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.🎃