Haiku blossoms in April

April 1, 2014

Posted by Diane

“Winter moon hovers
powerlines ripple the dark
crows fly toward home.”

This haiku at the Beacon Hill Library is one of four carved onto large rocks in the landscaped grounds. The haiku were composed by folks in our neighborhood and were selected to be engraved when the new building opened in 2004. The rocks are moss covered now, ten years later, but we still feel surrounded by poetry. Especially in April, haiku is elevated to art when The Seattle Public Library system celebrates Poetry Month by featuring one haiku per day April 1^st to 30^th on our website. These original works are the top selections culled from hundreds of submissions. This year, we asked for haiku that celebrates Seattle and as one of the judges noted, “From our winners, I now know that Seattle has 4 things going for it for sure – Seahawks, rain, coffee, and mountains.” Also of note is a program at the Columbia Branch on April 13, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. The Readers Write program will feature Michael Dylan Welch, poet laureate for Redmond, who will teach a “Haiku Targets” workshop discussing the beauty and complexities of a seemingly simple poetic form.

A lovely pairing of haiku and Japanese art from the British Museum can be found in the book edited by David Cobb called Haiku: The Poetry of Nature. It follows the four seasons of the year through famous haiku from revered poets such as Basho, Issa and Buson, which perfectly evoke the moods of each season. In The Haiku Apprentice: Memoirs of Writing Poetry in Japan, author and haiku student Abigail Friedman writes about her experiences in living the “haiku life” in Japan. If you’ve ever contemplated writing haiku, Friedman’s memoirs will strike a chord as she uncovers both the joys and frustrations of writing just 17 syllables, all the while striving to be worthy of the Japanese masters. She learns from her mentor, as all writers of haiku eventually come to apprehend, that “Haiku is a literature of silence.” For children, a new picture book, The Year Comes Round: Haiku through the Seasons by Sid Farrar, introduces haiku through his original poems, enhanced by delightful art by Ilse Plume. Also of note, Hi Koo!: A Year of Seasons presented by Koo and John J. Muth, challenges younger readers to stretch their minds and imaginations with the irresistible panda named Koo.