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A Holiday (Not a Haiku): Our December Poetry Playlist

By Seth Haines 22 Comments

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?

______________________

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. 

_____________________

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.

Every Day Poems Driftwood

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Seth Haines
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Filed Under: Blog, Haiku, Music, poetry, Themed Writing Projects

Comments

  1. Maureen Doallas says

    December 3, 2012 at 11:16 am

    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.

    Reply
    • Donna says

      December 3, 2012 at 6:15 pm

      Thank you Maureen! What a surprise!!!
      and… 🙂 I like your Haiku.

      Reply
  2. Donna says

    December 3, 2012 at 6:02 pm

    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)

    Reply
  3. L. L. Barkat says

    December 3, 2012 at 6:33 pm

    loved listening to this.

    And that photo is so quintessentially blossoms-in-the-snow haiku. You know? 🙂

    Reply
  4. Donna says

    December 4, 2012 at 10:33 am

    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

    Reply
  5. Rosanne Osborne says

    December 4, 2012 at 10:56 am

    tissue paper toes
    traipse into ever greening
    portals of pleasure

    Reply
  6. Rosanne Osborne says

    December 5, 2012 at 9:18 am

    evergreen arms reach
    for gifts just beyond their grasp
    joy deadened in time

    Reply
  7. Joe Falcone says

    December 5, 2012 at 2:10 pm

    Aluminum Pole
    Hails airing of grievances
    Happy Festivus

    Reply
    • Donna says

      December 5, 2012 at 2:33 pm

      hee hee 🙂

      Reply
    • Seth Haines says

      December 9, 2012 at 7:10 am

      For the restofus!

      Reply
  8. Joe Falcone says

    December 6, 2012 at 7:49 am

    A Holiday rite
    Let the Feats of Strength begin
    To end it, pin me

    Reply
  9. Rosanne Osborne says

    December 6, 2012 at 9:38 am

    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

    Reply
  10. Rosanne Osborne says

    December 7, 2012 at 10:34 am

    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

    Reply
  11. Rosanne Osborne says

    December 10, 2012 at 10:39 pm

    camels trudge the sand
    shifting the grains of time’s glass
    images in relief

    Reply
  12. lynndiane says

    December 11, 2012 at 11:23 am

    Japanese poets

    don’t celebrate christmas but

    say “haiku…bless you!”

    Reply
  13. Rosanne Osborne says

    December 13, 2012 at 11:06 am

    unexpected knock
    guests intrude, uninvited
    Bethlehem ballad

    Reply
  14. Rosanne Osborne says

    December 17, 2012 at 8:59 am

    Madonna and child
    rest on the pristine mantel
    pungent dung denied

    Reply
  15. Rosanne Osborne says

    December 21, 2012 at 8:38 am

    tired donkey dawdles
    eminence beyond knowing
    bearing hope’s burden

    Reply
  16. Rosanne Osborne says

    December 22, 2012 at 9:40 am

    urgency of snow
    in night to cover the world
    before day soil comes

    Reply
  17. Rosanne Osborne says

    December 24, 2012 at 8:22 am

    slipping on a rock
    the hoof falters, load shifts
    trinity moves on

    Reply
  18. alexander wang sale says

    August 7, 2013 at 10:59 am

    Painting by Numbers

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Holiday Haiku: A Poetry Prompt - Tweetspeak Poetry says:
    June 30, 2013 at 2:30 pm

    […] usually divided in sections of five, seven, and five syllables, respectively. Listen to the Tweetspeak monthly playlist for a bit of […]

    Reply

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