Haiku Tuesday: Creative Writing Prompts

Through some grades in school, we had to do daily journal writing. I had a love/hate relationship with prompts. I wanted to write whatever I wanted, but I often found myself enjoying the prompt halfway through the writing.

A while back, I was looking for ideas for my mom's website, and found "Creative Writing Now." Reading some articles from the site helped remind me that you can write things just for fun or to challenge yourself. Sometimes I forget that it's okay to do something that's not entirely productive.

I thought of that site today because I was thinking about how un-inspiring my haiku have been. I remembered that they don't have to be good. I like writing them. I also remembered Creative Writing Now's list of poetry prompts and decided I'd try to haiku a few.

I like most of the prompts but decided to go with "2. A particular color." I remember my first winter on the mountain. The ice, the fog, the gray & white.. I didn't realize how much I love green until I spotted green through parting fog.

I love no color

more than when glimpsing spring's green

amidst winter's drear

Haiku Tuesday: Cypress Knees

I have a fondness for cypress trees. They aren't my all time favorite tree, but they are definitely in the top 5. For me, they are part of home. They are the tree equivalent of Emeril Lagasse's "kicking it up a notch," taking "just a lake" and making it an adventure. They feel prehistoric and can give character

to any body of water, especially when they have their buddy, Spanish moss, hanging out in the limbs.

Friendship Garden's Tea House

When I visited Phoenix, I went to a bonsai exhibit at the Japanese Friendship Garden. The exhibit was great, and I really enjoyed my trip to the garden.
A few of the bonsai on display were different kinds of cypress trees. I asked one of the gentlemen if the bonsai version ever grew knees. He didn't know what I was talking about. We finally understood one another, and he said he'd never seen one with knees other than in pictures.  I had never really thought about it and had taken for granted that cypress trees were the same everywhere. When I thought it more, I realized I had seen some growing around Fayetteville that didn't have knees.

When I got home, I researched it. Growing up, I had always thought cypress knees were to help the tree get air. I never questioned that and never really thought about it. When I researched it, I found that a study was conducted measuring the air exchange in air only around the knees. It was minimal. No evidence has been found that the knees help support the tree, as in the case of mango trees. The general conclusion is that cypress trees are a mystery. I'm sure there are many more studies, and I intend to read through some more.

Yesterday, Boudreaux and I walked down to the lake to catch the last bit of sunset. There's a neat spot behind the campground across the road from my house where you can walk to the edge of the water. I like to walk down there when there aren't any campers (or mosquitoes!). I took a couple of pictures and started thinking about today's haiku on the walk back to the house.

Knees that can never
bend but stretch from below for
mystery alone

Why do you think cypress trees have knees?

Haiku Tuesday!

I have always liked haiku. The challenge of expressing a whole emotion or idea in such a short and constrained manner just appeals to me.
A couple of years ago, I even tried writing a haiku every day for 30 days. I did keep it up for a couple of weeks. I even illustrated most of them. Then it snowed, and I got distracted by playing outside.

I've decided to start writing them again. I won't have a goal as lofty as one day, but I think one a week is realistic. Some of them, okay, most of them, will probably not be very good, but I like to challenge myself and solve puzzles. To me, a haiku is a creative word puzzle. This will help me stretch my brain. Plus, it will be fun.

Why Tuesday? Because it has a "u" in it and sounded better than "haiku Thursday".  So without
further ado:

Rains refuse to come
While trees remain clothed in green

Forgotten by Fall

Our weather has been uncharacteristically warm, with very dry conditions. The only leaves on the ground are there from lack of water. There are very few fall colors and the lake is very low. 

Feel like trying your hand at a haiku? Try it out and share the results in the comments!