April is National Poetry Month!

To celebrate my favorite month of the year right here on a wrung sponge I will be posting a haiku + original photo; or haiga every day this month. I've done it for the last three years and it continues to challenge and amaze me. The discipline of slowing down to take just one moment in the day and capture it in the form of a haiku which in some way seems to fit with a photo I've taken; that is a deeply centering experience.

When I am composing haiku I look for an image that captures one moment in time. Then I look for another image to contrast it that is in some way connected. The contrast of the two is what allows the reader to make a jump - an "Aha!" moment as some haiku masters have termed it. It should be about nature; but sometimes it's about people in relation to nature. It never rhymes, but sometimes it amuses me to use alliteration and assonance.

Today we had a luncheon for the teachers at school. Some of the eighth grade girls served as wait-staff. I couldn't help comparing them, in their bouncy spring skirts, to the cherry blossoms nodding in the bright sunshine.



young girls
in swirls of springtime skirts;
trembling blossoms

.....-Andromeda Jazmon

There are many other poets and bloggers celebrating National Poetry Month. Here is the full list at KidlitosphereCentral. Take some time to enjoy the celebration!