March Mad Verse

The first NaHaiWriMo has come to a close. It’s been a fun and crazy ride—poetry flooded my Facebook page, and the sense of community was overwhelming. Alan Summers has agreed to take on putting up prompts through March on the Facebook page, so if you missed out on February, there’s still March and the page is accessible even to those without a Facebook account.

While I fully intend to keep up with the prompts on Facebook, I’d asked some friends in late January/early February what to do for March since I had written small stones in January and haiku in February. The gave me a lot of good ideas—tanka, haiga, haibun (even haigoon), and then someone else suggested renga. While I simply don’t have the time to do one renga a day (I wish!), I mused over the thought of doing one link a day. But linking verse isn’t nearly as fun alone as it is with a partner or a group, so I asked my buddy Wayne Chou to join me in doing a kasen for the month of March here on Yay Words! Neither of us are skilled renga writers, but we always have a good time writing together.

Without further ado, my attempt at a hokku:

 

spring breeze
tea stains
on the atlas

 

Let the madness begin.