Winterberry Branch Near My Porch
Photo by Amy LV
Students - Did you know that a poem can be very short? This short poem is simply an image (winterberry branch) and my personification of that image (calling birds for breakfast). It's a haiku.
The Poetry Foundation explains haiku - "A Japanese verse form most often composed, in English versions, of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five syllables. A haiku often features an image, or a pair of images, meant to depict the essence of a specific moment in time." This branch right outside of my front porch here at The Poem Farm is full of berries now...but likely not for long once the birds find it. So this IS a specific moment. Here I fell in love with bright red against white snow and brown barn and branches....
If you are on a school break this coming week, or even if not, keep your eyes open for images specific to the season where you live. Find a moment, a specific moment when the season seems to define itself to you. Write or draw or take a picture.
Right now, as I type to you....about 20 goldfinches are enjoying the feeder outside my window. Another moment! Our world is very beautiful, and we can often find this beauty in small and surprising bits.
Over at my other blog, Sharing Our Notebooks, you can find a very cool peek into Julie Patterson's notebooks. Leave a comment...and you just may win a book!
Buffy is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Buffy's Blog. She's offering up a fun personal holiday poem and a current political poem by our Young People's Poet Laureate Margarita Engle. Please stop by if you'd like to visit many different blogs, all celebrating poetry. We meet weekly, and everyone is invited!
Please share a comment below if you wish.
