December at Tweetspeak Poetry!
As you may know, each month we bring you a musical playlist that relates to the month’s poetry theme. It’s our hope that the playlist will give you a bit of an inspirational soundtrack, maybe spark the working out of some good poetry. But this month, when our Managing Editor, L.L. Barkat, informed me that the December theme would be haiku, I thought, “Great . . . how many seventeen-syllable songs could there be out there?”
Turns out, not many.
So as a bit of a compromise, I’ve composed a list of my all-time favorite holiday songs. The old standbys are there to give you a bit of a touchstone–Mariah Carey, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland. There are some tunes that might be new, though, might stretch you a bit—The Shins, The Polyphonic Spree, Andrew Byrd. Give a listen and see what holiday creativity they might spark.
And believe it or not, I have a writing prompt that fits nicely with this month’s haiku theme. You’ll want to make sure you participate for reasons I’ll explain next week.
Enjoy the playlist, and have a happy holiday!
Writing Prompt: Do you remember how to write a haiku—that ancient Japanese poetic style? A haiku is composed of seventeen syllables, usually divided in sections of five, seven, and five syllables, respectively. This month, we’re asking you to join us in writing holiday haiku. Give it a try. Listen to the Tweetspeak Holiday playlist, and scratch a haiku in the comments below.
And remember, he knows if you’ve been bad or haiku, so be haiku for goodness sake. Who’s first?
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Tweetspeak’s December Holiday Haiku Poetry Prompt:
This month’s theme at Tweetspeak is “haiku.” So–you guessed it–we’re composing haiku poems. Perhaps you’ll scrawl a holiday haiku (there’s plenty of inspiration on our December playlist), but feel free to explore whatever ideas come to mind. How do you participate?
1. Study up a bit on haiku poetry, that ancient Japanese style wherein a poem is composed of seventeen syllables, usually divided in sections of five, seven, and five syllables, respectively. Listen to the Tweetspeak monthly playlist for a bit of inspiration.
2. Compose your own haiku, whether holiday themed or otherwise.
3. Tweet your poems to us. Add a #TSHaiku hashtag so we can find it and maybe share it with the world.
4. If you aren’t a twitter user, leave your found poem here in the comment box.
5. At the end of the month, we’ll choose a winning poem and ask the winner to record his or her poem to be featured in one of our upcoming Weekly Top 10 Poetic Picks.
And speaking of winners, last month’s winner was Donna, writer at The Brighter Side. In “Marble in a Jar, ” she composes an echo poem that paints a vivid word picture that captures the essence of October’s “surrealism” theme. She writes:
My mind is a marble bouncing
Bouncing in a jar in a child’s grip
Grip of thoughts’ random firing
Firing against smooth walls
Walls of glass offer no place to land
Land is a cornerless plane
Plane soars, engines rolling
Rolling and bouncing in a jar
Make sure you check out Donna’s poem at her blog, and consider leaving her a comment, to boot!
That being done, let’s create some holiday haiku poetry! Who’s first?
Photo by Nanagyei, Creative Commons via Flickr. Post by Seth Haines.
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Buy a year of Every Day Poems, just $2.99 — Read a poem a day, become a better poet. In December we’re exploring the theme Haiku.
Maureen Doallas says
Congrats on the shout-out, Donna!
I’m featuring holiday haiku at Monday Muse today:
http://writingwithoutpaper.blogspot.com/2012/12/monday-muse-writes-holiday-haiku.html
I have another half-dozen or so I haven’t posted. Here’s one of those:
Footprints in the Snow
this Early Christmas Morning.
Baby, Please Come Home.
Donna says
Thank you Maureen! What a surprise!!!
and… 🙂 I like your Haiku.
Donna says
I’m stunned, and honored! Thank you for featuring my work Seth! It had been a while since I looked at this one and for some reason I found myself reading it this morning again, long before I ever saw this! Smiling! :0)
L. L. Barkat says
loved listening to this.
And that photo is so quintessentially blossoms-in-the-snow haiku. You know? 🙂
Donna says
Here is my first Haiku to offer… Unhidden Secret, but please stop by the blog if you’d like to see the image I have been patiently waiting to use.
mystery remains~
an unhidden secret there
written on the soul
http://thebrightersideblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/unhidden-secret.html
Rosanne Osborne says
tissue paper toes
traipse into ever greening
portals of pleasure
Rosanne Osborne says
evergreen arms reach
for gifts just beyond their grasp
joy deadened in time
Joe Falcone says
Aluminum Pole
Hails airing of grievances
Happy Festivus
Donna says
hee hee 🙂
Seth Haines says
For the restofus!
Joe Falcone says
A Holiday rite
Let the Feats of Strength begin
To end it, pin me
Rosanne Osborne says
Christmas Eve Trilogy
crushing cold winter
threatens to reach inside scarves
distancing Christmas
street bound old matron
feels the gingerbread crumble
chapped hands touching dreams
childish eyes follow
the drunken Santa’s stumble
almost recalling
Rosanne Osborne says
Nativity
light shows dusting yards
pilgrim tires crunch on cracked glass
blazes of fake glitter
con temporary
faith and nostalgia displayed
it’s the thing to do
somewhere beyond stars
beyond Bethlehem memory
meaning rides its camel
Rosanne Osborne says
camels trudge the sand
shifting the grains of time’s glass
images in relief
lynndiane says
Japanese poets
don’t celebrate christmas but
say “haiku…bless you!”
Rosanne Osborne says
unexpected knock
guests intrude, uninvited
Bethlehem ballad
Rosanne Osborne says
Madonna and child
rest on the pristine mantel
pungent dung denied
Rosanne Osborne says
tired donkey dawdles
eminence beyond knowing
bearing hope’s burden
Rosanne Osborne says
urgency of snow
in night to cover the world
before day soil comes
Rosanne Osborne says
slipping on a rock
the hoof falters, load shifts
trinity moves on
alexander wang sale says
Painting by Numbers