hat, mittens:
I need cool language.

My language is cool
It resembles the arctic
minus polar bears.

***
I counted your song
as part of my seven beats:
sing louder, my friend!

I don't sing I rap
Thank you very much ma'am, but
I can tell jokes too.

The birds sing loudly
Everything is beautiful
Nature doesn't lie.

Twitter Poetry: Haiku Goes Viral at St Johnsbury Academy

Mrs. Mackenzie's Creative Writing students crafted "twaiku" this week -- including the kind that "chains" from one person to the next. Lots of fun! Here are some samples:

[by E.M.]

I went for a walk to Maine
just like that I go
I go along the grey beach

I walked down the path
to find a hidden river
I haven't found it yet

i searched endlessly,
awaiting the moment I find it

****
[by J.O.]

Twaiku at Café at Gatto Nero, St. Johnsbury, Vermont

Great to gather yesterday with teen writers from St. Johnsbury Academy's "Writer's Block" - at the mellow Café at Gatto Nero. In the photo, teachers Conni Morse and Angela Drew move into "poet brain" as they explore what 17 syllables can do. The rest of the long table was crowded with student authors (and me!).

Here's a twaiku with its first line just one word -- a word discovered by one of the student authors. Fun!

Tredecillion
with forty-two open eyes
stop staring at me!

-- BK

It's National Poetry Month, All Month ... and Now, from Harman:

First Crocus

 

Tiny Flower with a Funny Name

When the first one appears

It Brings Joy