New to Haiku

New to Haiku – Fun Ways to Experience Haiku: Scrapbooking

Four years ago, my family set out on a cross-country trip. As always, I took pictures of everything and anything: clouds, shadows, insects, signs. But, on this trip, I was also armed with the ability to think in haiku. I found that jotting down little poems about our journey while snapping photos made the travel experience richer, and the individual events more memorable.

cave ceiling / my fingers find worn grooves / from past spelunkers - Julie Bloss Kelsey
If you are ever in Columbia, Missouri, go visit Rockbridge State Park.

Setting forth on a journey with the intent to write haiku is known as a ginko walk. For years, I was convinced that you couldn’t take a true ginko walk unless there were ginkgo trees involved! (My thanks to Jim Kacian for clarifying that for me. And for teaching me the correct way to pronounce gendai, which I have promptly forgotten.)

Many haiku poets enjoy journaling, and the practice of combining words with art can be very rewarding. I have found that pairing my travel haiku with my photographs allows me to create haiku scrapbook pages. Unlike haiku journaling, which I think of as a personal, inward-facing journey, haiku scrapbooking is meant to be shared. It’s one way to record the unique moments of your travels and enjoy them with others. I enjoy digital scrapbooking. The pages you see here were created in PS Express.

smooth stones slipping between my fingers Lake Erie - Julie Bloss Kelsey
We visited Lake Erie because our rental car broke down and it was the nearest location in which to get a new one. That day at the shore was one of the delights of our trip!

One of my goals is to create an entire album of haiku scrapbook pages to give as a gift. I want my parents to have a tangible, sensory record to remind all of us of the wonderful trip we shared in honor of their 50th wedding anniversary.

sunset / on the beach trail / rainbow frangipanis - Julie Bloss Kelsey
Thanks, Mom and Dad!

If this pandemic has taught me anything, it is how tightly we are interwoven. Our stories are important. They help sustain us when times are bleak.

Unfortunately for my folks, though, I only have this one page completed so far. But perhaps it will inspire you to take your own ginko walk, with or without ginkgo trees, and share your life experiences with your friends and family through haiku scrapbooking.

For other fun and unique ways to experience haiku, visit Haiku Outside the Box.

Do you have a fun way to incorporate haiku into your daily life? Share your ideas in the comments!

always / a little anxious... / second-hand dog - Julie Bloss Kelsey
Morgan is standing next to me as I type this. :)

We’d love to hear from you in the comments. The Haiku Foundation reminds you that participation in our offerings assumes respectful and appropriate behavior from all parties. Please see our Code of Conduct policy for more information.

Julie Bloss Kelsey

Julie Bloss Kelsey is the current Vice President of The Haiku Foundation and an editor at Frogpond. She started writing haiku in 2009, after discovering science fiction haiku (scifaiku). She is the author of four poetry collections: an ebook of parenting poetry, The Call of Wildflowers, available for free online through Moth Orchid Press (formerly Title IX Press); the award-winning Grasping the Fading Light: A Journey Through PTSD (Sable Books, 2023); a chapbook of awkward adolescence, After Curfew (Cuttlefish Books, 2023); and her most recent book of horrorku, Purging the Monsters (Cuttlefish Books, 2026). Connect with her on Instagram @julieblosskelsey.

Comments (19)

  1. Hi Julie, what a wonderful way to be involved with haiku! Thanks for showing this lovely insight. I remember making a scrapbook once for my high school-level oral exam. My subjects were the Aztecs, Oxigen (fuel, etc), and a very cute type of sheepdog (like a collie), and perhaps one or two others. I guess Journaling and Scrapbooking is a matter of having the time. I am just too immersed with My Haiku Pond and its projects, although maintaining a blog is also kind of Journaling and Scrapbooking :) I am a very visual person also, and so are my memories. I use those to write some of my haiku ‘from behind my desk’. It’s a good alternative to those moments we are unable to go out (or on a haiku walk) and write shasei haiku in the moment as we experience them. I’m looking forward to reading your next article. Fondly, Michael Ps. What a pretty dog that Morgan! I understand you lost him/her (I am so sorry!). I lost my feline pet in Nov 2020 and it still pains me…

    1. Michael, my condolences on the loss of your pet. It’s still hard for me to talk about losing Morgan. I appreciate your kind words.

