HaikuChallenge20 Redux

Fear is contagious

Isolate to stay healthy

Missing connection

Pale green shoots emerge

Spring didn’t get the memo

Life is not on hold

We are nurses, physicians, patients, editors, beekeepers, writers, educators, parents, grandparents, partners and spouses….we live on the east coast, west coast, and midwest of the U.S. While we are separated by distance we are coming together as humans learning to navigate a global pandemic and invite you to join us. Let’s connect together around a #haikuchallenge20 redux. Each January we join together to write a haiku a day for a month on Twitter and other social media platforms using the hashtag #haikuchallenge with the addition of the last two digits of the year (#haikuchallenge20). We think it is time for a #HaikuChallenge20 redux. Why haiku? Haiku are poems structured in form and simplicity, accessible to many ages and literacy levels. They invite observation, thoughts and emotions that are grounded in the present. Haiku are micro poems that can be said in one breath yet profoundly express many aspects of the human experience. You can follow the simple structure of 3 lines composed of 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables or be more freeform. They invite connection around ambiguity. We need haiku more than ever in our “new normal” of COVID-19.

Brian @storkbrian states, “Haiku helps me rationalize the irrational” and shares his haiku of the myriad of emotions that surround us now:

Sirens of safety

Arrogance and ignorance

Global pandemic

Kids on tricycles

Welcome, needed distraction

Spring is in the air

Britta @britta34 adds, “What a weird time to be alive. I think using haiku will be a good, quick way to express the terror in this lifetime, but especially during this pandemic, especially when resources are shutting down and we are being shut-in”

Panic, it fills me

A week ago, let's go back

I finally had hope

Old trauma looks good

Sort of better in a sense

The whole world was fine

Like flipping a coin

It feels like the end of all

Loving kindness time

Max @tpjmax has these thoughts: “I’ve been going through some challenges of late and have found that writing haiku has brought me some solace. It is introspection without isolation, solitude without loneliness; a means of finding connection from within. Bitter humor and anger have filled much of my haiku recently, but then I remind myself to find the connections in nature, to look around, to see with deeper vision, and a shift happens. I’m looking for humor less bitter, more connection, and a lightness in these dark times.”

In finding healing

A haiku is of value

When shared, creates touch

To shelter at home

Removed from humanity

Peace: haiku writing

Toilet paper and

Disinfectant or water

Empty market shelves

Corona virus

Quarantine preserving health

Search for connection

Now turn off the news

Turn in to your life, your home

Find the essential

As we are pulled into the ever-changing vortex, we lose ourselves in fear, anxiety and isolation. The act of writing haiku can be both reflective and connecting. It can create a shared understanding of the human condition — and help us build our resilience together. Please join us as we launch #haikuchallenge20 redux…post as often as you like using the hashtag #haikuchallenge20 on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. We are in this together.

@pamressler

@storkbrian

@britta34

@tpjmax

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