p o e t r y

a few very dear, wonderful, inspiring ladies in my life & i are creating a renga together. shared poetry writing. how we're doing it is each writing a link (aka stanza that links to the one prior), emailing the link to the next one writing/waiting for their link and so on. we started it in april & probably aren't even half way through. sometimes the link comes quick like a fox, other times it's the perfect opportunity to pause and let the poem as a whole sort of ruminate, take it in, an excuse (if needed) to pause. i'm completely smitten by this whole thing. when i see the email pop into my box from one of these gals i generally let out a little squeak & am unable to open the email fast enough. i have poetry plans for my family, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to spring it on them. sometimes my enthusiasm for something can really turn them off. the girls love writing haiku however & with each august trip to central oregon we spend the time writing and coming up with crazy haiku. here are a few examples of their 7-5-7 haiku from last summer (note it was five girls ages 5, 10, 11, 11, & 12) :

juniper valley

passing juniper valley

brown purple green plants

dry rocky hot and prickly

gas station residence

we saw a bird in a nest

it had a blue tail

it eats lots of mosquitoes

mount shasta

we all like mountain shasta

it is tall with snow

and it looks like a booby

weed

we saw a naked statue

and an old guy too

weed is a very strange town

our assignment the other day via the spring creativity boot camp (which i encourage everyone to participate in! watch for the next one & do it...it's really fun, totally doable & there is a lot to think on and grow yourself, not only creatively, but as a whole person. she's done a fabulous job putting a two week course together, hitting you from all sorts of angles, encouraging uniqueness & pulling together great guest writers to emphasize her main point for each day) was to write a seasonal haiku. i wrote four:

spring

Dorothy pond fills

breakfast by the waters edge

mallards build their nest

summer

busy buzzing everyday

imagine a quiet nap

autumn

through each death springs life anew

boundaries bring us new freedom

winter

hush alone we sit

five choose to live connected

fire and chocolate

i leave it as is, no photo to accompany (though that's my favorite, words w/ a photo). as our guest over on cbc said in such a wonderfully challenging way:

"a well written poem in my opinion should convey strong emotion in the fewest words possible, painting a powerful imagine that attaches to your soul." ~alita maini