April 20th, 2010

The Complete History of Why I Hate Her

Next week, my second young adult novel will be out.  I don’t think there was any intention on my publisher’s part to release this book during National Poetry Month, but it’s apropro just the same.  You see, Nola and her younger sister Song speak in a special language — the language of haiku. As Nola says, "For the longest time it’s been our own code. Other kids speak in pig Latin, we speak in 5-7-5."  When Nola spends the summer working at a resort in Maine (in part to escape the hardships of being the older sister of a chronically ill sister), she promises to send Song regular haikus:

Two new waitresses
Add four more who know their stuff
Trays bound to collide
 
There is a collision, but not between old and new.  The eruption occurs between Nola and a girl who appears to be the best of friends . . . a girl who ends up going after everything that belongs to Nola. Everything.
 
I knew that I wanted to play with the form of haiku after reading the book: I Smell Something Foul: Haiku Expressions of Everyday Angst in which Alison Herschberg perfectly captures little agravations in a seventeen syllables:
 
Sunday night laundry
Twelve aparments one machine
Time to play dirty
 
or
 
The pressure’s too high
I can’t take it anymore
Where’s my other sock?
 
What’s going on in your life right now?  Try encapsulating your feelings in haiku. I promise you’ll find something very tidy and satisfying about the form.  Post your haiku’s here and I will award three random writers (pulled from a hat)  one book of mine.  Any book. Your choice.
 
Haikus must be posted by May 15.  All ages may play.
 
A haiku contest
Sure hope someone plays  the game
You are invited!
 
 
 

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 at 6:17 am and is filed under Blog, Children's Authors, Writer's Workshop. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

13 Comments

  • 1. Mary Atkinson  |  April 24th, 2010 at 9:17 pm

    Haiku? not my thing
    Syllable rules? not for me
    I am (whoops!)
    Freedom poetry

  • 2. Toni Buzzeo  |  April 25th, 2010 at 3:58 pm

    Chicago drizzle
    won’t dampen the spirits of
    IRA teachers!

    See you there!

  • 3. Dian Curtis Regan  |  April 25th, 2010 at 4:22 pm

    Sunday night dinner
    Burritos? Pizza? Burgers?
    Pick your own poison.

  • 4. Nancy Werlin  |  April 25th, 2010 at 4:40 pm

    April in Paris
    Our arrondissement is the third
    My new scarf is red

  • 5. Dian Curtis Regan  |  April 25th, 2010 at 5:03 pm

    Ordinary folks
    Would like to know what this means?:
    Arrondissement….

  • 6. Joanne Stanbridge  |  April 25th, 2010 at 5:28 pm

    Rock band in the park:
    banging, hollering, thumping.
    Their song shakes my desk.

  • 7. Donning Protective Gear  |  April 25th, 2010 at 5:30 pm

    I hate to complain
    but the word arrondissement
    has four syllables.

  • 8. Jane Kurtz  |  April 25th, 2010 at 8:04 pm

    Lanie in L.A.
    I love her! (Oh the books, too.)
    Go, go outside girl.

  • 9. Blame Public Schooling  |  April 25th, 2010 at 8:04 pm

    When you speak Francais
    As poorly as I seem to
    Five is what you hear

  • 10. Running Behind  |  April 26th, 2010 at 8:32 am

    I’m too late, always?
    When will my train pull into
    The station on time?

  • 11. Lindy J.  |  April 26th, 2010 at 8:54 am

    Crafting memoir plan
    Materials to prepare
    But I write Haiku!

  • 12. Elsie  |  April 26th, 2010 at 12:14 pm

    Working with teachers,
    Focus is comprehension,
    Will they understand?

  • 13. Michelle, empty nester in progress  |  May 1st, 2010 at 10:08 am

    One by one they leave
    wings untested and unsure
    The world awaits them