Here’s one that is relatively easy and should elicit a multitude of responses. I want you to write a “week” of haiku. Highlight a week of days in a string of seven haiku. It can be a week you had that stands out, the days of the week each incorporated into the haikus. It might be seven haiku about a certain subject. A group of haiku based on different poetic forms (I’m sure you’d rather a haiku about a sestina than actually writing a sestina!) Anything is fair game, as long as it’s expressed in seven stanzas of haiku!
SARA’S STRING:
(The week I remember best – most recent)
Sunday, Watching Evening News
look out window
starling building a nest
inside dryer vent
Blue Monday
gym closed–memorial
department stores slash prices
cemeteries open
Medication & Meditation Tuesday
bumped up meds
concerned about seizures
six year-old dachshund
Wednesday Morning
in morning light
fragrance of lavender
thoughts drift on swing
Thursday, 37 Years Married
on anniversary
drive through forest of fir trees
pale light on ocean waves
Friday, Window Washer is a No-show
all to see beauty
an undisturbed tranquility–
I wash my windows
Snoozing on a Saturday Afternoon
dogs sleep on couch
intense heat shimmers on concrete
let them lie
WALTER’S “WEEK”
TWO WORLDS; ONE WEEK
In the morning mist
sun rises over tree tops
resuming the day
the world awakens
birds begin their tender song
the clouds sing along
in a mountain stream
silver fish are shimmering
sunshine glimmering
this day seems perfect.
Yet, miles away she sleeps
sedated, she keeps
hanging on to life.
But her grip is weakening
slipping from her grasp.
A mother removed
lost in a world not her own,
she feels alone.
Her family is near
but her mind is unaware
with a vacant stare
POETIC BLOOMINGS 
Responses
A delightful prompt. Walt, yours is so sad. Sara, I won’t be washing any windows: a passing bird left his mark on our patio dor, and that mark forms a perfect silhouhette of a bird on a branch!
So sad that the bird hit hard enough to leave an imprint, but I wouldn’t want to wash it off either. 🙂
Cool, Viv. Birds are more important than windows.
I agree
It was a different view than we usually do here, Viv. And I thought instead of dedicating an INFORM POETS segment on a haiku, we’d do it in one fell swoop with a string of them and get them over with. I’m looking to release myself from this funk. Hopefully the next prompt will help me along in that regard!
THE DAILY CALENDAR
Old sergeants wrestle.
Against time and providence.
Playing hide and seek.
He prays for heaven
Weary of daily battles
The sunrise cheats him.
She prays to go home.
Lost inside her tangled mind.
Asking her own name.
Another phone call.
Another question of time.
Searching the shadows.
. . . . 1953
White lace and diamonds.
Home sweet home and hearth to hearth.
Her beauty thrilled him.
NIGHTLY
A flirt with morning
Lost dreams teasing me.
Insomnia’s gift
Neighbor’s chickens squawk.
Red fox prowler on the hunt.
Thieves hide everywhere.
So much sadness, and yet the last one made me smile.
I had the same thought.
I totally get the insomnia gift. Excellent!
What a week! I hope next week is better for you
I said it there, I’ll repeat it here! A very passionate string here, Janice. It was an inadvertent prompt that seems to bring some tender and sometimes painful poems. I love your “week”.
Oh my sweet writer friend and fellow sufferer … your words hold so much … SO much …
Particularly liked those two nightlys, the held important details for me.
So much deep sadness here. And yet I find hope in that “flirt with morning.” Each new day brings new bedroom-eyed promises, doesn’t it?
Sara: happy anniversary. Walt: sending you hugs.
Thanks, Misk!
Not me–I swear, I’d rather write seven sestinas. Nobody cares if they’re bad, but a bad haiku, now…
American Sentences perhaps?
Yup. Bad haiku. 😀
Good. Show up next week, and I’ll appease you! A Septi-Sestina Sunday!
Better leave plenty of wiggle room. You don’t want to see me chased out of town by pitchfork-toting shortformers.
I’ll distract them with something shiny and you can run like hell! Or at least walk as fast as you can!
Groan, groan.
I will return later to read…I HOPE! On Wed. prompt I planned to return and suddenly it is Sunday! This was a fun, fun prompt Thank-you both for getting us going. Sara, we celebrated our 28th ann. on Friday!
