From Small to Spacious

the surprise
of the library patron’s
toothless smile



Just reading the latest issue of Ripples, the Haiku Society of America Newsletter, where I came across an interesting quote by Rita Gray, who writes haiku, teaches, and also is a play therapist in NY City. She said that she is drawn to the form because "it is the poetry of the senses, rooted in nature and the seasons." She also speaks about the form being compact "which gives such nuance to every word."

I particularly like the quality she brings up next. "Haiku are also spacious. They provide the writer, and the reader, with room for big human experiences."

So much world for seventeen syllables to encompass. So much life for one small poem to celebrate or describe.