2021 FEB 01 * #2021CEH

     Haiku

deceptively short 

haiku is approachable

not always friendly

© 2021 Cheryl L. Crockett

#2021CEH #haiku #poem

#CherylsEverydayHaiku #NaHaiWriMo #poetry

Hi! My name is Cheryl and I am a poet. This greeting is for those who haven't met me yet.

To those who know me and who have supported and encouraged me through these many years, welcome back, and thank you!

In January of 2013, I began writing daily haiku and posting them online. At the beginning of 2021, I counted my posts. I have approximately 1,100 poems (mostly haiku). A handful have been published; a few have been on display in a gallery and one was a contest winner. These accomplishments don’t make me an expert, just a person with a few positive experiences. I hope others will find encouragement as I share them.

This year, I am participating in #NaHaiWriMo (National Haiku Writing Month) and invite you to join me by reading, sharing and maybe even writing some of your own. You can click this hashtag to read haiku posted by people around the world. The project, which usually happens in February, has been ongoing for many years.

When writing haiku, some of the ground rules I have set for myself include:

1.   - If I don’t write it down, it doesn’t count! Whether typing on my computer or phone, or holding a pen and notebook, I can keep my words and phrases in my head only for so long, then they will leave me.

2.   - Using only a single line to scratch out a word, phrase or passage I no longer want to use in my poem, I allow it to remain legible. I do not scribble it into oblivion; it may inspire a future poem.

3.   - My haiku avoid repeated words, unless there is a really good reason to say the same word again.

4.   - I avoid the use of very small, filler words that have minimal meaning.

5.   - Finished haiku must make sense. If I understand what I've written, my readers will, too.

6.   - Write my best. I create haiku I’d like to read again and will be proud to share with others.

Periodically, I will challenge myself in other creative ways, but these are the practical standards I set for myself. I value them highly, and offer them, not as hard and fast rules, but as suggestions to ignite your own creative process.

Although the finished product is small, writing haiku is work. Sometimes, a poem constructed in 5 minutes will be a prize-winner (that actually happened); other times, it may take much longer to create something that meets one's own personal standard of excellence. Whether you're reading or writing, thanks for joining the journey.

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