My Week in Haiku
Monday:
Weighted words waiting
To-do list lacks curb appeal
Its urgency, real
Tuesday:
People provide more
Fodder for growing chore-list
I am blessing-kissed
Wednesday:
Backdrop green, blue, gold
I am not too old to dance
June; month of romance
Thursday:
Where does the time go?
To-do lists sighs on fridge
Child governs hours
Friday:
Sweep, swish, scrub, mop, wish
Exercise would work wonders
Results may vary
Saturday:
Hoe, weed, trim, mow, sweat
Get ready for a day off
List not finished yet
Sunday:
I am laughter-kissed
Rain washes my windows
Last thing left on list
© Janet Martin
Happy Anniversary! I hear you about the ever-growing to-do list. Loved the last stanza.
Wednesday and Saturday were highlights!
I love these. The list motif is perfect.
The never-ending chore list. I can relate!
Happy anniversary, Janet!
I love your days. Every one of them is sweet with light rhyme and hope and simplicity of life. Everyone could use a Janet in their life, I believe. 🙂
Lovely, Janet. Seems you have a facility for many forms of poetry.
Janet, it just doesn’t get any lovelier than this:
“I am laughter-kissed”
LOVE.
On this day of rest
Sparrows cling to the branches
Alert in light sleep
The work week begins
with a sallow moon fading
behind gold sunrise
The telephone rings
too early in the morning ––
My dreams disappear
Hump of the camel
halfway across the desert
a weekend mirage
The hammer of Thor
pounds away at the pavement ––
Footsteps hurry on
Thank God it’s out there
around the clock’s next corner
Oh, joy of freedom!
Let’s cram in some fun
The day passes so quickly
Let’s rest tomorrow
#
Sal, you always have such a lovely way with words. Oh, joy of freedom!
Amen
And I add my amen as well. “Alert in light sleep” “sallow moon” … nicely captured, both. The telephone is something I can relate to all too well, and perfectly presented in one haiku. Wonderful writing.
Let us indeed cram in some fun.
I love fun! Even when we have to cram. 🙂
Particularly love the second and third, Sal.
That third one gave me a real lump in my throat. Oh, that ringing phone can change everything.
I always shudder at haiku, to say nothing of a string of them. I never feel like I know what I’m doing, especially given the “ah-ha” nature of the turn to nature (as I understand it). Oh, well…..
A WEEK AT THE CAPE
Diverse lands greeting
the far bright rim of the world:
meadowland and moor.
A vacated shack
overlooks the crashing sea.
Seagulls and guano.
The narrowing beach
teems with combers and swimmers.
One piping plover.
Today high summer
soothes and smooths the restless sea;
punctuating terns.
Along a dirt road
marsh and oceanside divert:
king and clapper rails.
Distant tidal rip
locates a sunken freighter;
fish in their haven.
Evening, watching
the moonlight on Cape Cod Bay;
the scent of the sea.
Yeah, right. You can’t write emotion and feeling and nature. Not. William, I love reading your work. And there were birds, so I wasn’t disappointed about that either! I love Cape Cod. (One of my favorite places.)
REAL haiku: wonderful, soothing and beautiful
Thank you both for the kinds words. I wasn’t trying to feign modesty, though; I really don’t have a “feel” for haiku, especially in relation to other Eastern forms, like senryu.
Oh my goodness, I totally agree with RJ and Viv. This is a “wow,” Bill, and you seem to genuinely not know it. You may not have a feel for it, but it found you.
Beautiful!
William, these are wonderful haiku. I love the piping plover.
From meadowland and moor to seagulls and guano, to the scent of sea? Are you kidding me? DELIGHTED by you, Sir.
Beautiful haiku, William! I particularly like the ways you execute a caesura in each haiku.
I really wish I could write haiku and not the 5/7/5 silly stuff, but I don’t possess the elegant nuance for it like so many of my fellow writers here. Instead, I use it as just another way to express the me of things mostly with a bit of humor.
A Week in Haiku
Sunday
two small dragons stare
one is painted; one is stuffed
who is breathing fire?
