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.
* * * www.emilylawsin.com * * *
Leave a Reply