Blogathon haiku day: Swahili and sore knees, bikes and bacon

On this and every Saturday during the 2011 WordCount Blogathon, I’m sharing links to what other bloggers in the event are writing.

Tuesday, May 10, was the second theme day of the blogathon, where people were invited to write a haiku, a three-line poem popularized in Japan and practiced by school kids everywhere.

People were encouraged to write about the theme of their choice – and boy did they. I saw poems on everything, including the Civil War, bacon and sore knees.

Here are some of my blogathon haiku day favorites:

Freelance writer Jackie Dishner, who blogs B.I.K.E. With Jackie, has participated in the blogathon all four years. She is devoting the entire month to writing posts on joy, and on haiku day, she enlisted other biking devotees to write poems about the joy of cycling. You can see them all in this post, Haiku Day! Celebrating the joy of bikes and biking.

Freelance Spanish-to-English translator Lisa Carter also enlisted friends to help with the haiku day post on her blog, Intralingo. The result: poems written in English, Spanish and Swahili. Check it out at: Multilingual Haikus.

Katy, who normally reviews YA literature at Books YALove, used the opportunity to shift gears a little and talk about using haiku to practice writing shorter, and about a student poetry contest. Read more about them in her post, Haiku, editing your thoughts.

Amanda Steinhaus, who blogs at Ms. Panda’s Blog, wrote a haiku series based on overheard conversation, including a Sunday sermon. Read them all here: Today is haiku day!

Here’s some other blogathon haiku:

• Haiku Tuesday: Looking for the Fair (Eat, Read, and Be Harried)
• A South Carolina inspired haiku poem (Taylor Resources Writing)
• Haiku Day for Blogathon 2011 (Teaching What is Good)
• Haiku: Sore Knees (Gonzo’s Gab)
• Civil War haiku (Ramblin’ with AM)
• Haiku day: bacon (Ladymoxie)
• Blog Templates, Oh God, Which One is Right for Me? (Some Can Whistle)
• Needs (Babette Feasts)
• Blogathon theme day: haiku (Eco-NoLa)
• Capture the Simple Things (In My Little Town)
• It’s 2011 Blogathon Haiku Day (PCS Italy)
• Found Poetry (I Hate My Message Board)
• Blogathon fail (The Global Exclaimer)
• Benefits haiku (Benefits Babble)
• Haikus of the day (A Life Divided)
• My first haiku (Memoir, Writing & Life)