2012 Fall haiku by Patricia K

She’s heeeerrrre …

Autumnal equinox: the tipping point between two seasons of light.

Fall arrived on Saturday a little before 9 a.m. I thought it happened today because my calendar says so, but my calendar got it wrong. I wonder what else my calendar has gotten wrong.

For those of us who (like me) may feel the touch of melancholy this time of year but have the impulse to celebrate anyway, WIZ is opening a haiku chain. Many of you know what a haiku is–probably, you’ve know since elementary school or junior high. For those who feel uncertain, a haiku is a classical Japanese poetical form, usually 17 syllables all in a single line in Japanese, but there are longer and shorter forms.   A haiku written in English stacks lines, often in the order of one short line of 5 syllables on top, a long line of 7 syllables in the middle, then another short line of 5 syllables on the bottom.   But there are many paths–pick what suits you.   Often, haiku mention the season under consideration.   If you wish to learn more about haiku, you can go here or here.

How a WIZ haiku chain usually goes is this: Someone starts the chain.   This year, that’s me. Somebody follows me, adding a single haiku in the comments, and then another person takes a crack, and ’round we go.   You may link your haiku to an image in the previous haiku or stud the chain with something wholly original. I kind of like seeing other people’s individual expressions of how the arrival of this season strikes them. Other than the informal, €œone-at-a-time-please € tradition, there’s no limit to turns a participant can take and no deadline for this activity.   It runs as long as it runs.

My opener:

Summer’s final words
rasp leaves, shimmer on the lip
of the horizon.

Go!

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