A week or two ago, I suggested that if you were short of time but wanted to capture the essence of a day, to try using your phone as a notebook, capturing images that distilled your activities, which you could perhaps then write about later. I've actually also practised another form of ‘quick notes of a day’ in the past, in both my ‘two pages to a week view’ Diary and in my gratitude Journal - just two or three lines of notes each day, again just the briefest of observations, but particularly capturing “reasons to be cheerful”.
Well, I've been short of time again today, so I've utilised yet another way of recording my life, which is even briefer than the above. Last week, as you know I did a ‘Poetry, Nature and Mindfulness’ online retreat, where I practised the writing of even more condensed observations in the form of Haiku - three line expressions of the briefest of thoughts, a poetic form which originally developed in Japan as lines of five, seven and five syllables, though Western practitioners (including myself) do not always follow that rule .
Several of my good friends online are experienced Haiku writers, but it's not a poetic form which I have attempted in the past. Not so now - I have started to instil in myself the habit of a haiku a day. It’s so easy to catch brief observations, although as my tutor from last week observed, ‘it’s not so easy to write a half good one!’
So as I myself have had time for just a brief blog today, here are three of the haiku I wrote last week; very amateur, but practise will hopefully make - if not perfect - at least a little better. Even I can make time for these!
Bumble bee, revisiting the bloom
time after time after time
why can't I persist?
***
seedhead bends in the wind
returns to its stillness of place
the resilience I seek
***
distant thunder clouds gathering
heat shimmers from baking stones
I turn my face to the sun.
Journal Prompt
Can you try to capture your day in a Haiku? Or two… or three?
Use a photograph to inspire you if the capturing of an abstract thought feels difficult
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I like these Haiku. Could say more on the form and where I have been with Haiku but will save it for the blog... if and when I ever have time and a space in which to get the laptop out! A timely post, I have been itchy for some creative outlet recently and have been thinking about pulling out a notebook and pencil and trying a return to poetry. Thanks for the inspirational shove xxx ( it's going to have to wait until I have dealt with the large box of pears just delivered to my door by my lovely gardening neighbour!)
Posted by: Beth | Friday, August 21, 2020 at 09:37