#haiku (and book launches) for healing

My effort to respond creatively to the news of the world continues;  you can read about how Mary Lee started it all here.  You're invited to scroll down to the previous week's minimalist commentaries --and of course, you're invited to join in.  It wasn't clear to me at first, but the tiny discipline of slowing down to craft a response (rather than just banging the steering wheel and yelling at the radio) has been empowering.

12.9

first college news
we both prefer denial
to rejection

And from yesterday:

12.8

gold star winks out
leaving a long bright trail
holding in orbit


Joining in this project are all the brave women below; I hope they will pardon me when, during the week, all I can manage is to Like their Tweeted haiku.  It's good to work alongside you all!

          Mary Lee Hahn at Poetrepository
          Michelle Heidenrich Barnes at Today's Little Ditty
          Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche
          Linda Mitchell at A Word Edgewise
          Buffy Silverman at Buffy's Blog
          Jone Rush MacCulloch at DeoWriter
          Diane Mayr, posted on Thursdays at Random Noodling
          Julie Johnson at Raising Readers and Writers
          Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core
          Carol Varsalona at Beyond LiteracyLink
          Carol Wilcox at Carol's Corner
          Julieanne Harmatz tweeting @jarhartz          Linda Baie at Teacher Dance


Our hostess with the postest is Jone at Check It Out.  She reminds us that haiku fits nicely on a postcard. And now, in other news...

I was delighted to join Jacqueline Jules, Marty Rhodes Figley and Laura Murray on Dec. 1st for a holiday book launch at One More Page in Arlington, VA (what a delightful place).  Here we are, festive and fierce with a bunch of fun books for holiday giving and receiving.  Each book you see earns its place on the bookshelf, but if I may reveal all my biases:  every home with children needs a copy of One Minute till Bedtime!

12.7

a fine kettle of
hawks we have here,
rising on hot air

hawks

and also


generals and majors
drone on with military decision
just following orders, sir


Here's my inspiration, deceptively upbeat, by the ever-clever XTC.  The song remains a stroke of genius, although the video is goofy--can you spot a really famous British entrepreneur?

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12.6

looks like pizza, smells
like pizza--but let's shoot it
just to be safe


Comet Ping-Pong
I have a ton to say about this one, primarily that in order to effectively distinguish fact from fake it helps have to have an excellent grip on metaphor.

12.5

sing on
little bird of Aleppo
fly safe



Bana al-Abed

12.4

loud and solid
an army of rock stands, chants,
sends the snake around

12.3

so dam busy in
December--maybe this
will save me some tooth






"Beaver Wreaks Havoc in Maryland Dollar Store"

#haikuforhealing

Mary Lee said: "My creative spirit, who has been sitting out on the porch with her head between her knees for the last couple of weeks, looked up and nodded. Yes, that seems right, she said. A response to the news of the day, shared in the concise metaphorical form of the haiku."

Thus daily  #haikuforhealing in December was born.

My creative spirit exclaimed, "Dang, that sounds like a good idea! News, concise, metaphor, daily.  You can do this!"   And also: "Isn't Mary Lee wise, brave, and planful?"

So here we go, with no promises that I can manage every day.
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12.1

fire, flood, tornado
no one says
"punishment from God"

12.2

skies clear: no dove.

on the ground jackass

brays at mad dog

Hmmmm.  Those are perhaps not extremely healing.  Let me try again....

12.2 

stone soup simmers
villagers add their vegetables
to the deep pot of Friday


And here are last week's warm-ups, featured on Today's Little Ditty by Michelle:

11.28

not by hiding
from the world but by living
widely in it

11.27

refuge & solace:
today I don't turn on
the news


11.26

gathering light
around the long table
let's take this outside