Writing in Snow

Thoughts on National Poetry Month

Word count: 679

One haiku each day
National Poetry Month
My muse is happy

Since April 1, I have written a haiku everyday. Sometimes it is easy to find a subject and sometimes it is a struggle; it is worth the struggle to find a subject. This time of year finding a subject should be easy because it is spring.

Spring in Las Vegas
Flower bloom birds sing weeds grow
After winder rains

I am going to have to do something about the weeds in my yard. I am going to have to find someone to get rid of the weeds in my yard. They do inspire the muse to write haiku, but summer is coming. The hot dry desert summer kills the weeds and makes them a fire hazard. The 4th of July is coming and in this neighborhood that means illegal fireworks to celebrate the event. I may end up getting the weeds out of the yard myself, so I will buy gardening gloves when I go to Lowe’s or Home Depot.

This morning I saw a sparrow land on the cloths line in the back yard. It was looking for breakfast, I have not heard any baby birds yet; it may be too early in the spring for them to hatch. The neighborhood is full of birds this year. I know there are sparrows, nightingales, mourning doves, and some sort of small black bird. There are larger birds in the neighborhood because I have seen them fly over the house and land on the garage roof.

I do not remember there being this many birds in the neighborhood last April. This year it did rain in January, February, and March, which accounts for all the green growth. That may be why we have more birds this year. More green means more insects and more insects will bring in more insect eating birds. This is definitely a good year to write haiku, I do not know if I will continue the daily haiku for the rest of the year.

I enjoy writing haiku and other form poems. I have less trouble writing haiku then some of the other forms. My biggest problem with haiku concerns the syllables. Sometimes I have to look up a word because when a person pronounces the word it sounds like it has more syllables then it actually contains. Pearl is one of those weird words. Pearl is a one-syllable word, but it sounds like a two syllable word.

I count syllable on my fingers. This helps me write haiku because then I have a good idea of the syllable count. I cannot keep track of the syllable count in my head. I am not sure why I cannot write haiku without counting the syllables on my fingers. I do the same thing with all poems that have a specific syllable count per line.

There are still three trees in my yard. Two stone pines and an olive tree, these make good subject for haiku. I also noticed when I looked out my living room window that there are pigeons out there. I do not know where the pigeons are nesting or do pigeons roost. One of the neighbors could have pigeons and they are attracted to my yard by the olive tree. If that is the case, then the olive tree is going to have to go. I had not planned to take any trees out this year, but if I see it is attracting more pigeons, then I am going to have to have it cut down.

The olive tree does not look good, but it produces olives so perhaps the tree needs trimming. It is going to have to go; I can prevent it for bearing fruit by having it sprayed twice a year. Once in March and again in April, however, that is expensive and I have to have it done every year. If I cut the tree down then I only the expense once and then I can put in a desert plant of some type to replace the olive tree.