January NaHaiWriMo (It ain't just for February anymore)

NaHaiWriMo (National Haiku Writing Month) was started in February 2011 by Michael Dylan Welch as a challenge for poets to write one haiku a day during that month. It didn't take long for this experiment to explode to international proportions and it now runs all year long with guest prompters every month. I've been writing ku on the Facebook NaHaiWriMo page for the past year. This is what became of January:


January NaHaiWriMo Prompter: Annie Juhl

1/1 (beginnings)
first morning
not a hint of the future
in this cloudless sky

1 /2  (family/friends)
surgical prep
the warmth of my sister’s hand
as I wait

1/3  (local season)
arctic blast
33 scrabble points
for frigid

1/4  (fur/feathers)
bedtime stretch
the softness of the fur
between her claws

1/5  (here and now)
a visit from friends
last night’s snow
already melted

1/6  (daydream)
day moon
three kings leave gifts
in the barn

1/7 (haiku for Kat’s haibun)
With swelling clouds before them these Saturday afternoon drivers are all on their way  somewhere. The traffic crawls. My eyes are beguiled by the shape shifting sky. My mood changes with the music on the radio and my mind wanders. The work left behind. The friend whose mother is ill. The husbands and wives still in love and those who aren’t. Construction always along this same curve . . . what is it they are trying to fix?  Those who have passed and those still with us.  Streaming sunlight unfolds from the smallest bit of blue sky.   My mother always told me those rays were ushering souls into heaven  Still these dark clouds color my everything. And all these brake lights.

the hills ahead
might there be a clearing
for kite flying?

1/8 (limbs)
alone this winter
if only my arms could reach
the moon

1/9 (pirate/viking)
pirate’s wench
just another daydream
of a sexier me

1/10 (scent/smell)
in moonlight
the frozen koi pond absent
of its scent

1/11  (energy)
these fragile orchids
where do they find the energy
to reach for the sun?

1/12 (narrowing focus)
a sky full of moon
yet the moth still pokes
the nightlight

1/13 (13)
yesterday’s damaging winds
the boy I loved
when I was just thirteen

1/14 (twilight/dusk)
dusk unnoticed
dad’s sharp whistle
calls us home

1/15 (Annie’s photo of the lake in northern Norway)
reading Milton
between the lines I find
my own paradise

1/16 (ground/earth)
a murder of crows
where the oak stood
a scar in the earth

1/17 (music/song)
morning snow
the shape of windsong
through the trees

1/18 (flowers)
splitting iris bulbs
the sisters finally speak
to each other

1/19 (food)
snowy forecast
navel oranges the brightest
things in the room

1/20 (pain)
slack tide
awaiting the answer
that never comes

1/21 (soft)
mother’s touch
whispers of ‘edelweiss’
after my bad dream

1/22 (sixth sense)
before the first snow
squirrels frantic
to bury their nuts

1/23 (dragon)
these medicated nights
dreams of costumed dragons
on lily pads

1/24 (one line haiku)
new moon drawing the winter surf closer

1/25 (metaphor)
morning glory
dew
between the petals

1/26 (water)
tossing and turning
the tide
my only truth

1/27 (light and dark)
a swoop of pearl white
on this blackened canvas
waxing crescent

1/28 (fire)
fire breather
how quickly the air
is sucked from the room

1/29 (birth/death)
dropping
a handful of dirt
the orphan

1/30 (wind)
on this path
all to herself
wanton wind

1/31 (circles)

My first haiku on NaHaiWriMo from February 1, 2011:

winter storm warning
we count all the colors
in last spring's photos

And then came the first prompt from Michael (hands):

peace march
holding hands with people
I will never see again

We are now well into February, the official month for NaHaiWriMo. Check it out when you have a chance:
NaHaiWriMo on Facebook