National Poetry Month: Guest Post #5, Kirsten Cliff . . .

For my fifth guest poet slot of the month I’m happy to introduce the work of Kirsten Cliff, one of the most upbeat and inspirational haiku poets I know.  Kirsten and her husband live in “Hobbiton,” New Zealand, where they lead the writing life in close to idyllic surroundings.  Her poetry has been published in many international journals, including “a fine line,” The Magazine of the New Zealand Poetry Society, where she serves as haiku editor. You can learn more about her work at her blog Swimming in Lines of Haiku.  Here’s what she has to say about why she writes haiku, as well as one of her haiku/tanka sonnets:

In 2007, the year I began writing haiku, I wrote this in the back of my journal:

Haiku is my way of . . .

• connecting to the environment
• being thankful for what’s around me
• living in the moment
• appreciating the little things
• becoming more aware of my surroundings
• documenting myself, the ups/downs, people, places, events, challenges
• learning
• practising writing
• enjoying
• experiencing

Five years on, this is still the truth of my life with haiku.  Long may it continue!

–Kirsten Cliff

The day the willow spoke

last of spring . . .
the different shades of shadow
under the willow

 . . . again
circling the willow
this lone hawk

driving rain . . .
dairy cows huddled
around the willow’s trunk
as an old bull calls forth
the mountains

sleepless night . . .
between the moon & I
only the willow

(Notes: stanzas two and four appeared as separate haiku on DailyHaiku Cycle 12, March 2012.)

[Sponsored by Couplets–the brainchild of Joanne Merriam of Upper Rubber Boot Books.  I’ll be hosting haiku/tanka poets here throughout the month of April.]

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