Tag Archives: #haikuforhealing

Haiku for Healing: NPM20 Day 23

My students and I are 23 days into our poem-a-day challenge. While not all have stayed caught up…many have. It’s such fun to watch their knowledge and skills with poetry and writing grow as they engage with written language and ideas every day.

Yesterday I invited students to create some Haiku focused on gratitude–something I had experienced through #haikuforhealing a while back. This seemed like a good time for some healing Haiku.

It was such fun to see what my student came up with. They posted their Haiku along with a photo on our class padlet. Here is a small collection of just the poetry–and notice how many students focused on family members as the subject of their poems.

And my own:

Neighborhood Nature

wind brushing my face
dappled light bouncing off trees
nature brings me peace

An Invitation to Connect and Make Poetry: NPM20 Day 2

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Last night on our National Writing Project connecting the network zoom call, my colleague and I were asked to facilitate a “making” session–a place for a small group to make something together. And since writing is making, we thought about some way to have our group engage in a small writing piece that collectively made something bigger.

Inspired by the Springtime in Washington Haiku Contest: Poems on a Pandemic article another colleague shared with me earlier in the week, we decided to create a shareable slide deck of our own version of Coronavirus Haiku. We invited participants in our breakout session to create a Haiku (short poem, 17 syllables, 5-7-5 pattern), and then add the poem and an image to a slide in the collaborative deck.

I offered my own as example:

So this post serves as an invitation to all of you. Take a few minutes to write a Haiku or other short poem about some aspect of your coronavirus experience. It can be funny, somber, documentary, whimsical, sad, angry…

You can access the slide deck here: Coronavirus Haiku: Short Poems Documenting Life During a Pandemic. Writing is not only making, it is also connecting. And can be healing as well. A few years back I wrote a post about my response to another blogger and colleague’s invitation to write #haikuforHealing–a balm for the tired spirit. So let’s connect and heal as we write together.

#haikuforhealing

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It’s so easy to break a good habit, even after it has been well established. When I started this blog, I wrote daily for months on end. Of course, I did it because I knew if I stopped (and I was afraid to stop for even one day), I would have a hard time getting back on track.

I guess I was right.

This week, my friend and colleague Kevin posted a prompt on the NWP iAnthology, inviting some short-form writing in the form of Haiku, 3 line poems, for the purpose of healing the spirit. #haikuforhealing is a hashtag where people are sharing these poems meant to raise spirits. I noticed Kevin writing them in December, making posters of them with inspirational images as their backdrop. I enjoyed them…and thought about writing some of my own.

So when the prompt came up on Saturday, I decided to try my hand at it. I started with a photo I had taken and posted on Instagram. I imported it into Canva and added my words. My first #haikuforhealing was born.

On Sunday my schedule didn’t allow for a long photo-taking walk. Instead, I snapped a shot of the moon through the trees in the Trader Joe’s parking lot. I messed with it a bit in prisma, amping up the color. Hmmm…a Haiku about the moon? I could do that.

It rained quite a bit on Monday, but it had stopped by the time I left work. Knowing rain was in the forecast later in the week, I decided to take a walk on the beach on the way home. The clouds were sitting low, hugging the horizon, as the sun tried its best to peek through. Inspiration for another #haikuforhealing? Why not?

Should I go for four days in a row? One of the things I love about living near the coast is the proximity to the trains. I hear them as I walk on the beach, I hear them as I teach, and they frequently hold me up at intersections as the guards lower, the lights flash, and the train barrels past.Today I was walking toward my car when the rail guards dropped, giving me just enough time to snap a few shots…and think about a Haiku…

I don’t know if I have re-established a habit of daily writing, but I am four days into daily #haikuforhealing writing. I’m enjoying it. I like creating the poster with my photograph and words…and sharing it on Twitter (@kd062) makes me feel accountable (at least to myself).

Join in the healing, let Haiku shift your perspective and help you find inspiration, beauty, meaning… And if you have other ideas to keep the daily writing fresh and doable, I’d love to hear about them!