102 Days of Haiku and a Photo.

On New Year’s eve, 2022, I read about a pretty cool project idea – a year of haiku. The idea was simple – one haiku a day for a year; the author of the article made a pretty compelling case for the creative benefits of such a practice.

I am not much of a poet, but haiku seemed within my reach.

I started publishing them as Instagram stories on my primary Instagram page – they are still there as a Story Highlight – in the event it didn’t “take” the attempt would just evaporate into the internet.

Well, around the 3rd week, I realized I was having a lot of fun.

So I decided to up my game.

I decided that each day for the rest of 2023, I would post a picture a day, along with a Haiku.

I planned to use one camera: my Sony RX-100 mk3.

I plodded along, sometimes having more fun than other times, taking a picture and writing a haiku each day.

But then, on April 11, 2023, I had an epiphany.

I made 80 of the last 100 Haiku pictures I’d posted here and on Instagram on my daily walks – within 3 miles of home.

That told me two things. I am trying to say something about my neighborhood; not in haiku. Which is great news; a poet I am not.

So I stopped taking a daily photograph and writing a daily Haiku on April 11, 2023.

The impact of stopping has been as powerful as the impact of starting.

I have realized how much pressure I had to put on myself to get the haiku done – while a fun project, it wasn’t aligned with either my writing or photographic goals.

I have realized that when it comes to words – particularly words accompanying photographs – less is more.

And I have realized what I should be looking at, even if I still haven’t figured out the how or the why.

This project need not die, however.

Turns out, if you string together a series of haiku, you get a poem called a Renga.

I’d love for each of you – all of you – to help write a Renga by writing a haiku verse for any photo in this gallery. Simply add it to the comments in the photo gallery.

It’s easy:

First line is 5 syllables.

Second line is 7 syllables.

Third line is 5 syllables.

Just tie in the picture, write a haiku, and add to the Renga.

And you can always feel free to tell me how the photographs impact you, and feel free to add verses to the haiku wherever they appear – below in the comments, or on social media.

---

Below you will see photos with links to various months. Clicking on those photos takes you to the corresponding gallery for the month. In those galleries you can view the photo and haiku for each in chronological order.

Click on the photos below for a link to the gallery with photo & haiku for the corresponding month.

Day 1 to 32

January 2023

Day 33 to 61

February 2023