Haiku Comics of Hamilton Bay

Haiku Comics of The Hamilton Bay — “cursive”

Welcome to Haiku Comics of Hamilton Bay. Every couple weeks Monica Plant will share her special watercolor haiga, inspired by her favored Canadian landscape and terrain.

Monica Plant is a Hamilton (Ontario, Canada)-based artist, writer, and naturalist. She is also a self-described contemplative who “moves at a slow enough pace to see and hear things.” Introduced to haiku comics through Seattle-based comics artist David Lasky, she began publishing Haiku Comics of the Hamilton Bay, which shares her love of pause, place, drawing, writing, and the urban wild; the comics featured on The Haiku Foundation site stem from this series.

This Post Has 6 Comments

  1. Hi, Monica,
    Here are two that may not be terribly sophisticated, but bring me joy every time i read them:

    Two squirrels chatter
    Arguing over acorns
    Like friends talking sports

    I can still picture the truly funny scene of these two squirrels on fence posts last summer!

    Chatter of squirrels
    mixing loudly with bird song:
    Morning’s symphony

    One of my early haiku attempts…I love the sound when I leave my house on the way to work in the mornings–totally sparks my day!

    1. Evan,
      That’s really powerful — that these haiku of yours bring you joy every time you read them. I love too that they readily summon up in your head those unforgettable scenes that inspired the haiku in the first place; I can actually see “arguing over acorns.” Regarding joy, I feel similarly when I look at this squirrel haiku comic of mine; it reminds me of the hilarious, elastic poses that I saw a squirrel moving through in a stand of trees in my backyard one afternoon, as well as the joy and relative ease with which I subsequently drew and painted this comic.

  2. Hi, Monica…
    I love this post! Squirrels almost do seem to pose on the pots, posts and trees, and very often have been the subject of my own “backyard haiku”. I can almost forgive them for stealing my tomatoes off the vine! Thank you for a really enjoyable visual haiku.

    1. Evan,
      Thanks a lot for your affirming comments! and for continuing to visit these pages. Please feel free to share any squirrel-related “backyard haiku” here, if you feel so inspired. I’d welcome seeing a bit of what YOU see in these creatures. Also, I love how the squirrels “writing” (through their various postures) in the backyard inspires us in turn to write/draw.

  3. Marjorie, I so appreciate your visiting this page and commenting. It’s wonderful to get connected to the larger community of haikuists through this and other means of interaction on The Haiku Foundation website. I’m so glad that you enjoyed this squirrel comic! The squirrel who was my model is among many who joyfully (as you say) animate the tree gulley next to where I live on the Hamilton bay.

  4. Such a delightful visual to accompany Monica’s playful words. It captures the fluid moment of joy created by a squirrel. Nature communicates with us in so many ways if we take the time to notice.
    I look forward to seeing more of Monica’s haiku comic series.

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