Monday
stamping a letter
or stamping a well-clad foot
anticipation
Tuesday
the child full of grace
is not me ‘though I do wish
it were otherwise
Wednesday
contemplating rhyme
advice states it should not slant
despite the poet
Thursday
a question of trust
the legal variety
pivots on one word
Friday
other drivers see
a lip-sync contest for one
imagined music
Saturday
ode to a bagel
full of cinnamon, raisins…
such chewy goodness
Oh, these are really wonderful. They make me ashamed of my pedestrian contribution!
The you of things sparkles, as these do. I can see the scenes, stamping foot and all.
I think you may be too hard on yourself. These are wonderful!
I’ll take the you of things any day!
You certainly managed haiku quite well, RJ. Your personality still shines through!
Love that “lip-sync contest for one,” especially! 🙂
So creative – each and every one.
Sara – such sadness, but spoken so beautifully. Walt – Happy Anniversary! (Sounds like a mixed week, emotionally.)
Thanks, RJ.
A 7-day string of haiku
Monday as usual,
unseasonal chilly weather
nothing much happens
Tuesday while shopping
our treasure works her magic
to transform the house
Mid-week nothingness
of cold wet dreary weather ─
Wednesday passed
Thursday busy day
afternoon of stitch and bitch
with friends ─ happiness
Nothing much again
Friday ─ pattern of my life
zero excitement
Red letter day
Saturday with poet friends ─
laughter, words, magic.
Sunday special morning
remembering the past
in good company
These remi8nd me of journal entries and, for me, they carry the varied emotions well.
They seemed banal to me, but my life these days is like that.
Banal? Perish that thought! Your poem is evocative and lovely! I really like the rhythm of life that you painted.
You make nothing sound like something!
Yes, she does! Love these, Viv. 🙂
Agree with jlynn. You have a rich life.
This made me smile big:
“afternoon of stitch and bitch
with friends”
Your “nothing” is so full of everything…
Rearranged for MEG
Life is as it is.
No need to create what’s lost.
Peace is snow and sun.
Living mindfully
in the holiday bedlam.
Peace is a challenge
One need not suffer.
Loss is forever a choice.
The wise opt for peace.
Elders learn by fall
that summer’s losses soon end.
Peace comes with patience.
One is not separate
from the earth at any time.
With peace, all are one.
At all times, choose life.
Choose friends and love and sharing.
Most of all, choose peace.
On life’s final day
comes an explosion of light.
Be at peace with
The repeated “peace” feels like the bells at Mass. Comforting work.
Very much so!
You are a haiku king. I remember loving your haiku year at Poetic Asides. I always searched you out. These are wonderful, Daniel. A gift. Thank you.
These are sentiments I try to get through to certain family members and friends. The only thing I want in my life now is peace. You have expressed it beautifully.
“Peace is snow and sun.”
YES. And rain, and Lake and sea. Everywhere we turn, it is available again. A wonderful reminder, Mr. Pai. I love this.
Wise…
There’s the rub, my fine poets. We abhor sestina and cringe at haiku… the long and the short of it. I wrote mine in the hospital waiting room last evening around eleven. I couldn’t string three together. But I already had Sara on the hook for this prompt so I soldiered on. Still not the set I wanted. Actually two halves of the desired poem merged together. But we challenge ourselves to some amazing results sometimes. Great work so far… will read and respond when I’m finally able to kick feet up and enjoy them.
You did wonderfully, Walt. The comparison of situations and seasons of life … just wonderful and heart breaking at once. (Prayers continue, btw)
Haiku can be sad and contemplative, as well. You did a fine job, my CH.
[…] Poetic Bloomings served up a challenge to write a week of haiku, highlighting a week of days in a string of seven haiku. Anything is fair game, so I wrote what happens (and has happened) every day of every week of every month for the past four or five years. My dad’s health is poor. My mom has Alzheimer’s. Their days are like the movie Groundhog Day. The same ol’ same ol’. […]
Haiku X Seven
Dry season is here
There’s smoke on the horizon
We must mend the roof
Still snow on the peaks
Summer thirsts for its melting
Let’s clean the windows
The Navels are eaten
Valencia’s not yet ripe
What of the apples?
