Rockville Public Library Poetry
Celebrate poetry with the Rockville Public Library and Vernon Poet Laureate Pegi Deitz Shea. On this page we’ll post favorite poems as well as pieces written by Vernon community members.
Dear Literature lovers,
Last month, I had the pleasure to lead a “modern haiku & senryu” writing workshop at Rockville Public Library. Briefly, modern haiku (about nature) and senryu (about human nature) don’t adhere to the arbitrarily-set syllable counts and line counts you may have learned in your schooling. (The Japanese wrote in one vertical line, and used the syllables of their punctuation words, ex. Com-ma.)
The following poems are some of works we came up with. Some authors agreed to share them with their names; some are anonymous. I hope you enjoy the poems, and try your hand! Just google “modern haiku and senryu” to learn more.
By Nancy Swanton
uneven sidewalk
late for work—
faceplant
winter picnic—
soft quilt
fireplace
staring through the window
the doe awaits
her apple
back aching—
forget the item
on the bottom shelf
first sunshine after rain—
worms tracing patterns
by Charleen (Sistuh Clarity)
book club—
glasses
forgotten at home
pitter patter—
green tomatoes glistening
cleaning by mood—
toilet wand
dry
bell ringing—
old school house
vibrating
trees in forest,
red leaves
midair
swinging swaying—
big band
by Carol Barcomb
thunderstorm—
the key
oops, wrong car
laundry—
piles and piles
tomorrow
ironing—
folding instead
by anonymous
cold earth—
purple and yellow
crocuses
snowstorm—
where am I
skiing
downhill—
torn rotator cuff
important speech
large crowd waiting—
notes missing