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.