Throughout most of the time in school, I had to write. Sometimes it was nice, like writing stories or papers on subjects I liked, but most of the time I hated it so much because it was so boring. I was never big into writing, but I would do the bare minimum word count or page limit so I would not have to do it again. Once I graduated high school, after taking both AP English Language and English Literature, where I had to write a lot, I thought that I would not have to write for a long time. That I would be in bliss.
…or so I thought…
College hit me like a speeding car; I did not know what to expect at all. It was my first time being away from my family for so long and living outside of my home state was nerve-wracking to say the least. Not only did I have to adjust to the new environment, but I also had to write because I took a course that emphasized writing. Thanks Intro to Philosophy for making me question why I was even bothering with going to college in the first place! That course was interesting and fun, but I really hated the assignments, which were all five-page papers, a midterm, and a final exam. My papers were…not good to say the least, getting a C on average and the midterm and final exam brought my grade up to a C+. Being someone who typically got A’s, I was devastated, but I also used that as an opportunity to plan for future classes, especially the next semester.
Spring semester came and I took three more philosophy classes, two of which had a paper, and each exam (including finals) was writing essays by hand. Having previous knowledge from Intro to Philosophy about the assignments gave me ideas on how to plan mentally and physically. It consisted of intense studying, reading over notes, taking more notes in class, and watching supplemental videos about the subjects. My hard work paid off, and I got an A- in both classes. The only thing I sacrificed was some of my sanity (not like I had much to begin with) and in return I got tired of holding a pencil in my hand and wrote over fifteen short essays by hand. To me, it felt like redemption. Those philosophy classes revived a passion of writing that I did not know that I had, and I used it to write two short stories. They were on depressing topics, but I enjoyed writing them, and I kept going. However, I quickly got burned out and eventually stopped writing altogether.
Until this September.
After Summer break and coming back to college as a STEM major, I wanted to revive the passion I previously had for writing and English in general. I am currently taking some classes that do involve writing papers and short explanations (where I go over the word or page limit because I like to be extra), but it felt off to me. I liked doing those papers, but there was something that did not make it as fun as it was before. Then, I overheard some of my friends talking about a class related to poetry, and it hit me; I can try to write poetry. I liked reading poetry when I was younger, and I remember writing some in school, so I thought it was a good idea.
That comes to today, where I have decided to write a haiku for every day in October. As of now there are only nine done but once the month is over, I plan to have thirty-one (mostly) unique haikus. I do not expect them to be of any good quality at all, but I want it to be fun, which it is now. It also gives me an excuse to go outside and walk around, giving me more ideas to add to a haiku. All the haikus will be on a document and then once I am done I will either share them online or delete them. I am also looking at resources on improving haiku writing, such as https://www.aresearchguide.com/write-a-haiku.html.
These are the nine haikus that I have done at the moment:
The first sun has set
The tears on my face fall down
The moon will shine bright
An evening wind blows
I see the rustling of trees
Woosh! The noise soothes me
The red apple sits
The tree gives out and drops it
It hits the ground hard
The last snowflake falls
The end of winter is here
And so has life here
As the first sprout blooms
The start of spring has arrived
And so has new life
My heart skips a beat
Whenever I see her face
I love her so much
Tonight the moon shines
It lights up the path in front
I can go home safe
An owl flies at me
It looks at my olive branch
I have gained wisdom
As I look outside
I see the falling of leaves
It brings me pleasure
Do I know what I am doing? Not really. Is it fun? Absolutely, and that is more important. I recommend others to try to do daily haikus for a month because it is fun and can help with creativity (which I need)!
