Happy 3rd Anniversary to me!

Recently, Halloween Haiku celebrated its 3rd anniversary. It’s been a quiet and subdued year, partly due to the pandemic, partly due to the fact that I’ve been unemployed since January. The job hunt takes up most of my energy, focus, and time these days. I had even toyed with the idea of shutting down, but decided to simplify instead. I post haiku every week. We’re not the biggest or the most exciting web blog, but who doesn’t need a little quiet contemplation every now and then?

I tried many times to hold events and do contests, but the truth is, I simply don’t have a big enough following to justify the costs. Given my current situation, I’m not going to try and rectify that anytime soon. We’ll see what the Halloween 2021 season brings.

Haiku is hard. I’m not even sure how good I am at it. It’s more than coming up with three lines. It’s about conveying emotion, feelings, and memories. Trying to conjure up connections through seventeen syllable poem and imagery is not a simple task either. True haiku is about nature. Senryu is less about nature and more about people. It’s often times witty or humorous. Most of my poems falls under the category of zappai, a seventeen syllable poem that does not match the format or characteristics of either haiku or senryu. I like writing halloween haiku, horror haiku, or dark haiku. I like writing in third person, say, from the witch’s point-of-view:

burning straw
escape the witch hunters
a magical broom

Maybe it’s no Matsuo Basho, but it’s not a haiku failure either. It’s just different. If you’re interested, you can learn more about zappai and other haiku styles here.

I want to thank my supporters, readers, and anyone who stops by to take a look at my little blog. I appreciate your time and energy. Here’s to another great year of Halloween Haiku.🎃

Haiku of the Week

Our theme this month is the Witches’ Call.

candle magick
the fire grows inside
becoming the witch

Happy International Haiku Day 2021

deadly virus
humanity struggles
earthly remains

Haiku of the Week

dark damp cave
escape the winter storm
bear paw

Haiku of the Week

Christmas lights
alone for the holidays
near the edge

Monthly Haiku Corner – November

las calaveras
marigolds honor the dead
dia de muertos

Monday Macabre

pumpkins seeds
the veil is thinning
halloweek

Poe Sundays: Lenore

Lenore
by Edgar Allan Poe
*(published 1845)***

Ah, broken is the golden bowl! — the spirit flown forever!
Let the bell toll! — a saintly soul floats on the Stygian river: —
And, Guy De Vere, hast thou no tear? — weep now or never more!
See! on yon drear and rigid bier low lies thy love, Lenore!
Come, let the burial rite be read — the funeral song be sung! —
An anthem for the queenliest dead that ever died so young —
A dirge for her the doubly dead in that she died so young.

“Wretches! ye loved her for her wealth and ye hated her for her pride;
And, when she fell in feeble health, ye blessed her — that she died: —
How shall the ritual, then, be read? — the requiem how be sung
By you — by yours, the evil eye — by yours the slanderous tongue
That did to death the innocence that died and died so young?”

Peccavimus; yet rave not thus! but let a Sabbath song
Go up to God so solemnly the dead may feel no wrong!
The sweet Lenore “hath gone before,” with Hope that flew beside,
Leaving thee wild for the dear child that should have been thy bride —
For her, the fair and debonair, that now so lowly lies,
The life upon her yellow hair, but not within her eyes —
The life still there upon her hair — the death upon her eyes.

“Avaunt! — avaunt! from fiends below the indignant ghost is riven —
From Hell unto a high estate far up within the Heaven —
From grief and groan to a golden throne beside the King of Heaven! —

Let no bell toll, then! — lest her soul, amid its hallowed mirth,
Should catch the note as it doth float up from the damnéd Earth!
And I — to-night my heart is light! — no dirge will I upraise,
But waft the angel on her flight with a Paean of old days!”

**Note: Poe’s first attempt to memoralize his true love came in 1831 with the poem “A Paean”. Poe revised the poem and published Lenore in 1843, and again in 1845. This revised and more widely used version ends with the line, King of Heaven! A Paean is now considered its own poem entirely.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenore_(poem)

Do pumpkins dream?

Here’s an original poem written by me, in celebration of Random Acts of Poetry Day.

Do pumpkins dream?
Do they dream of going home with someone nice?
Do they dream of smelling like pumpkin spice?
Do they dream of haunted houses and familiar black cats?
Do they dream of witches or zombies or vampire bats?
Do they dream of sitting on a porch, all lit up for Halloween night?
Do they dream of scaring children who walk up the path for a fright?
Do they dream of being eaten by chickens who flew the coop?
Do they dream of being chopped up and made into pumpkin soup?
Do they dream that treat-or-treaters will poke them in the eye?
Do they dream of sitting on the Thanksgiving table as someone else’s pie?
Do they dream of stealing a magical flying broom and taking it for a spin?
Do they dream of having the world’s biggest jack-o’-lantern grin?
What do pumpkins dream?

Halloween Kristy

Halloween Haiku Challenge 2020

Happy Halloween 2020!

Share an original and scary Halloween or horror-related haiku throughout the entire month of October, using the hashtag #Halloweenhaikuchallenge2020 for a chance to win a copy of Pumpkins and Party Themes: 50 DIY Designs to Bring Your Halloween Extravaganza to Life by Roxanne Rhoads of A Bewitching Guide to Halloween.

Contest Locations:

There are three ways to share your haiku:

Post your haiku here in the comment section of this specific blog post. After review, I will make your haiku visible to the public.
Post your haiku on Twitter, using the hashtag #HalloweenHaikuChallenge2020 and tag me @halloweenhaiku9 to ensure that I see your post.
Post your haiku on Instagram, using the hashtag #HalloweenHaikuChallenge2020 and tag me @Halloweenhaiku9 to ensure that I see your post.

Judging Criteria:

1) Originality. (you must be the sole author of the haiku you post, no exceptions)

2) Scares. The scarier the better! It is Halloween after all.

3) Style. All haiku, senryu, zappai are eligible and should fall within the usual standard 17 syllables (5-7-5). Sorry, Tanka or any other style of poetry is not acceptable for purposes of this contest. We’re not hating, just a matter of space and time.

4) Participants may post up to three haiku for consideration.

The Prize:

The winner, chosen and announced on November 1st, will be gifted a copy of Pumpkins and Party Themes: 50 DIY Designs to Bring Your Halloween Extravaganza to Life by Roxanne Rhoads of A Bewitching Guide to Halloween. Winner will receive the book via Amazon, standard shipping rates apply. Sorry, US residents only.

Disclaimer:

All works are copyright of their respective owners. By participating in this contest, you agree that Halloween Kristy can use your haiku to further promote this contest and www.halloween-haiku.com on social media (Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.) Unauthorized use, modification, reproduction or distribution of copyright poems entered into 2020 Halloween Haiku Challenge without express written permission from the copyright owner is strictly prohibited.

For further details on contest rules, please visit:
https://halloween-haiku.com/contest-rules-eligibility-and-some-disclaimer-stuff/

Halloween Kristy reserves the right to remove and discredit any haiku and/or images posted here or on social media containing plagiarized or copyrighted material, pornography, vulgarity, bigoted, racist, or sexist views.