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Doggerel...

· Haiku

So, it's mid-January 2021, and I'm feeling a little starved of joy and sunlight. In January 2020 I stayed with friends in Glasgow, hiking and experiencing outer space via an amazing VR headset. This time around I'm locked-down at home.

News of the new Biden presidency provides some hope, but I'm wondering why I never posted any of the several hundred haiku I wrote during 2020. I tend to always fall into unproductive lethargy during the miserable British winter. So, let's revisit a few of those haiku from last year.

These, and any I might post over the next few days, were from the start of my haiku odyssey, so please go easy on them.

MacBook on my lap
Head cushion for my posture
Bored cat rolls her eyes

This next one was penned while I sat around in my little house watching the garden:

Cooled feet, water sipped
Grey frantic flapping feathers--
Pigeon in the plate

And first thing in the morning, while readying and girding myself for ten hours of emails, spreadsheets, and feigned enthusiasm:

Turgid work awaits
Laptop at my desk, but first-–
Hot cross bun with tea

Not a haiku, but after my accountability partner, Joseph, suggested we pen and exchange daily verse, this doggerel came to mind, pretty much whole:

The fire is lit
The habits will knit
We'll find the grit
And a place to sit
To get it writ
Bit by bit

It's amazing how much joy you can get from the creativity of this simple verse form. Five syllables, then seven, then five, with a nature theme, and a humorous twist in the final line.

Why don't you have a try?