I was planning to do a long-form piece about my experience writing a haiku every day for a year (well, almost every day… Sometimes I had to play catch-up after missing a few). I would have taken the time to explain how they have been a fantastic way of sharing things with my girlfriend, who has been putting up with me living in a different country, how coming up with them gets my ‘creative juices’ (shudders) flowing, but that sometimes it was a real struggle, especially after I’d been hit by a bus—stuff like that.
When I returned to the three hundred and sixty six little clusters of syllables, however, it struck me that a laboured examination of the process would be entirely the wrong way to go about it. The point of this kind of poetry is its brevity, after all, so I’ll let a few of mine (hopefully) speak for themselves instead.
What a year.
August 27th, 2019
A day distilled in
just seventeen syllables.
Well, here goes nothing…
.
September 14th, 2019
The old hymn machine,
breathing songs through many necks,
takes its final gasp.
.
October 25th, 2019
We took our shoes off,
but bare feet can’t ride the bus
with the autumn sand.
.
31st October, 2019
Here carving pumpkins,
scoops of October seeds—mush
as “Monster Mash” blares.
.
November 27th, 2019
Post toast roast; boozy
still after hours of slumber
falling off the bone.
.
December 25th, 2019
Festive cheer to all
men and women and new dogs,
wishing for turkey.
.
14th February, 2020
Buddha bowls for both;
the work of Piet Mondrian;
a lost EU pin.
.
23rd March, 2020
We’re now in lockdown:
a pre-recorded Boris
confirms it grimly.
.
30th March, 2020
Today Bill Withers
passed away at eighty-one.
An un-lovely day.
.
May 14th, 2020
Fat Lily ate
one third of my birthday cake.
She regrets nothing.
.
June 4th, 2020
Wisdom teeth are not
some great herald of knowledge.
They just fucking hurt.
.
July 19th, 2020
Come on, everyone
let’s “enjoy summer safely”.
No coughing allowed.
.
August 27th, 2020
This year I’ve learned that,
however gray your day seems,
there’s hidden colour.
gabriel burrow 
2 thoughts on “A Year of Haikus”