monostich/monoku – for dorothy
Meanings in pencil can’t be erased
My spine curves toward your wounds
Your ideas bend my soul to new light
In your laughter, a garden of joy seeds
You’ve taken it without permission – give me my breath back
“A lot has been said, and will continue to be said about one line haiku aka the monostich or the monoku.
“Sometimes one-line haiku are, or appear to be, a little subversive in order to tell a greater truth. If it’s too smooth it could be just a line of poetry, or a statement.” Alan Summers, With Words”
These one-line haikus or monostich/monoku were inspired by a delightful conversation about poetry at Gertrude’s Writing Room with poet Dorothy Mahoney. Thank you, Dorothy!
VANESSA SHIELDS, writer 