Haiku! Gesundheit.

Hooray! I actually got an award for my poetry this past week from a poet who goes by the name of Jingle. She does weekly awards that encourage other poets to read your work and give you feedback. If you are a poet and would like others to know it, start a blog and check out Jingle’s contest. It is amazing to have a community of other writers to support.

I accept your award, Jingle, with the deepest gratitude to you and all the other poets who have encouraged me. Since this week’s theme is haiku, I am reposting some haiku that I wrote in April. I would love to have people guess the adages that I took to make the haiku. Some are easy, some a bit obsure.

What’s better than a haiku? This is not a rhetorical question. This is just the limerick lady wanting to break out a little bit from my new poetry experience to have a little fun. And I found it. The poetry exercise today from The Pencil Sharpener is haiku. That won’t stop me from having a little whimsy. I found a variation on the haiku, which is a poem with a focus on nature, that is all about the humor of human foibles. Enter the Senryu. Essentially the same pattern of 17 or fewer syllables spread out over 3 lines with the middle line being the longest. If you like rules, stick to 5 on (Japanese for syllables), 7 on, 5 on. I have composed fourteen senryu based on well known adages. Let’s see how many you can figure out:

.

Work and work some more

no fun no games just work

boy you are dull jack

.

tell me what happened

great you made me hit a cat

oh okay meow

.

good it arrived

i just knew it would show up

yes i was waiting

.

i need a good friend

you are there when i need you

indeed i am indeed

.

what a nice fence sir

i just finished building it

won’t you come in sir

.

dang i failed again

dang and now i failed again

dang i failed again

.

can i kill that one

no don’t you dare kill that one

look a golden egg

.

miserable me

hello there may i join you

miserable us

.

good intent abound

roadwork ahead use caution

you are going down

.

the soup is finished

too much salt not enough noodles

fire half the chefs

.

the current is strong

we are getting nowhere fast

won’t get far no oar

.

a little of this

and a little of that

seasoned vitality

.

the goose is cooked

in a salt and pepper sauce

mmmm two fine birds

.

looked interesting

can’t get past the first passage

boring beyond words