Haiku 2023–240

Monday conundrum

I really hope some coffee

improves this haiku

— —

On this Monday morning, I find myself ensconced in the doldrums of writer’s block.

As I’ve said before in this space, my morning routine follows a literal computer script. As soon as I get finished reading my personal email, a text editor pops up with the haiku I intend to publish for the day. I then write a blurb to provide context for my offering and post it. I try to work a couple of days ahead, but the screen was completely blank this morning. The problem is, that happened yesterday as well… and the day before… and the day before that. Each subsequent day, it got just a little bit harder to start typing. Today, it took ten minutes for the first word to appear… only for it to get erased almost immediately.

I can assure you that I’m living life and looking for things to write about. I considered writing about a guy I saw yesterday on the side of the street with metallic gold hair. I contemplated telling you about waging an internal war with myself over eating an ice cream cone (for the record, the ‘no’ campaign won in the end). I thought about recording a moment that brought a memory of my father that left just as quickly as it arrived. All of these would have been worthy topics to write about. None of them contorted themselves into seventeen syllables. Instead, you get a few words that record the moment I’m in right now.