Happy Haikuversary

Four years ago today, I wrote what would become the first in a LONG series of daily haiku posts. A little while back I invited friends to join me in my celebration today, and several kind friends did just that.

Starting with Junie, the beloved duck-tolling retriever whose photo illustrated my "Wanna Play?" post:

Biscuit for Junie!

HERE IT COMES HERE IT COMES – CRUNCH

Is there another?

My friend @rwentecheney chimed in with some good luck wishes, haiku-style:

Tomorrow's the day Anniversary hoorays Sleep before the fun!

My friend Barbara, who does not typically write haiku, contributed the following two #haiku:

Small rooms with beige walls
Grim news delivered with smiles
Tears in the rest room 

Treoidation then
Now encouraged by the news
Thank all for your prayers 

While my friend Cate added this one:

darkened garden —
the stillness of trees sleeping
under new snow

My friend Marianne Paul used this haiku of mine as a jumping off point:

first light — the haiku I wrote better in my dream

And wrote a new one of her own in response:

evaporation — how quickly the haiku leaves me

My friend @SassafrasMama sent me warm #haikuversary wishes, while my friend @maggros asked me to write a haiku using the word "plight." So I did:

the haijin's plight half-remembered haiku seedpods in winter

My friend Paul David Mena used an image of mine as a jumping off point:

summer breeze —

what we whispered

among the sand dunes

And finally, there were a few friends who offered up dates that were special to them, for whom I usually pulled a haiku from that date up from the archives. Although in Val Brown's case, I wrote a new haiku, thinking about her and her sweetie, who were celebrating a different kind of anniversary:

birds gifting their songs with no notion of return — my smile in your eyes

This one, from the archives, was for @MamaJoules: November dusk — our candles seeming brighter by the minute

My friend @mapographer requested a haiku with a 12/25 date stamp, so I pulled this one (from all the way back in 2008!):

snow, then rain – the geese arguing loudly overhead

And finally, at day's end, @sacarlavoz requested a re-posting of this one:

bright yellow goldfinch swooping across our morning — unmistakeable

(I had a really great #haikuversary.) (Can you tell?)