Archive for the ‘Haiku & Senryu’ Category

Why Haiku? (Limerick)

Thursday, November 13th, 2014

Why Haiku? (Limerick)
By Madeleine Begun Kane

I’m too blue to stop writing haiku,
Though my readers are threat’ning to sue:
Want me back in the swing
Of my limerick thing,
But both reason and rhyme staged a coup.

Haiku On The Attack (Limerick)

Tuesday, November 11th, 2014

Haiku On The Attack (Limerick)
By Madeleine Begun Kane

Haiku’s been assaulting my mind,
Mocking lim’ricks, who’re feeling maligned:
“Haiku’s pithy, sublime.
“Lim’rick’s frivolous rhyme!”
Begged my muse to crack wise — she declined.

Mars Haiku Contest Results

Thursday, November 21st, 2013

Earlier this year, NASA held a Mars haiku contest, which was managed by the University of Colorado. You can read the winning Mars haiku entries here.

I didn’t win, but my second haiku (the sappy one) got just enough votes to qualify to be included in the DVD that will accompany MAVEN on its journey to and around the Red Planet.

Here are my two entries:

Sorry to barge in.
We don’t mean to make rubble,
but we’re out of space.

***

Earth’s promise to Mars:
We vow to treat you better
than we treat ourselves.

***

Passover Haiku

Saturday, April 7th, 2012

Passover practice:
Cut leavening from your bread.
Add it to your life.

Valentine’s Day Limerick and Haiku Too

Tuesday, February 14th, 2012

Yet Another Valentine’s Day Limerick
By Madeleine Begun Kane

St. Valentine’s Day can be risky
Cuz the men folk do tend to get frisky.
And watch out for the pious:
They sure like to try us
Before and yes after their whiskey.

*****
St. Valentine’s Day
may be over in theory–
never in spirit.

Haiku Quartet

Wednesday, February 8th, 2012

An “Acrostic Fly Haiku,” as suggested by Acrostics Only:

Free-floating on air,
Light as a feather, it soars,
Yielding to a swat.

*****
A “Relief Haiku,” as suggested by Sensational Haiku Wednesday:

Writing on deadline—
no ideas, none, nada.
Then, at last, relief.

*****
Forking over rent—
More than many can handle
if they like food too.

*****
Crafting a poem
takes work, skill, art, cleverness.
Damn … I left out wit.

*****

New Year’s Resolutions Haiku

Thursday, December 29th, 2011

Foretell the future?
Easy! Just predict that you’ll
break resolutions.

*****

Why bother making
fresh New Year’s resolutions?
Re-attempt last year’s.

*****

The first haiku was prompted by Theme Thursday’s future prompt.

Haiku Friday

Friday, December 23rd, 2011

This haiku quartet was inspired by sundry poetry prompts linked below:

Preoccupation:
the state you’re in right before
landing a new job.

*****

Haiku can uplift
all our holiday spirits.
Better yet — champagne.

*****

Our poetry prompts—
an unhealthy obsession?
No! When’s the next one?

*****

If I could create
a lovely haiku today,
I’d be ecstatic.

*****

These haiku were written for these prompts: Occupy, Spirit, Ecstasy, Health and for The Purple Treehouse’s Haiku Prompt.

Flaring Verse (Limerick and Haiku)

Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

Jenn’s haiku theme this week is flare. So I decided to have some homonym fun, writing a flair limerick and a flare haiku:

A woman who dressed with much flair,
Wearing clothes I for one would not dare,
One morning looked odd—
Neither stylish, nor mod—
Alas, she was utterly bare.

*****

When bad tempers flare,
they tend to bare* grievances
best left buried.

*****

*In my haiku, I changed bear to bare after my husband Mark pointed out my error. Since I’m always pointing out his errors, Mark really enjoyed this. :)

Amusing Verse … I Hope

Wednesday, September 21st, 2011

One of my favorite poetry prompt sites, One Single Impression, has asked its poet-participants to propose word prompts for upcoming editions. I suggested the word “amuse,” which will be used next week, starting September 25th. Here’s a limerick and haiku I wrote for the occasion:

Amusing Verse … I Hope
By Madeleine Begun Kane

I try to amuse when I write,
In my quest to pen verse that has bite.
But sometimes my muse
Lets me down. Yes j’accuse!
I suspect that it does it for spite.

*****

Poetry prompt sites
inspire, amuse, bring friends,
awaken muses.

*****

Depressing Haiku of the Day

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

Labor Day’s coming —
the jobless labor to find
cause to celebrate.

