goldfish
by Angie Quantrell
crunchy goldfish swim
wet mouthful of cheese and salt
disintegrating
*Inspired by certain grands who love goldfish crackers, despite the spewing of soggy bits as they graze through a bag.
Haiku Challenge:
Do you love to write Haiku? Join me! I’d love to read your poems. Silly, serious, sage…one and all.
***Family friendly, please!
H is For Haiku, A Treasury of Haiku From A to Z
By Sydell Rosenberg
Illustrated by Sawsan Chalabi
(Penny Candy Books, 2018)
H is For Haiku is the lovely result of the imaginative, creative, and lyrical work of Sydell Rosenberg, mother of Amy Losak.
In honor of her mother, Amy Losak pursued the publication of her mother’s Haiku. Syd, one of the first members of the Haiku Society of America, dreamed of publishing a book for children focused on Haiku.
Haiku, a form of poetry, originated in Japan. Most readers recognize Haiku for the strict syllable count used for each of the three lines (most often 5-7-5) in a Haiku poem. Haiku is way to recognize the small things of nature and life-wonderful, amazing, poetic, and awe-inspiring.
“What’s most important about writing haiku is to focus on those many small moments we may overlook and make them special.” -Amy Losak
Beautifully illustrated, H is For Haiku brought a smile to my face with every new alphabet letter and corresponding Haiku. I enjoyed clever phrases, rich language, and observations of the natural life around us.
Well done, Sydell Rosenberg! Great job, Sawsan Chalabi! Amy Losak, I’m so glad you stuck with it and had H is For Haiku published. This book is a gift for us, if we but take the time to read and ponder.
KID KANDY:
Write Your Own Haiku Poem
1. Read H is for Haiku. Notice the clever words and illustrations. Both help tell the story of the Haiku.
2. Take a notepad and pencil outside. Spend time observing the nature around you. Focus on the small things you see. As you look, write down words that come to your mind. A parent or older sibling can help with this part.
3. Do you know what a syllable is? Clap your name. For me, I clap twice: An gie. 2 syllables. Practice with some other words.
4. Haiku is a poem with 3 lines. Each line has a certain syllable count: 5-7-5
5. Some people are not very strict with keeping the exact syllable counts, but it’s good practice as you learn the format for a Haiku poem.
6. Choose something you observed to be the subject of your Haiku. What do you want to say? Write down the words you want to use. Play with the words. Count out syllables. You can write ANYTHING you want in your Haiku poem.
7. Print your Haiku poem on clean paper. Add an illustration! Share it with a friend or family member! OR ME!!!
Here’s a silly Haiku I just wrote:
Upside down spider
Climbing, webbing, catching food
Don’t drop on my head!
Scone
maple icing treat
warm from oven, coffee too
yearning for a taste
Welcome to Hump Day Haiku!
Everybody loves Hump Day – Wednesday! Otherwise known as half the week is gone, we’re over the hump, and we’re so close to the weekend we can taste it.
If you enjoy Haiku, join in by sharing a Happy Hump Day Haiku.
How many of you read for pleasure? (“Me, me!” she shouts while waving her hand crazily in the air.)
A paper book? An e-reader story? A tale that lets you escape to a new land, new people, new problems? (Yes, please!)
Oh, the books we can read! Too many books, not enough time, right?
Consider this poem I wrote for a course:
This pleasure,
While reading,
Gives me a poetic mind.
Gobbled, devoured,
Digested words and tale.
Spit out to be
Read again.
Again.
And again.
Dissected, applied to life,
Reassembled with
New understanding.
Reading for pleasure;
A necessity as is
Air, water, food.
I pick up again
The feast of words
To consume the story
Each book tells.
Tell me, tell me please!
