NOTHING RHYMES WITH ORANGE

(JUNE 15, 2010) This morning on the Riverwalk I didn't take my camera.

I had taken over 500 pictures on the Riverwalk and over 1000 pictures of horses and horse hooves and farriers and farrier equipment the day before for a horse magazine and was just tired of taking pictures. I had a good walk without the camera and stopped to talk with a few friends along the way including the wife of my church minister who had the day off and was biking. We had a good chat, and then went in opposite directions.

Though I didn't take my camera, I knew that the day before I had taken some pretty good shots on the Riverwalk, but I had limited yesterday's blog to the photos having blue in them. As I walked, I thought about the pictures of the day before, and one orange flower stood out. I started thinking poetry - perhaps a sonnet that would capture the images of the Riverwalk would be appropriate. Perhaps a ballad or a lyric poem. And then I recalled that the word "orange" has no rhyme. So, I needed a poem where there would be little rhyming, and I settled on the haiku.

Haiku is a Japanese form of poetry with a total of 17 syllables spread over 3 lines with 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second line, and 5 syllables in the third line. Traditional haiku deals with nature and relates a primary experience (something the poet has experienced for the first time).

Short lines ran through my head as I walked. I became obsessed with the color "orange" to a point that I asked myself is "orange" one or two syllables (is it "orange" or "or-ange").

As it turned out, I had to teach a literature class from 6-10, and we were going to discuss poetry. I decided to introduce the students to haiku and to have them write one as a way of experiencing the idea of "syllables" in poetry. So, how could the students have a "primary experience" about nature that evening? I decided to show them the picture above with the flowers, the moth, the geese and Sadie pointing at a butterfly. Their only requirements were to write a haiku and to use the word "orange" in it. Here is the results from 7 students.

#1:
Only three ducks and
only one butterfly to
relate to orange.

#2:
Many shades of orange
Different objects appear
All from the same place.

#3:
Butterfly flying
High above the duck's feathers
Orange in color

#4:
Three Ducks looking wayward
Attention caught. What can be
Three orange bills pointing.

#5:
Flower Blooms Orange
Ducks are staring down at it
The butterfly lands.

#6:
The orange flower
Water hanging from the tip
Waiting to drip down

#7

The orange flowers shine bright
The duck adds to its beautiful scene
The beauty of shades were breathtaking.

These are not bad for a 10 minute period given to writing the haikus.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, the 42 syllables above give an interesting description of the pictures given to them. The word "haiku" means "beginning verse." For these 6 students, it is, at least a start for learning about poetry.

It was another good day on the Riverwalk.