Some notes and then a few of my latest haikus….

What matters when I write something …not just the message although that’s important…images are also critical – which one advances the idea sometimes they write themselves almost…coming out quickly sometimes they take all kinds of time and hammering away at them…..rhythm is critical, although not rhyme for me…Rhythm of the words in a poem are what I call …flowing like water or electricity …moving just right or in an intriguing and mesmerizing manner and now with Haikus there’s a new concern….– syllables – paring it all down – very hard especially in the moments when a lot of words are coming …discipling yourself to choose this word yes and this not…inspiration comes from anywhere …it is important to be open to it…to keep all of your senses wide open…to be receptive… to be listening and reading words and have them bounce around in your head and see what comes out that’s interesting and fresh and alive

Here I am later in life…trying to get some collection down about going from one place to anothera collection of haikus tentatively called ZIGZAGGING FROM POINT A TO POINT B began on a trip a few years ago to Niagara Falls…it deals with travel through two things that affect us…time and space or geography…travel and what one experiences – sees – hears – feels …thinks… and how time flies or ticks slowly on.

Not a slave to the rules about haikus except that of 17 syllables. What attracted me to the form… the same as that of short story form is the need to reduce things down to some essence and still say something that moves me and hopefully the reader. Sometimes I can’t accomplish it and I put the poems aside for another type of collection.

Jack Kerouac said ….

“I propose that the ‘Western Haiku’ simply say a lot in three short lines in any Western language. Above all, a Haiku must be very simple and free of all poetic trickery and make a little picture . . .”

MEMENTOS
I breathe the air in deep.
Molecules in lungs
Take  one stone from here too.

IN GOD’S HANDS
Storm coming on
big wind
Shelter would be nice
Piece together a prayer
HUMMING AS THE DAY PASSES THROUGH
No expectations
as I wait
Count the cars
Count the clouds
yield to fate.

OUT IN AMERICA, CONFUSED BY SCIENCE
Sailing prairie
and desert
Horizon a sharp edge
Earth might  be flat

NONE THE WISER / BLURRED LINES
Stepping across
A seam
A divide
A border
A line in the sand