Red flowers open
Pomegranates in waiting
I must make sun tea
Pink roses whisper
Bougainvillas scream color
Pastels still enchant
Spring’s flowers soon fade
Summer blooms remain hidden
Seedlings need water
Epi’s bloom briefly
Cactus flowers much the same
I must call my Friends
Soothing, lovely imagery here. *sigh* Just lovely.
Indeed so.
Vivid seasonal imagery in this, Daniel.
Gorgeous snapshots here, each blooming in beauty.
[…] blog, I also have a poetry blog called Writing On the Sun. One of my favorite poetry prompt sites,Poetic Bloomings, served up a challenge today to write a week of haiku, highlighting a week of days in a string of […]
THE TAO OF CHRISTINE
Monday:
Christine, there you lay,
a weakened shell of yourself.
We are here to help.
Tuesday:
Daughter, we await
here near the heavenly gate.
It has been so long.
Wednesday:
Sister, feel us here,
we’re on this vigil of love.
We still hold your heart.
Thursday:
Wife, I had left you
only a short while ago.
I will bring you through.
Friday:
Mom, we tend to you,
our every moment is yours,
we return your love.
Saturday:
Grandma, we hold you,
see that we are here. Please know
we will remember.
Sunday:
Christine, there you lay.
Another day has come, gone
and we carry on.
My heart goes out to you and yours, Walt. 😦 Well expressed here.
Thinking of you, Walt. Sending warm, caring thoughts.
Love permeates these. Deeply moving.
These carry true caring in them.
Oh, Walt. Goodness. This is just a perfect, perfect spill of love. A wonderful tribute to all she was.
So much love between these lines. So much caring. Such sensitivity. This tribute is such a gift — to Christine, to her/your family, to us…
[…] PB – PROMPT #185 – WHAT A “WEEK” IT WAS! – write a “week” of haiku. Highlight a week of days in a string of seven haiku. – may […]
I’d like to announce that I’m moving this summer and I’ll be/have been extremely busy with details @ this move. I’ll be journaling and when I can log on to post I will. I appreciate the understanding for my lack of presence this summer…and hope to be back regularly this fall. I’ll see you when I can…Smiles to all!
Here’s one that I happened to have started last week and finished this morning…love the synchronicity there. 🙂 Thank you, Walt and Sara for your inspiration!
https://wordrustling.wordpress.com/2016/06/05/nesting-haiku/
Oh wow. Hugs and prayers for your new life to be an amazing adventure and soothing new home all at once!
Best of luck with your move. Hope this new place gives you much happiness.
Funny, how loving minds poem alike. What a wonderful sequence.
May your new home suit the beauty that is always in you.
Thank you, all so much for your kind words! I’m beginning to get excited as the boxes stack higher and the house looks more empty. It will be a wonderful change for us. :)’s
Sunday
church-center on God
make stew, eat lunch, take a nap
watch Netflix at night
Monday
take care of people
homework for online college
pray and walk with friend
Tuesday
work on tween novel
yardwork, line up SCWA speaker
phone son and color
Wednesday
set up poems for week
study Puritan writings
write three devotions
Thursday
Facebook Words with Friends
spend afternoon with hubby
get haircut and dye
Friday
doctor appointment
everybody gets a bath
grocery shopping
Saturday
write a school paper
host home family phone calls
son and daughter chat
Quite the full week! I love that you color. That’s quite the rage these days, isn’t it?
Hmmmm…. these strike me as a series of devotions.
Your spirituality always shines through your writing, Connie.
A well-balanced week indeed, Connie. I love that this reads like a list of things to do…and a list of things worth doing.
“… for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning.” ~ Lamentations 3
Dawn’s light emerges,
Hastening a new week’s cares.
Her knees, eroding.
Vivid moss roses
Flamboyant ruby hummers
Adore(n) her prayer walk
A murky morning.
Gloom seems to silence nature.
A still, small Voice calls.
The sun failed to rise,
She believes. And so she seeks
Son’s radiant grace.
Unsettling dream
Halted by sound of music
Caroled in her heart
Her heart feels absent;
Her spirit, arid and parched.
A gentle rain falls.
As dusk’s light withdraws,
She reaches out for His hand,
And there, finds her heart.
© Marie Elena Good
So many original and touching words and lines here…adore(n)…knees, eroding…radiant grace…awesome
Thank you so much, Daniel. Warm smiles to you.
