Daring to Love

A scaredy-cat’s foray into the world of Haiku poetry

Quick steps faltering, Searching for friendly faces. Craving connections.

Smiles, interested. Hearts racing, gaze wandering. Trust begrudgingly.

Slow, sensual dance Smoldering stolen glances Vows made to be kept.

Days, weeks, months as one Discovering everything Questioned, but not asked.

Two bodies, one soul; Loving and living as one. Together always.

Okay, Galit Birk, PhD, here it is. You issued a challenge, and I trepidatiously accepted it. It took me a little longer than expected. My procrastination kicked in because I was a scaredy-cat.

I discovered during this process that I am not a huge fan of structured poetry. I much prefer freeform poetry but have mad respect for those who rock it. Like Galit, Claire Kelly, Haiku Poetry, and the many others I’ve read here on Medium.

Not a haiku virgin, just nervous like one

The above poem is not my first foray into the world of Haiku. No, that auspicious honour goes to the poems below, written by twelve-year-old me in sixth grade. I was introduced to it during a poetry unit study by Mrs. Mercer at Gledhill P.S. A unit study found in a box when my family moved last November. What an eye-opener that was!

This writer’s heart loved reading the words written by a younger, more impressionable version of myself. When I was still innocent and giddy.

My first haiku EVER

First we do our laps Then we do our timed sit-ups Fitness shows Spring’s here.

Crocuses growing All colours of the rainbow Everywhere sprouting.

As you can see, I was a poet back then, too. No, I couldn’t type that with a straight face, although I am proud of the attempts. I wasn’t enamoured with it then, not entirely sure how I feel about it now, but that unit study set the stage for years of avoiding poetry in general. For about almost thirty years, the only poems I wrote were written during intense emotional turmoil in my life.

Now I write poetry because I can. Who knew?

My teenagers laughed at me as I clapped my way through today’s piece. I howled alongside them. We laughed until we cried. Literally. It wasn’t pretty.

Clean pants and a fresh coffee later, I spit the first one all over the kitchen, I got down to business and hammered out Daring to Love. In record time. Who knew I had it in me?

Galit did, although I suspect she just enjoys seeing me squirm with new forms of poetry. And that’s okay. That’s what friends, new and old, are for, right? To challenge us and expect better from us than we expect from ourselves.

I’ve found just that in the community here on Medium; people to challenge me at every turn, demanding more from me than I do from myself. I think I like it. I have been a more prolific writer in the past two months than I was in the previous year.

Thank you! From the bottom of my heart, thank you. I appreciate you all more than you know.

Thank you, Galit for another successful challenge. Please check out the poem that began her journey here on Medium. You won’t regret it:

Now that I’ve tried acrostic poetry and haiku, maybe I’ll give tanka poetry a try. I think tanka may actually scare me more than haiku did.

Anyone want to give tanka a try with me? Giulietta Passarelli, Hannah Kewley, Carolyn Riker? I look forward to seeing what we create.