NaHaiWriMo in April

In April 2011 I was lucky enough to have the job of giving haiku prompts on the NaHaiWriMo Facebook page for those who hadn’t been able to get enough of NaHaiWriMo in February, its official month, when Michael Dylan Welch was giving prompts. Or March, when Alan Summers was giving prompts.

It was a blast hanging out with all the NaHaiWriMo groupies all month and reading their great haiku and joking around with them. We all had so much fun coming up with variations on the prompts.

Here are the prompts and the haiku I wrote for them.

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1. Tricks, deception

catbird
I wonder which is
his real voice

2. Sweets and sweet things

blossoms
last year’s honey
on our toast

3. Insects and arachnids

spider silk
she descends
to my level

4. Cleaning

cirrus sky
the patch of window
I forgot to wash

5. Planets

snowdrops —
all the new planets
they keep finding

6. Fairy tales

sunrise…
the firebird flies past
my window

7. Machines

rainbow fading —
the coin counter rejects
my lucky penny

8. Herbs and spices

summer’s end
the taste of rosemary
in his kiss

9. Music

cicada trill
when did I last play
the harmonica

10. Books and libraries

wild nights —
Emily Dickinson asleep
on my nightstand

.
library hush
he reads my mind
a little

11. Really big things

roaring breakers
I implore the whale
for its name

12. Sleep

lullaby
drowning out the voice
of the owl

13. Chemical elements

pink balloon
you teach me to breathe
helium

14. Rivers and streams

the heat —
spilled moon poaching
in the river

15. Boxes and other containers

paintbox
the sky spreads
over the water

16. Birds of prey

property line
the hawk’s head swivels
from house to house

17. Houses and other dwellings

house of blues
the temptation
to join in

18. History

spring planting
the history book open
to the last page

.

the battle site
children run back and forth
across the bridge
.

the cries of swimmers
we add one more stone
to his grave

19. Wind

west wind
the rain arrives
without you

20. Walls

sundown the way walls stop casting shadows

21. Eyes

spring moon –
at the foot of our bed
the cat shuts half an eye

22. Dirt

spring mud
the sound of rain
falling into it

23. Theater, plays

amphitheater among the words a whippoorwill

24. Eggs

Easter sunrise
all the dyed eggs
regain their colors

25. Black and white

black light
poems appear
in the rocks

.
white butterflies unbreathable atmosphere
.

horsetail sky
another story about you
in the newspaper

26. Playgrounds and playground equipment

swingset at dusk—
we take turns
pushing each other

27. Fire

evening star
the blacksmith shows me
how to judge the heat

28. Doors

white night
car doors slamming
everywhere

29. Trees

Arbor Day
we carry the tree back out
of the house

30. Really small things

forsythia buds
I let all the balloons
go at once