As usual, Marie Elena, your gentle words bring out the best in all of us. May we all find our hearts.
Oh my goodness, RJ. You are so kind and generous. Thank you!
These are so lovely, full of images. For me, the most vivid is “caroled in her heart.”
Thank you, sir!
Passion rings true in each haiku, Marie.
Thank you!
STUNNING. So very beautiful, and so very you. You lead me to His feet, every time, my amazing friend. That last one is just perfection.
Humbled. Greatly humbled. He is so good to us. ❤
Light, grace, heart – you…
You are so, so kind. ❤
Happy anniversary, Sara! Enjoyed your excellent sample for us, complete with interesting lead-ins.
I hope you are enjoying hosting as much as we are enjoying your “garden tending!”
I’d like to echo that sentiment. The examples you and Walt provide often are prompts in themselves, for me anyway.
Thanks, guys! I am enjoying this immensely.
Here’s Sunday and today.
I.
Sun-bleached on the line
Sheets fly like a sparrow’s wing
We sleep deep tonight
II.
The day is restless
A pace gripping at both legs
Puffing steam and smoke
These two work well, Misk.
Thanks. Tomorrow is another day!
sparrow’s wing sheets. YES. Love this, Misky. And I love that you’re awaiting each new day, to notice and write, and share. That is the essence of haiku.
True haiku. Wonderful, Misk! Looking forward to more…
Oh, a serial haiku a-borning?
Monday, Oh, Monday
The work week starts all over
I don’t want to go
Tuesday rolls around
Into the groove once again
Earning my paycheck
Wednesday hump day
The weekend breaks into view
Shift into high gear
Thursday already
And Friday’s work is all done
I can smell the beach
When will Friday end
The weekend’s waiting outside
Afternoon torture
Saturday at last
What happened to the sunshine
Guess I’m staying home
Sunny Sunday morn
The beach; the sand; the sunburn
Way to end the week
© Earl Parsons
You ended your week in my favorite place.
“I can smell the beach” — YES. Me, too.
Afternoon torture! LOL! You captured a week in the life. 🙂
Since I found out that haiku in English are now most often written without adherence the 5-7-5 form (William J. Higginson’s The Haiku Handbook is highly recommended), I am experimenting…
Travelogue: Seven Heavenly Moments
Prologue
small blue book
of big dreams come true:
my passport
1. Torres del Paine, Chile
morning glory:
shadow of glacier
swaying on my pillow
2. North Cape, Norway
at the edge
of the world falling
for the beauty
3. Serengeti, Tanzania
low moon:
staring me in the eyes –
a leopard
4. Mount Everest, Nepal
Everest’s summit:
white roof of my world –
I see but can’t reach
5. Bora Bora, Polynesia
true colors
of paradise found beneath
a turquoise lagoon
6. Magdalena Island, Patagonia
a penguin
is telling me something:
I smile back
7. Luxembourg
WWII Cemetery:
spring flowers
rise to salute
Epilogue
Strait of Magellan
I still dream the world
through your eyes Magellan –
seeking answers
~ Nurit Israeli
The word “swaying” in haiku #1 should be at the end of the second line (not beginning of the third). Sorry…
You have let me armchair travel through your eyes. Beautiful, Nurit.
Thank you, Walt!
Thank you, Sara!
So much beauty here, Nurit. I love that you freed yourself from the 5-7-5 format. I usually do, as well, but for some reason mine for this prompt wanted to spill in more formal lines. 😉
Thanks, De! Love the challenge of using as few words as possible to capture a minute.
For me, these feel like the real McCoy.
Thanks, William!
YES. The real McCoy for sure, just like Misky’s. Nurit: Your eye for beauty and respect for all the world is evident in your words and work, as always. LOVE THESE.
Oh, Marie Elena — thank you so very much. For me, reading your feedback is often a prompt to write on…
That Enemy – Time
Never the clock stops
Forward moving caring not
That enemy – time
We are the controlled
Subjects of its cruelty
Forcing us to bow
Time – a one way street
Looking back is but futile
Time waits for no one
We can only hope
To make the best of our time
No second chances
Time’s roller-coaster
It’s time to join the party
Time to climb aboard
Make the most of life
Make every last minute count
Do not be afraid
That enemy – time
Must not the upper hand get
This battle is ours
© Earl Parsons
Roller coaster, one-way street, enemy. YES. I feel this way about time, so often.