What book are you reading right now? What’s your favorite book? What chores have you neglected to read just. one. more. page? (…dishes, laundry, vacuuming, dusting)
I’d love to hear the tale of the words that let you escape.
by Angie Quantrell
dead stuff
every. single. day.
dead stuff is delivered.
fur. teeth. tails. tiny feet.
feathers. skulls. wings asunder.
the odd beak.
legless bugs. drips of blood.
eerie green body parts.
dead stuff. in life. in dreams.
felines hard at work.
freeze. winter. come soon.
put to ground the endless corpses
delivered as gifts.
pause the need for caution
when opening the door or
placing feet along the body strewn gravel,
blending in, creating traps for thoughtless tread.
drop. temperature. ice-over.
to sleep. to fly south. to hibernate.
what happened to lumps of fur nested
in front of roaring fires?
rest, kitties, rest.
By Angie Quantrell
Caramel apples
Leaves poised to drift and rest
Golf course cowboy in full roping regalia
Kites of black crow
Squabbling magpies dropping nuts
Blaring country western music serenading golf athletes
Fruity wafts of fallen apples
Crisp air floating watchful hawks
Horseshoes traded for clubs and pixellated balls
Scrambling squirrels pursuing future feasts
V’s of noise and harsh wing beats
Cowboy hats capturing sun-touched heads
Hollow seed pods knocking one another
Waving grass kissing heat and drought good-bye
Wheeled-steeds rolling into the tees of sunset
Familiar autumn memories prance and greet
A lifetime of fall memories merging together welcomes interlopers
Cowboys and golf marry, valley mysteries
A painting of the eclipse (red because it’s darker) – Art by Khloe
Our tiny view of the eclipse through a pin-hole camera
Boxes, foil and tape,
wondering children marvel
as sky lights shake hands.
Pin-hole cameras
Hayden and Khloe peeking at the solar eclipse
The daytime and night
heavenly bodies dance past,
a peek-a-boo tryst.
Gage trying to see the eclipse…he’s only 2, so was not impressed
Stacking rocks was more enticing than solar and lunar escapades
The waiting is long
Look, play, work, gaze, pinhole view;
Light sliver eclipse.
The PacMan stage (coined by Hayden) of the solar eclipse
Taking a solar break – by hauling bricks
But how? Why? We gasp.
Fleeting, amazing, we stop.
Cooler, darker day.
Mabel was definitely more exciting to Gage than the sun and moon
Putting down bricks, mid-eclipse
Solar Eclipse, by Khloe
This may be golden, but it’s no Golden Shovel.
The Golden Shovel. What is that?
I recently read a post about said shovel. And it has nothing to do with physical digging, but plenty to do with mental excavating, sleuthing, and creating with words. The Golden Shovel is a fun writing exercise.
You can learn more about the Golden Shovel poetic form by visiting here.
The rules for creating a Golden Shovel masterpiece are as follows:
– Choose a line from a poem you enjoy.
– Use each word in the line as the last word for the lines in your poem.
– The end words must stay in the same order as the original poem.
– Please give credit to the author of the original text you’ve chosen to use.
– Now create away! Your new poem doesn’t have to match the original theme. This baby is your baby.
Here is my Golden Shovel.
Inspiration for my Golden Shovel
I love to play with you.
Let’s build a blankie nest.
Snuggle here,
read and play, with
warm cocoa, you and me.
(July 19, 2017)
My words are both the title and specific lines from the beautiful picture book You Nest Here with Me by Jane Yolen and Heidi E.Y. Stemple (Boyds Mill Press, 2015).
The help I receive on a daily basis when I write.
How about you? Give the Golden Shovel a try. I’d love to read your poem!
photos and poem by angie quantrell
orange plus pink
sweet hues of sunset
and dessert
taste yummy to my eyes
and gift me
a smile
tightly closed fists peek
pink wisps bulge with life – spring yearns,
bursts forth, nest and tree alike
The most hopeful of seasons, spring, lies in wait, gathering herself in preparation to leap into the exploding fray of growth, buzzing with energy and promise.
What signs of spring do you see in your area?
Love, Laughter, and Life 