Tuesday, December 11, 2012

All I Want for Christmas is a Real Haiku


Cousins running wild;
aunts and uncles smile and sip
Mogen David wine.

Father bastes at stove:
turkey with oyster dressing;
Mother makes mince pie.

Aluminum tree;
color light reflector turns,
casting blue green red.

Air rifles in hand,
two boys stalk the woods seeking
unsuspecting bird.

Christmas hopes destroyed:
teacher says Santa is not.
Puppy restores faith.


Over at TweetSpeak Poetry, Seth Haines has a holiday poetry prompt – write a haiku (or two or three) about holiday memories from this time of the year (which I will call the Christmas season to my dying day, never mind all these other names we invent). I’m of two minds as to whether I write real haiku poems or not; they have the right number of syllables in each line, but I’m still not sure. They don’t seem quite haiku-ish (in fact, they read more like tabloid newspaper headlines).

Nevertheless, they represent real memories. And yes, I did get a an air rifle (we called them BB guns) one Christmas, but it wasn’t a Red Ryder. And I didn’t shoot my eye out.

These poems are also submitted for Open Mike Night at dVerse Poets. The links for all the poems submitted will be live at 2 p.m. Central time today.


Photograph by Petr Kratochvil via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

The joy of haiku--
who cares if it's poetic?
syllables are right!

Brian Miller said...

ha. well i might have been out with the air rifle a time or two...a fun look at christmas thru your haiku....

Anonymous said...

sears catalogue...toy section
little fingers bending pages
folding them into dreams

Beachanny said...

The aluminum tree is still in the attic. Maybe next year I'll pull it down. Many memories of Christmas past here Glynn. Wishing you many happy returns of the season and a safe return of all your family.

Sabio Lantz said...

fun mix of images

Tashtoo said...

you'll shoot your eye out! you`ll shoot you`re eye out! (sorry...best Christmas movie ever!) Loved the title as well, as a fear a whole new song in my head now to drive the family crazy :) T'is the season! Wonderful share...loved every perfect memory!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful nostalia in these. Lots of familiar memories brought to life nicely.

Mary said...

Really enjoyed these. Favorite is the last. How disheartening that a teacher said there was no Santa; but the puppy restoring faith made me say to myself "Ahhhhhhh.'