Well, I've done it again - 30 poems or more in a month of 30 days - 35 to be exact. I must admit it became a bit of a drudge to commit to writing so many poems in the same form all month, but I did get at least a few good ones out of the exercise, and the next step, per Robert Lee Brewer, is to assemble some of them into a chapbook manuscript. I hope that I may have advanced some recognition for the hay(na)ku form. (Thanks again to Eileen Tobias and Vince Gotera for introducing me to the form.) As I often do, I'll use this entry to highlight some of the poems I wrote last month that I consider among my best, or at least my favorites. The form allowed me to get away with writing only 30 words a day and having it count as a poem, but on the other hand, limiting your word count and producing something worthwhile, as in haiku, is harder than it sounds. So for what it's worth, here are ten "hay(na)ku sonnets" that I wrote in November, with the prompts that inspired them. (See my Day 1 entry for my explanation of this variation.)
[Day 2: A poem about the unexpected]
Hard Times in the Arts
COVID closed
the Muppet Show
theater shuttered -
where'd they go?
returned to
her chic château
what about
her handsome beau?
became a hermit
old barn
behind the trees
hangs open
hinging on breeze
wild turkeys
have nested upstairs
down below
skeletons of chairs
rusted shut locks
my connection
near New Haven
electric piano
play Ain't Misbehavin'
in concourse
playing his heart
my bustling
pausing for art
left a dollar
Peter issues
me a quiz
know what
the answer is
to get
myself in heaven
I wager
six or seven
from final jeopardy?
sliced bread
in the toaster
brown awhile
then pop up
savor them
with some seasoning
tiny pieces
are left in
then thrown away
This is Just to Answer Your Note
was saving
those sweet plums
make you
a fruit tart
you ate
every last one
somehow I
love you anyway
says "icebox" anymore
tropical storms
this malignant year.
and strongest:
Iota, ironically named,
the Yucatan,
already storm-raked.
Sea Monster
of climate change,
maelstrom, deluge, teeth.
suck up
killer ocean fish
that thinks
humans are delish
shouldn't have
teeth, dorsal fins
make landfall
and nobody wins
is worthless, fella
chestnut neighbor
tail at attention
comfortably in
the hanging impatiens
my porch
until I approach
chatters rebuke
for my trespassing
to get along
chorus for
the present day
echo my
notes and words
naive hope
or cynical dismay
repeat it
like warbling birds
until I drop
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