Haikus of Daughter’s Hope in Detroit

I found some old journals, with a series of poems that I wrote four years ago, when my daughter was just a baby, learning to walk and talk. Here are one weekend’s worth of my favorite haikus: poems that have exactly 17 syllables, usually with three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables each. Coincidentally, I wrote these when she was 17 months old, a very precious age. With thanks to: our Detroiters Dream for Children group for their constant inspiration; to Julia Putnam and Jackie Victor for always asking, “Where do we see hope in the city for our children?”; and to Grace and Jimmy Boggs for always asking, “What can we be that our children can see?”

Haikus of Hope in Detroit:

17-Month-Old Daughter’s 17 Syllables

© by Emily P. Lawsin

Friday-Sunday, March 23-25, 2007

Stroller Ride Home from Preschool

“Ha? What’s that?” she points

at the working stoplight, with

cooing river winds.

 

Recycle!

“Uh-oh,” she states,

raking plastic grocery bags

fallen to the ground.

Rice and Resistance

Hope rests in toddler’s

balled fist: full of sticky rice,

she opens to share.

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