Seasons of Change: Haiku for You

Today’s children need our ear. No-really. It may seem, more than any other, that this generation is heard: the internet, social media, smart phones every day, every moment in tow, but are they really heard, when everything they say is so quickly pushed out of the frame? Do we listen to their actual voices- like- when they- speak to us? I mean, literally, not figuratively. I try to hear them, in class, each one of them; I go around and try to touch each one with my actual voice to theirs, my eyes to theirs. Like a parent, I try not to let one call me away from the other, until I have given just a measure of undivided time to each. I try. I try. But sometimes I know it isn’t enough, and I wonder what impact that will have on their work, their motivation and their creativity for the day.

Though brief, haiku can be very difficult, and I wondered if my messages about nature and subtlety would translate to my students; I am going to let you be your own judge, but I was nearly brought to tears by their creations. In both classes, we read four haiku. I placed mine amongst the most famous haiku writers of all time and hoped they would and wouldn’t notice at the same time. We read the work of Matsuo Basho, Murakami Kijo and Kobayashi Issa. We analyzed them all uncovering themes of aging and growing, cycles of life and nature, and the importance of both awaiting and pursuing what is coming to you.

The 6th grade class was to choose one season and focus on creating a single haiku, while the 7th grade was tasked with moving through the seasons if they could. Since haiku don’t have titles, I have presented this week’s set with the author’s name after them poem and a line between each, so that each one stands alone.

The students truly put a lot of work into these. I know I get on their nerves with my poems, and my handouts, and my instructions and my stories, so for listening to me, I give it back to them. They are scared, vulnerable, frustrated, hopeful and precious; they bring it to the page week after week and that is all a poet can ask for. Just Listen.