In July 2020 during the Covid-19 lockdown I ran an online creative writing workshop. This invited attendees to engage with what they had at home and what they could find on the museum’s web site. In this post and the following ones I shall go over the exercises and showcase the attendees’ writing.
The Haiku Exercise
Sit by a window in your home and look and listen for ten minutes. Make a list of what you see or hear. Or maybe even feel or smell. Jot down a few words and phrases as you are observing. You can write down odd thoughts as well. Don’t worry if you can’t write all of the time.
Here are some words and phrases I found earlier by looking out of my window:
TV aerial at jaunty angles, trees fluttering, old trees with TPOs, next door’s roses dancing, blotches on the brickwork, radiator creaking, clock ticking, whoosh, grey clouds, old brick wall, warmth on my toes, in June, Metrolink, that woman, isn’t she locked down? Some red trees, near the flats, that’s the graveyard, ping pong, an email arrives, aeroplane, are those leaves yellower? Clock on wall, satellite dish, rumble rumble, tick tock, tick tock, measuring time, PVC, plastic doors, lamppost looks like Narnia, blackbird flies
Writing Haiku
• A haiku is a short poem consisting of three lines.
• The first line has five syllables
• The second has seven syllables
• The third has five
• There is some sort of shift often between the second and third line.
Some examples
• Five syllables:
– Old trees fluttering
• Seven syllables
– Are those leaves there yellower?
• Five syllables and change
– Trees with red leaves dance.
old TV ariels
stuck at jaunty angles mock
satellite dishes
radiator creaks
clock on wall tick tock tick tock
measuring out time
Follow up work
You can write a lot of these. Some you may throw away. Some that you think work really well you can put in a notebook and collect. It’s also fun to make them into cards, wall hangings, coffee mugs, mouse-mats, tote bags, calendars, and many other items.
Try https://www.vistaprint.co.uk/ or https://www.zazzle.co.uk/
Show case
HAIKU
Tall Silver Birches
Tops of their branches dancing,
Swaying in the wind.
Patterns in our Lawn
Mowing grass on Saturdays;
I cannot cut straight!
Empty Washing Line
Its Whirly Arms beg for more
Clothes; I’ll make it wait!
Allison Symes
View obscured by tree
Photographs on the window
Me and Phil in Greece
No birds singing here
Is it the double glazing?
Is it too early?
