NaHaiWriMo: It’s a Trap

“I first heard about NaHaiWriMo by someone mumbling weird sounds under their breath. When I asked them to speak up, they said the same thing again, whatever it was. I asked, what does this word mean? Their eyes lit up and then they explained it. All right, I said, so I went and looked on Facebook and liked the page. I knew Michael Dylan Welch had started it, so I thought, okay, it has to be good. This was about a year ago when I was young and innocent. Then it happened. It took over my life. Well, for a while. Then I thought . . . no, no, I can’t let it happen. It’s a trap, that’s what it is, with magic incantations too. ‘NaHaiWriMo’ . . . Say it over and over and see what happens to you. Well I dipped in over the last year and tasted it again a little, thinking I was a free person. But then it happened again. I no longer had any control. You’ll notice that ‘NaHaiWriMo’ means ‘National Haiku Writing Month’—I still explain this to people who hear me mumble it and they look at me sideways. Well the month never ends. It’s an endless feast. You have to think before you recommend it . . . but I do. Your life will be full of poems, your head will be full of haiku night and day, you will dream of haiku, wake up with haiku in your mind, your husband will be afraid to get out of bed because you will read him fifteen new haiku before coffee. You will suddenly know the deep thoughts of hundreds of new friends, and one of them may even decide to turn into a nine-headed earthworm (really, this happened in his haiku). And after thinking about that for three days you will decide you love it. So . . . be careful. It’s too much fun, and how will you get anything else done? Well, the good energy and humor gives a great dynamic to your day, and um, you may lose weight . . . I haven’t even made breakfast yet.”

—Kathabela Wilson, Pasadena, California