Smoke Rings

A few days ago Carpe Diem Haiku Kai did an exercise on, what else, haiku: specifically form. The challenge was to stretch ourselves by doing three haiku in slightly different ways: one 3-5-3 stanza, one traditional 5-7-5, and a free form stanza. It took me a little longer than usual to get this done; I had an idea but it took several tries to get something I was pleased with. Consequently I missed the deadline but have a chained haiku that I really like. 

 

Smoke wafts from
A burning ember
In my pipe

An animated
Enchanting dance of smoke rings
Drifting by my eyes

Lulling me into
A tranquil state of mind
Induced by rolling smoke rings

As you can see, I stayed with the guidelines using stanzas of 3-5-3, 5-7-5, and 5-6-7 for the free form ending, while, in my mind at least, chaining them into one poem. Even though I ran over the deadline, I found this exercise to be a fun and thought provoking challenge which I thoroughly enjoyed.