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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.

This Post Has 42 Comments

  1. help brother
    hanging red paper lantern
    New Year’s eve

    Nani Mariani, Australia

  5. skip school—eat Chunky Soup
    like a rainbow in the dark
    steal dad’s quarters

  11. 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.

    1. 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

    1. 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.

      1. 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

    1. long long ago
      sand castle
      up to now no house

      – Chittaluri satyanarayana

  23. 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)

    .

      1. 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

    2. 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.

    3. 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.

  29. Dear Nisha,
    Your haiku tells a big story with a very little number of words. Well done.

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