2016 Haiku Hike at MSU Science Festival
May 9, 2016
On Sunday, April 17, the Center for Poetry took part in the 2016 MSU Science Festival, a 12-day annual event that takes place not only on campus, but at various locations in the East Lansing region, and also in greater Detroit.
The Center’s contribution was the haiku hike, during which participants learned a bit about haiku from haiku poet Michele Root-Bernstein, then took a gentle and observant hike led by Laurie Hollinger to the MSU Horticulture Gardens, where they made textual snapshots from a vast array of choices. Back in the classroom, Anita Skeen directed participants to construct haiku from their images and notes, which were then shared.
The day was one of the very first this spring to feel truly springlike, with not a cloud in the sky and with the season’s earliest varieties popping. Here are a few of the resulting haiku:
botanical signs
a bare tree blooming
with finch song
nature walk
the persistent sound
of a low flying plane
sunny day
a bird chirps loud and proud
from a perch unseen
New Skin
Under peeling bark
Michele in sneakers
magnolia buds
slipping out
of our jackets
still wind
something rustles in the shrubs
heard but not seen
building crane
nesting material hangs
from the lamppost
in the trees
a squirrel shakes a pinecone
in my direction
Under the big top
Wisteria on the high wire
Dandelions laughing
dancing
through forsythia
a plastic bag
scorching sun
red and shriveled berries cling
to branches and dirt
daffodils nod
keeping time for the
song of the sparrows
pink blossoms peering
from beyond the Center
for Interactive Plant Systems
the seagulls
swing back toward the shore
spring thaw
greenhouse shade
robin perches on the
shadow of a branch