Last week’s rerun of one of my bluegrass haiku columns was meant to serve as a handy setup for some new haiku I’ve decided to compose for this week.
Most recently I had been concentrating on rewriting some of our best-loved (or in some cases, not-so-loved) bluegrass standards and squeezing them into haiku form. As stated last week, I have been adhering to the traditional form of three lines of five, seven, and five syllables, because adhering to the traditional form (and complaining when people don’t) is what we do in the bluegrass music world. For example, here is Old Home Place as a haiku:
dropped my plough and left
had high hopes for Charlottesville
this was a bad plan
Or Pig in a Pen:
proud to have a pig
and the necessary corn
mainly short one girl
Or Ruby Are You Mad?
I love this brown mine
just kidding you know I don’t
is that why you’re mad?
Or this variation contributed by reader Sara:
ru-u-by ruby
should we see a therapist?
I feel like you’re mad
But as I start a tour of Ireland this week, I thought I’d turn my haiku attention to international touring. As explained before, a true haiku should contain some seasonal reference, or element of nature. If any of these fail to meet that standard, they’ll at least contain a reference to passports or food. That will have to do for now.
checked in for my flight
carrying on my banjo
don’t even touch it
a great tour so far
except I’ve lost my passport
guess I’ll just live here
I love my bandmates
or I did two weeks ago
before twelve sound checks
at U.S. customs
do I have to declare cheese?
here’s my fake passport
so nice to meet you
hey what is your wifi code?
sorry was that rude?
drive through rolling hills
breathe in pastoral beauty
whoa! sheep in the road
