HAIKU SUNDAYS | Issue 1 | January 26, 2025

A selection of stunning haiku poems from some of the online writing community's brightest rising stars

I’m really proud to be launching an exciting new series today, called Haiku Sundays, in partnership with The Writer’s Journey community for writers.

The purpose of this series will be to:

1 | Showcase excellent work from some of our writing community’s brightest rising stars

2 | Amplify the voices of writers with smaller online audiences

3 | Generate more interest in the art of haiku poetry

4 | Inspire you with a style of writing that’s great fun and offers lots of other benefits.

Haiku is a form of poetry that’s as beautiful and thought-provoking as it is brief and impactful.

Haiku poems traditionally consist of three lines, composed of 17 phonetic units, in a five, seven, five-syllable pattern. This kind of poetry is usually intended to capture a fleeting moment in time, or an observation, often from nature or the writer’s surroundings.

You can read all about the benefits of writing haiku poetry in this article from last year linked here.

Haiku Sundays will be a fortnightly or monthly (TBD) article here on the Sunsets and Storytelling publication / newsletter.

Here’s the very first selection of wonderful haiku poems for issue one:

-- -- -- -- -- --

This morning, the cold

Froze our memories mid-air:

Clouds of yesterday

By

Alexis David

-- -- -- -- -- --

Moon spills its silver

Casting spells upon the snow —

Winter woodland’s seer

By

Lana Taylor

-- -- -- -- -- --

A lone robin trills

From the snow-heavy branches

Winter's symphony

By

Laura Webb

-- -- -- -- -- --

Earth and sky divide

When stars retreat from glory

The sun rules the world

By

Sandy Seeber-Quayle

-- -- -- -- -- --

Twilight sirens float

Porcelain curves reaching up

Hope rests on the lake

By Sarah Kirwan

-- -- -- -- -- --

The dragonfly lands

A thin green leaf welcomes it

Home for a while

By Robbie Westacott

-- -- -- -- -- --

Thanks so much to all our contributors for their great work. It’s been a privilege to collaborate with these five writers in putting this first issue of Haiku Sundays together.

They’re all very talented, lovely people, so please go show them some support on their Substack and Instagram profiles.

Give it a Try Yourself

My last article about the routine I used to become a prolific, consistent writer got a huge amount of positive feedback, and has been read by about 500 more people than all my other articles to date.

It’s clearly a common challenge for lots of writers to build or maintain a productive writing habit.

A big contributing factor to that is often writer’s block. Even with a great routine, there’s still a chance you’ll sit down and find it difficult to write, especially if you write in the afternoons or evenings.

So, last year, I wrote about a solution to writer’s block, which is beginning your writing sessions with a pen and paper and writing haiku poems by hand first.

So, here’s a challenge for you for your next writing session, or the next time you’re faced with writer’s block:

• Put your laptop aside

• Take out a pen and paper

• Look out the window

• Or even go for a short walk

• Pay attention to the things around you, using all five senses

• Try to observe specific things and hone in on small details

• Write a few haiku poems about your observations.

It’s a really fun and energising exercise, which will help get your creativity flowing.

It will also challenge you to describe ordinary things in concise, creative, and unusual ways, which adds a new dimension to your writing.

And because they’re so short, writing a few poems quickly is a great way to build momentum for your writing session.

Feature Your Work in a Future Issue of Haiku Sundays

If you enjoy writing haiku, or you’d like to give it a try, simply follow these quick steps for the opportunity to be featured in a future issue:

1. Subscribe to Sunsets and Storytelling

2. Leave a comment on this article letting us know you're interested

3. If you can, please also follow The Writer’s Journey community for writers on Instagram.

And if you know any talented poets, or any fans of haiku poetry, it would be amazing if you could share this post with them as well.

Your Support is Greatly Appreciated

If you found this article interesting or useful, here are a few quick and easy (and free) things you can do to support us:

• Share the article with your network

• Like the article and/or leave a comment

• Subscribe (if you haven’t already)

• Recommend others subscribe.

It all makes a huge difference and is very much appreciated!

This Week’s Sunset of the Week

I have quite a few new subscribers following my last article, which I’m extremely grateful for. Welcome!

If you’re new, you’ll soon learn that Twickenham Riverside is one of the best places in London to watch the sunset in winter.

Thank you so much for reading!