My First Publication

Here's a link to my first publication in Issue 9 of Canyon voices.

Routine Adjustment

Haiku Challenge Day 46

Feb. 15
Marilyn Monroe
zit. Not as fashionable,
unfortunately.

Haiku Challenge Day 43

Today's post is based on something my brother wrote on Facebook. So I can't really take credit for it. Thanks for the inspiration, Thomas!

Feb. 12
Mighty wind pushes
Snow mountains like desert sands,
Become ice rivers.

Haiku Challenge Day 42

Feb. 11
Another rainy day
Mud puddles splash, droplets fly,
Splatter-paint my car.

Haiku Challenge, Day 41

Feb. 10
Brightly colored spots
on pavement. Pink, yellow, blue.
Poor spilled, crushed Fruit Loops.

Haiku Challenge Day 40

Feb. 9
Baby Jonathan
Tiny nose, a wrinkled chin.
He squirms in my arms.

Western sky ablaze
Clouds like golden-white thumb prints
Tree limb silhouettes

Haiku Challenge Day 39

Feb. 8
I heart Olympics
Gets you through winter doldrums
Go Team USA

Haiku Challenge Days 37 & 38

Feb. 6
The Music Man play,
medieval presentation,
JV basketball.

Feb. 7
Speckled dream rabbit–
I claim you for my haiku–
Yellow, brown and green.

Haiku Challenge, Days 35 & 36

Feb. 4
Tuesdays are bad days
for snowstorms in Kansas and
in Alabama.

Feb. 5
A rainy, cold night.
Thunder in February
means frost in April.

Haiku Challenge Day 34

Feb. 3
Scattered paper hearts
rain down from her pockets. She
showers love on us.

Stowaway green crane.
Will he find what I folded?
Token from sister.

Haiku Challenge Day 33

Feb. 2
The rain clouds ahead
dip smoky gray tails into
white sky beneath them.

Haiku Challenge Day 32

Feb. 1
Old home video
Talk show skit– gangster, hippie,
crazy flute player.

I write haiku; fold
origami cranes, flowers;
should be Japanese.

Haiku Challenge Day 31

Jan. 31
Frozen fountain with
only burble of water.
Is that a real word?

Haiku Challenge Day 30

Jan. 30
Climbed hill to my car–
Vehicle retrieval day–
Still locked out of it.

A locked gate, locked car.
I climbed hill, over back seat,
Drove around the ditch.

Haiku Challenge Day 29

Jan. 29
Twenty-four hours,
Another bird casualty.
What’s wrong with window?

Winter snow day craft
Making hats for everyone–
New babies, of course.

Haiku Challenge, Days 26 & 28

I may have missed a day in the middle, but you'll see that I more than made up for it with today's haikus. It snowed in Alabama, an event that is about as rare as finding a four-leaf clover while blindfolded.

Jan. 26
Seasons fifty-two
flatbread, sushi, rainbow trout
Sister’s birthday meal.

Jan. 28
Injured cardinal
flew into window, now rests,
red against white snow.

Freddy’s snow journey:
Saved by Good Samaritan
on an ATV.

Swish, shuffle, crunch crunch
Snowball with a comet tail
Snow walk with Thomas

Broken window pane,
Locked out of my frozen car:
Sad discoveries.

Haiku Challenge Days 24 & 25

Jan. 24
Feathered clouds above,
singing “When I’m alone,” I
feel outside myself.

Jan. 25
Mom’s taking photos
of closet like it’s the way
into Narnia.

Haiku Challenge Days 22-23

Jan. 22
High school math problems:
Calculator dependence.
What is the square root?

Jan. 23
Underweight or “fat,”
Your worth is not a number.
God loves you the same.

Haiku Challenge Day 21

It's my half birthday! Now on to the latest haiku.

Jan. 21
Stolen Pixie Stix.
Who eats another’s candy?
Basketball players.

Haiku Challenge Days 18-20

Catching up on posting haikus. I have kept writing, I just forget to post them here. The only day I had zero inspiration was Jan. 17, so I'm skipping that day.

Jan. 18
Three coughers at home.
Let’s all cough in unison!
And that’s what they do.

Jan. 19
Bacon poisoning?
How much bacon did you eat?
A whole side at once.

Jan. 20
Do birds remember
Routines, flight patterns, weather?
Is today different?

Haiku Challenge Day 16

Spelling Mnemonic Device

Astronaut, A-U
Auburn sent them into space,
Not Alabama.

Haiku Challenge Days 14 & 15

Jan. 14
Egg white sandwiches
What happened to all the yolks?
Did they disappear?

Jan. 15
Not in my classroom:
Pencils as wolverine claws.
Give me your pencils.

Haiku Challenge Day 13

Jan. 13
Accidental wink–
A facial muscle spasm–
I’m sorry, student.

Haiku Challenge Day 12

Jan. 12
Soon-to-be father:
“Baby can’t scream in the womb.
I can wait for him.”

Haiku Challenge Days 10 & 11

Jan. 10

Strange dreams from last night:
Potato chip wedding dress,
Old roommate on beach.

Jan. 11

Old Casio keyboard
dusty keys, a frantic beat
Eighties memories.

Haiku Challenge Day 9

Jan. 9

Film photography:
You have to slow down and think.
Deliberate art.

Haiku Challenge Day 8

Jan. 8

Sunset orange, a
color I can’t quite describe:
fiery beauty.

Haiku Challenge, Days 6 & 7

Okay, so I may have cheated a little, since I didn't technically write a haiku yesterday. But hey, I was watching the National Championship game. Give me a break. Here are haikus for days 6 & 7.

Jan. 6

Late start to school day.
Where is everybody? They
didn’t get memo?

Jan. 7

Frozen mud puddles
Forever iced milky white
border the road home.

Haiku Challenge Day 5

Jan. 5

Why the chained dog barks:
For freedom, from confusion,
for family he loves.

Haiku Challenge Day 4

Jan. 4

A red cardinal,
Gray trunks, violet shadows:
Winter afternoon.

Daily Haiku Challenge (Days 1-3)

For 2014, I have decided to embark on a new writing challenge. I will write one haiku a day based on something I see, do, or experience. It may last only a month, but it could be all year. My motivation is to keep writing, even if it's only a little bit each day. Also, I think it will help me hone my skills for observation, because I think that there are small moments of beauty each day that we just skim right by because we're in such a hurry. I think the haiku is the perfect format for encapsulating these moments. I will be following the traditional 5-7-5 syllable pattern of Japanese haiku. Okay, enough explanations, let's get to the haikus.

Jan.1

Sharing apples sliced
with garlic-flavored knife: a
strange combination.

Jan. 2

Snipping snowflakes from
paper, together we find
Rorschach tests of minds.

What do you see? My
brother’s hidden artistry:
Intricate snowflakes.

Jan. 3

Sunlight through prism
glass in front door makes rainbows
on breakfast table.