The contrast between “one-way street” and “roller-coaster” leaves me a bit breathless.
You’ve captured time as probably only those our age or older can. *sigh* Being “mindful” of each is becoming more important to me all the time.
I echo the sentiment that others have already shared – I’m not a haiku writer in the truest sense. I’m not “tuned” that way. However, I can write three lines at a time, but have not forced myself to do so in the 5/7/5 format. Instead, I took the prompt as a seven-stanza prompt, with three lines in each stanza, to give you snapshots of seven days from my fifty years of life thus far. (This will eventually be posted to my blog, as well.)
SNAPSHOTS FROM FIFTY YEARS
sunshine smiling down
on pigtailed girl as she reads ~
childhood on the farm
storms were brewing on
not so distant horizon ~
household divided
nearly straight A’s
by graduation day ~
hard work pays off
some things are given
while other things are taken ~
childhood was ended
twenty-nine years pass
into year number thirty ~
milestone or millstone?
leaving the Midwest
for hotter desert pastures ~
family comes first
I wasn’t ready
for Dad’s diagnosis ~
death came knocking
Paula, I love your take on the prompt. Love this:
“milestone or millstone?” And the way the years spill in between the stanzas. It all goes so quickly…
Thank you, de. ❤
For me, this collection has almost an “ages of man” feel to it.
For me, this collection has almost an “ages of man” quality to it.
Thanks, William — that was in my mind as I thought about this prompt–especially with the “Seven” part of the prompt. The Seven Ages of Man! I’d started writing that direction in a more “generic”/universal sense, but felt led to write on a more personal level. So I thought about seven days from my life. Each stanza above represents a clear one-day snapshot. So…thanks for the specific feedback! 🙂
I ended up renaming the poem when I posted to my blog: Fifty Years in Seven Days.
Oh, wow … what a creative, different, emotive take on the prompt. This is fabulous, my friend. Each stands alone, but the total picture tells your story in so very few words. This piece is AMAZING. (And I love you!)
Thanks.
Counting ’Ku
monday moon
there’s a pushpin moon
holding up this chalkboard sky;
this smudge of day, done.
tuesday stars
pinpricked points trail off,
breadcrumbs in a daring sky.
we connect the dots.
wednesday wings
dawn flight comes slowly,
with a push of sunrise song.
feathered voices ring.
thursday breeze
the trees have whispers,
secrets held in fragile limbs;
summer song unfolds.
friday fools
quail argue and run
gargle the morning’s first rays;
doodle-bobber chase.
saturday sun
lemon yellow ball
skipping over lazy sky.
will the sea catch you?
sunday song
we rest. look upon
these moments that make our life.
declare it is good.
This collection opens up whole new vistas for me. Wonderful.
Beautiful week, De!
Oh how I love your poetic heart and the way you spill words to page. “Smudge of day” indeed. You make me smile!
if words did not exist, you would have been the one to invent them
Oh, goodness. This comment? Really. So humbled, Mr. Pai. Especially from someone such as your ilk. Yep, I said ilk. 😉
[…] I’m late to the party, but we’re writing a seven-pack of haiku over at Poetic Bloomings. Come […]
Sara, your chain is just a lovely “stuff of life” swirl.
Walt, yours is so deeply sad. The stuff of death, and difficulty. What a delicate balance it all is.
Here’s one for Tuesday —
III.
Young love and young flesh
I watch them growing older
My eyes, rimmed with soot
Oh my heart …
Oh, yes. A nod of recognition here… So beautifully penned!
Hump Day Haiku
Having hung the moon,
what was left for Him to do?
Oh look, a rainbow.
IV.
Workers. Soldiers. Ants.
Wasps and bees in hollowed trees
Three sparrows gather
V.
Fragments of the day
Shattered terra-cotta pots
Puzzles in pieces
And here are the last few. Fun prompt. Thank you!
VI.
Two doves on the roof
A bee at the window thinks
There is a way out
VII.
She sings bright as gold
For a drink — just a moment
The birdbath is dry