Gift to you. From me, a happily-retired pastor, who, in 35 years of ministry preached from various pulpits in excess of two million words, and now am drawn to the "less is more" life. In all sorts of ways, this philosophy permeates my being, my decisions, and my weeks. Specifically, during the pandemic, I've been writing haiku. A story in 17 syllables. Each poem just a spare 3 lines beginning with 5 syllables, adding 7 syllables, and concluding with 5 syllables. This book contains many such 17-syllable gifts, accompanied by my own photography, and collected into this one package. Some of these haiku are grouped- traditionally- into a small handful to tell a particular story using a few more words. Accompanying each haiku is an unspoken invitation to ponder the words, or gaze at the photo, and find inspiration to write your own 17- syllable gift, a moment in time from your unique experience of this long pandemic season.

Invitation from Life. Anyone can write 17 syllables. Even you. Yes, I know...I didn't believe it either when told the same. Think brief, not small. Settle yourself in some part of the natural world. Look at the veins of a fallen autumn leaf for starters. Or gaze into the irises of a beloved. Describe that experience, that moment, in one or two words only. Attach that word to another, creating a thought. Let that thought lead you to one or two others, as you stay in the moment of the experience. A type of stepping stone exercise...one present step at a time. You will arrive at the magic 3 lines of 17 syllables that shimmer your momentary experience onto the page. Author, teacher, and haiku master Clark Strand has often quipped, that at its most basic, a haiku is whatever you can get away with in 17 syllables. One of my writing colleagues, Margaret Roark, upon invitation to write haiku, took Mr. Strand's more rebellious path yet another step. Instead of the traditional 3 lines, she writes one full sentence, 17 syllables total. In this book, I join both in rebelliously suggesting there are no poetry police and no writing regulations. There is only this clear invitation from Life whose heart beats in yours and Who says to you in countless voices, "Yes, yes you can!"