September Haikus

September into autumn is a time of seasonal change, leaves are changing colour on the trees, nights are drawing in and mornings are crisper.  Elevate artist David Davies invites us to reflect on this time of year and use it as a starting point for writing a haiku – a simple three line poem.

Image: www.pippamayell.co.uk

Here are some September haiku poems that I’ve written. Haikus are mini poems with three lines that you can say in one breath. To help introduce them I have been looking at local artist Pippa Mayell’s Chinese Brush Painting entitled ‘Peaches’. I love how Pippa’s brushstrokes form a frame of branches and how the fruit appears like lanterns, glowing. Great inspiration for a haiku.

September evening –
across our garden
a blackbird skims a warning

late summer evening –
in the thinning light
the hillside folds

harvest corn, becalmed –
the field names
unspoken

up in the loft –
books in boxes
the wasps busy

cattle tracks lengthen –
cows low into the sharpness of evening

Have a go at making up a haiku yourself: keep it simple – three short lines, sometimes just two is fine, usually capturing or noticing one thought about nature, the seasons or the landscape. After the first or second line, include a slight shift in thought to help make the piece feel complete. Sometimes we think or speak in Haiku form, without noticing.

More from David and the Elevate artists

Download ‘Elevate your mood’ September 2020 edition (pdf)

Send us your contribution

Send us your autumnal haikus or poems to include in future posts and in our monthly print edition of ‘Elevate your mood’. Email to ArtCare or send to ArtCare, Block 29, Salisbury District Hospital, Salisbury SP2 8BJ.