Per Diem/Haiku of the Day for May 2022: Early Childhood
Per Diem/Haiku of the Day for May 2022 features Guest Editor John S. Green’s collection on the theme of Early Childhood. This is what John has to say by way of introduction to this theme:
Children are endowed with the capacity to absorb their environment—a natural process which is spontaneous in the human being from birth. During this early stage—the first 2,000 days, before formal schooling begins—the most important education happens. A love for nature is developed in the initial years when the foundation of the psychic life of the child is formed. Periods of deep concentrated activity create a human spirit that is radiant, refreshed, and satisfied with a profound feeling of joy.
Granted, if all newborns grew up in heartening households, the world would soon be a more peaceful place. However, many early childhoods are not idyllic. Just as positive environments grow a child’s brain, negative happenings can inhabit and inhibit the impressionable human being. Much that we ourselves are, as adults, has been made by the child in the first five years of life.
—John S. Green
See also our Haiku of the Day Archive.
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help brother
hanging red paper lantern
New Year’s eve
Nani Mariani, Australia
Snatch churn from mother
skimmed on her face shines
memory abides
hurricane prelude
whirlybirds in the wind
bliss ignorance
please ignore the one, trouble uploading-Rhonda
cool zephyr breeze
flows over tender grasses
goose pimples giggle.
hurricane prelude
whirlybirds in the wind
bliss ignorance
skip school—eat Chunky Soup
like a rainbow in the dark
steal dad’s quarters
fireflies at dusk
the flash of another
childhood memory
his toy world once more
nonagenarian days
his somber mood
Old Maid
my childhood memories
finding new life
Mother’s Day-
among the knives
blue irises
nursery training
an upturned potty
on his head
Just for fun!
gripping my childhood a yellow submarine
I always enjoy reading your haiku, Alan. They are powerful and rich in vivid imagery.
I particularly like this one:
heat and sunlight
a child starts building
snow castles
To me you are a source of great inspiration and support.
Dear Mariangela, thank you so much! 🙂
It’s from a real life experience when I used to be a professional Santa. I loved interacting with the multiple generations of grandparents, parents, teenagers, and pre-teens! 🙂
warmest regards,
Alan
first steps –
blossoms falling
at random
learning to walk
he steps on a stone –
bumpy road
in the plaster cast
of my childhood hand
my first signature
Such an emotive topic and some beautiful pieces.
in the old attic
my forgotten toys crying-
childhood memories
her third birthday
tulips bend
under a light snow
Thanks, Alan, for your early childhood sequence of published haiku! I particularly enjoyed,
.
snow descending…
the child reaches up
to break their fall
.
Alan Summers
.
Only a fresh uninhibited mind would take such caring action. Also, children try to catch snowdrops in their mouths, of course!
.
the different years
of a child’s jigsaw pieces
recycled bins
.
Alan Summers
.
Such a lovely image. Sad but thoughtful.
Hi John,
Yes, snow, everything from catching snow in our mouths, to snow interacting with our eyelashes! As my zuihitsu piece will show you, I was a child of snow during a Great British Winter! 🙂
https://www.callofthepage.org/boj/
And the jigsaw pieces you can see in this NHK TV (Japan) feature about my haiku journey:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VS36AGVI6s
Thank you so much for your comments, they are incredibly deeply appreciated.
warmest regards,
Alan
I love your haiku, Matt. Thank you for sharing. It has a mystery of freshness!
pining through red puddle
my childhood rain bath
child pats his doll-
short lived life his brother
relives in
long long ago
sand castle
up to now no house
– Chittaluri satyanarayana
kneel down …
child for not doing home work
memory stays…
first ride on bike
never again after fall
five year old with dad
butt first
stop pushing- scalpel cleaned
better he not see
I shall look forward to this theme with great interest! It’s a wonderful subject matter, though as current situations around the world reveal, more children are suffering than ever, sadly.
umbilical cord–
a space man’s first
baby steps
Alan Summers
Commission: “Rocket Dreams” commission
Performance: U.K. National Poetry Day October 4th 2007, and World Space Week with Space Historian Piers Bizony and NASA images.
Feature: The Haiku Foundation’s Per Diem: Daily Haiku December 2012: Children
.
baby photos
from my birth mother . . .
how do I say hello to me
Alan Summers
Publication credit: The Heron’s Nest (Vol XIV, No. 2: June, 2012)
Feature: The Haiku Foundation’s Per Diem: Daily Haiku December 2012: Children
.
am I the ghost
of a child who died before me?
autumn deepens
Alan Summers
Publication credit:
Haiku Novine ed. Saša Važić & Dragan J Ristić
(December 2012) ISSN 1451-3889
.
ants following invisible trials the children
Alan Summers
Publication Credits: Modern Haiku issue 44:3 (2013) ed. Paul Miller
note: you can misread this as ‘trails’
.
buttercup field
within the eyes of a child
the hare kinetic
Alan Summers
Publication Credit:
Lakeview International Journal of Literature and Arts Vol.1, No.2 August 2013
.
Father’s Day
a child circles the tree
in his own John Deere
Alan Summers
Publication Credit: Scope vol 60 no. 4 (Fellowship of Australian Writers, Queensland, May 2014)
.
heat and sunlight
a child starts building
snow castles
Alan Summers
Publication Credit: Derafsh-e Mehr Issue#4 (Winter & Spring 2014)
.
wind-spun flakes…
a child’s world escapes
the snow globe
Alan Summers
Joint Winner, Tinywords photo prompt:
http://tinywords.com/2015/02/08/19050/
.
the different years
of a child’s jigsaw pieces
recycled bins
Alan Summers
NHK World – Europe and Japan: Alan’s Haiku Journey:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VS36AGVI6s
.
snow descending…
the child reaches up
to break their fall
Alan Summers
The Amazing Glass House: A Haiku Storybook
Susan Beth Furst
(Purple Cotton Candy Arts, October 2019)
.
the warmth
of mismatched gloves
first snowfall
Alan Summers
Anthology: Another Trip Around the Sun: 365 Days of Haiku for Children Young and Old
ed. Jessica Latham (Brooks Books 2019)
.
Alan, thank you for sharing these touching haiku
Thank you Diane! 🙂
My earliest recollection, at four years old, was my adoptive mom tending to a lone rose bush she had in a small and otherwise concreted over front garden. Humble beginnings.
Alan
Thanks, Alan, for your early childhood sequence of published haiku! I particularly enjoyed,
.
snow descending…
the child reaches up
to break their fall
.
Alan Summers
.
Only a fresh uninhibited mind would take such caring action. Also, children try to catch snowdrops in their mouths, of course!
.
the different years
of a child’s jigsaw pieces
recycled bins
.
Alan Summers
.
Such a lovely image. Sad but thoughtful.
I always enjoy reading your haiku, Alan. They are powerful and rich in vivid imagery.
I particularly like this one:
heat and sunlight
a child starts building
snow castles
To me you are a source of great inspiration and support.
workhouse green…
his grandchildren play
in the sun
in every toddler the walking sound of my toddler’s anklets
yesterday’s garden
one small, sort-of-white lump left
life waits in the melt
Such an interesting topic!
mom’s absence
makes my God’s presence
perfect love
wings of Pegasus –
from the oncology ward
the drift away child
Dear Nisha,
Your haiku tells a big story with a very little number of words. Well done.
In all absence
the presence
of his presence.