Haiku for springtime
A few poems to welcome a new season
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Pollen dusted the world in yellow and an early spring storm rushed in, just yesterday, and washed it all away.
Spring time is here, and it’s meeting me with delight and contemplation.
Delight because there’s nothing quite like watching the world come alive after a long winter’s rest.
Contemplation because I’m about halfway through my first Orthodox Lent, and the bright sadness of this time of year has me filled with questions about personhood, the shedding old forms, the grief of goodbyes, and the tender hope of awaiting resurrection.
You know, simple stuff.
To ground myself in the midst of big feelings, changing weather, and the labors of everyday life, I’ve found myself playing with poetry. With the haiku form, to be exact.
What I love about writing in haiku is that it’s simple and quite focused. I need not worry so much about word choice, beyond the modest syllable count of five-seven-five. There’s something whimsical about saying as much as one can say, as beautifully and unassumingly as one can manage, in a few short lines.
So in praise of springtime, here are few haiku I drafted this morning as I waited for my day to begin.
Oh—and if you feel so inspired, it would mean the world to me if you drafted your own springtime haiku and left it in the comments. What a fun harvest of delight and contemplation that would be for us all.
Haiku #1
the new buds open
purple and pink kiss the ground
my hallelujah
Haiku #2
skies crack and rain falls
storm-fear rises in my chest
chimes flail in the wind
Haiku #3
I have changed my mind.
Unlearning sets in, will I
remember Love’s name?
Haiku #4
It’s pollen season.
Yellow dust reminder: LIFE!
Sneezes, too. Spring’s here.
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Thank you for these-- I especially love the second one! Here's mine:
Dandelions break
up through the choking asphalt
with a laughing smile.
The crocuses know
exactly how long to wait:
unfurl in purple.
Thank you, Bethaney for this beautiful offering and invitation. I too have been playing with haiku lately and appreciate it for the same reasons you described. Here’s mine for spring:
Look! A daffodil!
No winter lasts forever.
We smile through our tears.