When Freedom Is Being Bound…

I don’t claim to be a poet. In fact I spend the majority of my time writing fiction and worrying about money.

More and more I find myself overwhelmed by options. Some people do well with loads of choices–I don’t. I’m happy with vanilla or chocolate. I can’t think of anything at all to write when I can write about anything.

It’s about constraint. I work best with deadlines and limits. I have recently discovered how the haiku form fulfills a void in my life because it contains rules for brevity in an American society where bigger is better and limitations are frowned upon.

It’s a little bit experiment, a little bit exercise–mostly just fun. I like to think that writing haiku is like being in a jail cell for a writer. Sometimes it’s refreshing to be told what to do…