Sorry about the downer haiku. To compensate, here are two old humor columns of mine: Just In Time For Labor Day, Some Job Interview Humor and Working Stiffed.

Sundry Haiku and Tanka

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

Prompted to write a school-related haiku, I ended up with a tanka. I just couldn’t seem to fit this true tale into a mere seventeen syllables:

Classroom clock won’t move,
its hands dulled by droning prof,
who catches my stare
and yells, “If you’re bored, then go.”
Lesson learned — I take my leave.

*****

Continuing with an education theme, I’ve used Three Word Wednesday’s drag, mumble, penetrate prompt in this haiku:

Penetrating mind
who mumbles at his lectern —
a scholarly drag.

*****

Drop the “f” from “flaws”
and you’re left with the word “laws,”
most of which are flawed.

*****

What greater pleasure
than a standing ovation
from the man you love.

*****

Sleepy Haiku

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

I lie in my bed,
coaxing my brain to adapt
and glide into sleep.

*****

Insomnia strikes
when I’m at my most weary—
tired irony.

*****

My lullaby verse—
I knew I should write it down—
now it’s lost to sleep.

*****

My thoughts skip around
like out-of-control children—
scaring sleep away.

*****

You can read my How To Become An Insomniac (Humorous How-To) here.

(My first haiku was inspired by Three Word Wednesday’s “adapt, glide, lie” prompt. My second haiku was inspired by Sensational Haiku Wednesday’s “weary” prompt.

Update: Happy Festival Of Sleep Day!

View my insomnia haiku image here.

Sundry Haiku

Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

Words meant to welcome—
“Please make yourself at home.”
remind me I’m not.

*****

Oboist mutes gasp,
playing unviable phrase,
conquering Bizet.

*****

A Nantucket man
knew his much lim’ricked neighbor—
envied him his fame.

*****

Plan for the future,
but never let your planning
erase the present.

*****

An alluring scent,
indecently delicious,
renders gents senseless.

*****
(The first haiku was inspired by Sensational Haiku Wednesday’s home prompt. The second haiku was inspired by 3 Word Wednesday’s prompt to use the words gasp, mute, and viable. That second haiku alludes to a notoriously long and difficult oboe passage in Bizet’s Symphony in C.)

Sundry Verse About Writing Poetry

Friday, August 5th, 2011

Haiku hankering
mixed with lim’rick addiction —
housework hiatus.

*****

I am on a quest
For haiku or senryu.
Mission accomplished.

*****

Artificial
line breaks can seduce readers
into thinking
you’ve said something
profound.

*****

Nigh Not Nearly My Forte

Saturday, April 9th, 2011

Today I have a bit of fun with two pairs of synonyms:

The words nigh and near
synonyms, and yet just one
sizzles and sings.

Near merely describes,
while the soaring nigh evokes —
close but no cigar.

But don’t pity near
it verbs — something nigh can’t do.
This verse now burned out.

*****

Metier, I hear,
is a forte synonym.
What a grand duo —
one traded for the other —
pianometier music.

*****

(Pompted by nigh from Haiku Heights and Weekend Theme’s metier.)

Face Time (Haiku)

Thursday, April 7th, 2011

Flutist misses cue.
Conductor settles the score.
Time to face music.

*****

Botoxified face,
once intelligent with age,
now frozen wasteland.

*****

(Face prompt from Theme Thursday)

Undecorated (Haiku and Tanka)

Tuesday, April 5th, 2011

Blank slate office walls —
Decorate? No one tempted —
temporary work.

*****

Nakedly ringless,
undecorated fingers
robbed of wedding bling.
Married still, but ringed no more.
Replaceable … and yet not.

*****

(Prompted by decorated)

Minding My Haiku

Sunday, April 3rd, 2011

Just a single spark —
all you need to fire up
imagination.

*****

Blaming messenger
heralds avoidance when you
can’t bear the message.

*****

Some thorny problems
can’t be solved by deep thinking
and just need deep sleep.

*****

(Prompts used in this post: making fire from We Write Poems, messenger from Sunday Scribblings, and thorn from Weekend Wordsmith)

Mental Haiku Duet

Sunday, March 27th, 2011

Left brain or right brain —
Which am I? The one, I fear,
that can’t remember.

*****

Creative options
seem nearly unlimited —
overwhelmed, I freeze.

*****

(The 2nd haiku was prompted by Writer’s Island’s unlimited and Sunday Scribblings’ nearly.)