National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month in the United States and for the last three years of blogging I have tried to call attention to it.

This year, April almost slipped away (Warren is thinking whew!) but fortunately my good friend Kate at Haiku-ca-choo! set an assignment last Monday that fit me like a glove: OK, Group, this is a weird one. Write a nonsense haiku. (Inspiration could be "The jabberwocky," for example.)  Below are my contributions for the week.

Three Haiku Based Upon Carroll and Lear

Jabberwock in a 
pea green boat, runcible spoon
for quince in moonlight.

Slithy toves afloat
with pea-green sails to the hills
of the Chankly Bore.

Uffish thoughts while
at the goblin market: where
is the pea-green owl? 


Two Haiku Based Upon Rossetti and Carroll

I
Goblin men, mewing
like a cat, crawling snail-like,
lugging golden fruits.

II
Laura turns and tastes.
Lizzie saves her without a 
vorpal sword in hand.


Four Haiku Based upon Garth Williams' Illustration of "The Three Little Kittens"


I
Three little kittens 
gobbling down pie, mittens now
soiled. Scolding to come.


II
Three little kittens
gobbling down pie, saw the red
fish and ate it too.


III
Three little kittens
gobbling down pie, mittens now
soiled. Why the bunny?

IV
Three kittens are the
goblins, the blue fish, the toves--
with their mittens on.


Two Haiku Based Upon Seuss and Carroll


Horton heard the blue 
fish shriek as the fox (sans sox)
sauteed it to green.

Had Sam picked up 
the vorpal sword, uffish or
not, I would chortle.

As I have noted before, poetry fascinates me, poetry holds me. Poetry is to me what music is to Warren and at some level I think he understands that, roll his eyes as he might at poetry. When I look back at what I have written over the last three years, my first Poetry Month post says it best. The poems are waiting: ripe, warm, inviting.

Go read a poem.