    1. Thanks, Dan. I miss my girl. She was a bit high-strung and always followed me around the house. I keep expecting Morgan to be underfoot. :(

      I wrote an earlier haiku about dog loss when Kiwi, our German Shepherd mix, died:

      dogwood blossoms…
      learning to walk
      without the dog

  3. When I was 12 yrs old,I saw a sign, SANGAMON RIVER and took a photo with my cheap Brownie camera(ca.1950) I was excited by such beautiful words. Since that time, I have taken many photos of other rivers and of signs with beautiful words.My favorite was the trip I took to Fredericksburg,Virginia, where I took a photo of the sign, RAPPAHANOCK RIVER. Of course the rivers all look alike.I also enjoy taking photos of subway station signs in Paris, London, and places with nice signs.I love words.

    1. John, it’s funny what we are drawn to photograph, isn’t it? For me, it’s butterflies and clouds. I could chase them all day!

  4. My every morning–as well as my longer weekend–walk I consider a ginko walk and I most always take my camera. Now I will try pulling together my haiku with photos. Love the idea. Thanks.

    1. Susan, I’m so happy that you feel inspired. Thanks for reading and commenting.

    1. Thank you, Ruth. I like digital scrapbooking way better than actual scrapbooking. Way back, when my kids were small, I actually took scrapbooking classes from a company called Scrapbook Design University! I’m not sure I learned much…

  6. My sweet, sweet girl Morgan passed away recently. ?❤️? I set this post up ahead of time to run this week and this is the first Sunday since she died. I can’t believe my dog is gone. ?

    1. A very nice and inspiring article! A scrapbook! What a great idea! I am very sorry for your loss. My girl Berta died last year and I miss her very much.

      1. Thank you Julie for sharing. I do some scrapbooking so your article has set me on yet another haiku journey. So sad about Morgan but I am sure her memory will live on through haiku and scrapbooking. Thank you to The Haiku Foundation also for showcasing the many ways we can enjoy our haiku even more through Haiku Outside the Box.

        1. Hi Carol, I’m sorry that I missed seeing your comment before. Do you enjoy physical scrapbooking or digital? I have found that I really enjoy digital. I used to try to do “real” scrapbooking but it took me forever to get the pages just the way I like them so I only have a few pages completed. I’m thinking about making a digital scrapbook for my kids, based on a family trip we took this summer. That will be a big undertaking! I wrote haiku along the way, though, so that will make it more fun. :) Thanks for commenting!

  7. On a personal ginko between conferences:

    faint outline of oil rigs
    out of smog
    surfers

    Huntingdon Beach Los Angeles

    Alan Summers
    Publication credits: Haiku Spirit (Eire, 1996)

    skuas in from smog
    pause in their reflection
    the tide washed beach

    Huntingdon Beach Los Angeles

    Alan Summers
    Publication credits: Haiku Spirit (Eire, 1996)

    1. Lol! Thanks, Alan. I think I’ve got them fixed now. Thanks for always reading closely. ?

Comments are closed.

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Our mission is made possible by the generosity of others. Learn how you can provide vital support to our organization.

Donate | Volunteer

Questions, comments, or concerns? We’d love to hear from you!

Home | Policies, Disclaimers, & Terms of Use | Contact

The Haiku Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization proudly operating as an inclusive remote workplace and is staffed exclusively by community volunteers.

The Haiku Foundation
P.O. Box 2461
Winchester, VA
22604-1661
USA

Back To Top