This is post #2 relating to my personal poetry challenge for the month of April to write one haiku per day inspired by my native plant garden.
I have decided to post my poems for every day after chatting about it with two poets whom I admire very much, Laura Salas and Liz Scanlon Laura said something that I think is going to stick with me a long time, not just about poetry but about all writing. She said, “I work from a place of abundance.” Isn’t that just the best attitude? I also decided if I am going to talk about being brave, I need to be 100% brave and not just a little bit brave.
The inspiration for this poem came to me while I was outside watering a few of the newest plants in the garden. I was thinking about how happy it made me, when planting, to finally see worms in the dirt. When we first moved here the soil was so dead that we had no worms, (at least up high) no insect life in the ground at all (that we could see.) And I was thinking about the importance of worms, especially in this San Jose clay and how they churn up the dirt and leave these wonderful tunnels behind that help disburse the water underground. (They also leave worm poop behind and that’s another great thing for the garden.)
So this time the last line came to me first.
worms do all the work
And then I was stuck.
water water everywhere
even native plants need drinks
thirsty plants need water soon
roots wait for something to drink
thirsty roots cling to dry clay
water to the thirsty roots
bring water to thirsty roots
bring water to thirsty roots
And then the first line popped right into my head
underground tunnels
Which gave me a final poem of:
Worms
underground tunnels
bring water to thirsty roots
worms do all the work
@copyright Susan Taylor Brown
April 2, 2009
Fun poem!
Thanks!
Underground Tunnels
I love this haiku, Susan! And I also enjoy knowing how you came up with it. All of this gardening may inspire a new-themed poetry haiku book in you . . .! Liz Koehler-Pentacoff
Re: Underground Tunnels
Thanks, Liz. Oh I already had the inspiration, I just need to put in the time.
Love this! And loved seeing your thought process too.
And in a little coincidence, I was rifling through an old notebook yesterday and found my own earthworm poem — not a haiku — the start to a collection I’d played with for a while. Is the universe trying to tell us something?
Thank you.
ooh…maybe we can go worm hunting together?
That is great! Thanks for sharing your process with us. It’s always fascinating to hear where the haiku comes from. My son found a worm in the dirt the other day and he was so excited, as only a six year old can be.
I am writing haiku every day this month too and posting. I put you in my list of NPM bloggy events. Looking forward to following you!
Thank for reading.
I can SO get your son’s excitement. When we first starting seeing worms back in the yard again I just kept going outside and digging holes so I could let them slide through my fingers.
Thanks also for adding me to your list. I’ll give it a shout-out here and on Twitter.
haiku
Oh dear!!!!!!