January 2014

Happy New Year everyone and welcome to the fourth year of NaHaiWriMo! I’ve been participating since the beginning and it has been so inspiring to see this group grow and watch the growth of the poets as well. A big thanks to Michael Dylan Welch for keeping it all together. Now on to the January prompts. All our prompts this month will start with the letter A. Keep in mind that it is not essential for the exact word to appear in your haiku. The prompt is just that . . . a suggestion, a jumping off point, the wind for your kite. Roll the word around in your head and let your muse take you where she will.

1 Ascension.

2 Abyss.

3 Art/artists.

4 Azaleas (to chase away the snowstorm blues).

5 Abbey (or Abby).

6 Adrift.

7 Amber.

8 Absinthe.

9 Adam or atom (or both).

10 Anatomy.

I posted the following announcement on January 10:

I’m pleased to announce a new feature on the NaHaiWriMo.com website: “Meet the Prompters.” It consists of a mini-interview with each of our monthly prompters, starting with January 2014. KAT CREIGHTON is our first participant, and you can read her answers to five brief questions. There you can also see a photo of Kat and three of her poems. I especially like what she says about how-to books on haiku!

See also the new Meet the Prompters page.

11 Admission.

12 Apocalypse.

13 Addiction.

14 Acorn.

15 Apartheid.

After the preceding prompt, posted on January 14, Kat fell silent. The NaHaiWriMo community wondered why she wasn’t posting daily prompts, and wondered what the prompt was for January 16. Then Scott Abeles posted the following prompt.

16 Absent. As several folks have nominated “Absent” as today’s prompt, let’s make it official.

The following was also posted by Scott Abeles.

17 Ambiguous. One more fill-in for Kat as the 17th arrives upon us.

On January 17, with a heavy heart, I [Michael Dylan Welch] posted the following message to the NaHaiWriMo page on Facebook:

I have some very sad news to report, that our monthly prompter for this month, KAT CREIGHTON, has suddenly passed away. A few moments ago I received a message from Pat Geyer, who had received the following message from Kat’s sister: “I wish I had some good news for you but unfortunately I do not. Kat passed away Wednesday overnight [January 15] of natural causes. Are you a friend through haiku group? If so could you kindly pass this sad news on.” I’m working with Pat Geyer to find out more and will pass that along as soon as I can. How chilling that Scott’s proposed prompt word for the 16th, since Kat had fallen silent, was “absent.” Here is the last poem Kat posted to her Facebook page, on January 14, the day before she died:

three quarter moon—

impossible to distinguish what is

from what isn’t

I posted the next prompt:

18 For our January 18 prompt, I’d like to suggest that we use the word “angel,” suggested by Margaret F. Rozenberg. For those who knew Kat Creighton, please also consider writing poems about Kat (if you wish), whether they’re angel poems or not. Please share as much as you feel moved to share.

We have lost one of our NaHaiWriMo family members this week, even while she herself was providing the prompts to inspire us all this month. Now she is inspiring us in a different way, as a haiku angel among us. Rest in peace, Kat Creighton, and know that you and your poems are deeply loved.

I then made this announcement (and after this all postings were by Scott Abeles):

I’m pleased to let you know that Scott Abeles will continue to provide the prompts for the rest of January. Scott will also be posting some of Kat Creighton’s poems for us to savour through the rest of the month. Thank you, Scott.

19 Appreciation. One more day to appreciate our friend Kat Creighton, or just the good things in our lives. Kat and I were Facebook friends, or perhaps Poetry or NaHaiWriMo friends. I don’t have to explain in this forum why such a relationship should be celebrated unabashedly, so I won’t. I will say I know Kat worked in a bookstore, had a white cat named Coconut, and wrote many exquisite poems, especially about her beloved Jersey Shore and its recent devastation. This poem of Kat’s is stylistically representative of many of hers—making use of the classic haiku “toolbox” to tell her own story, with hints of mystery, yearning, and the sea:

high water mark—

no way to measure

all that’s been lost

I’ll be posting some of Kat’s other poems, including tanka and haiga—forms in which she also excelled—during the remainder of the month, along with the prompts. Invite your friends, and may you write good poems.

20 Arithmetic, algebra (or other means of counting). Inspired by Kat Creighton’s poem from Notes from the Gean, Spring 2012.

falling

leaves

so

many

ways

to

count

our

numbered

days

21 Abandon. Inspired by:

summer

rain

the

one

who

left

me

feeling

abandoned

22 Aphrodite, the goddess of love (or other goddess). Inspired by:

dressed in lotus

on a wooden pyre

float me out to sea

bathed in moonlight cast

by all the goddesses gone before me

23 Answered/unanswered. Inspired by:

midnight

frost

my

prayers

as

I

see

them

unanswered

24 Ache. Inspired by Kat Creighton’s poem from World Haiku Review, April 2012:

late winter

the ache in my bones

as I lay them down

25 Apparition (a supernatural appearance). Inspired by:

heat wave

I dream myself

a mermaid

26 After the storm. As noted previously, many of Kat’s poems considered the impact of Hurricane Sandy on New Jersey. My favorite is following tanka/haiga. The choice to lengthen line four and set off “these people” with commas—an unusual decision—just before the haymaker of line five sends a fine poem into the stratosphere:

a full moon

over frozen fallow fields . . .

I wonder

how do they live, these people,

in a town without the sea

I should add that Kat’s poems “heat wave” and “midnight frost,” which gave rise to prior prompts, were published in Simply Haiku, Summer 2012.

27 Alchemy (the transformation of a substance of lesser value into one of greater value, such as turning straw into gold). Inspired by:

the alchemy of spring      how ordinary these sprouts once seemed

28 Apology. Inspired by:

I won’t apologize

for some days wishing

the clouds would sweep me up

and cuddle me in soft, white, fluffy

oblivion

From Kat Creighton’s blog, My Ninth Life.

29 Absolution. Inspired by:

in the church

of all my beginnings

christmas

and me, this pilgrim,

here on my knees again

30 Alternative. Inspired by:

a dance

at the edge

of the tide

wondering if it’s too late

too make another choice

31 Afterlife. Inspired by:

over the edge

of a wooden boat

fingertips

counting the moments

to ever after

Here is the last photo-haiga that Kat Creighton posted to NaHaiWriMo and to her personal Facebook page.

A memorial page for Kat has been made available.