Veronica, poem by Veronica Hosking (SAME NAME Poetry and Prose Series)

My same name senryu on Silver Birch Press. Thanks, Melanie.

Silver Birch Press

Veronica
by Veronica Hosking

Blonde hair swept over
one eye, alluring vision
Veronica Lake

PHOTO: Actress Veronica Lake (1922-1973).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: I was born in 1973, the decade Jennifer was a popular name for girls. Throughout my childhood, I became friends with so many Jennifers my family started to number them. I knew eight. I never met another Veronica which is why I was fascinated by Veronica Lake. She was the only real person I heard of who shared my name. But after writing this poem, I found out Veronica wasn’t her given name. Oh well, I have a picture of me sitting by her star in Hollywood.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Veronica Hosking is a wife, mother, and poet. She lives in the desert southwest with her husband and two daughters. Her family and day job, cleaning the house, serve as inspiration for most of her poetry. She was the…

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Double Dactyl Fun

Dickering, Snickering
How Ha’Sean Clinton-Dix
Given nickname Ha-Ha
Cruel Irony

Listen to sportscasters
Extemporaneous
Call out his plays for all
Posterity

Article explaining how the nickname began. As I was watching the heart stopping postseason game between Arizona and Green Bay, I noticed the announcers kept saying Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix. I thought, no way is that poor man’s name Ha-Ha with the last name Clinton-Dix. And I thought I was picked on as a kid. Still I give the sportscasters credit; I’d be snickering every time I had to say his name. So yeah, I decided to write a poem for the guy.

 

Haiku Chat

Rain falls in desert
Standing under umbrella,
I wait for the bus

Late start Wednesday
Friend asks, where are you? D4
Wait… There’s school today?

Eating lunch outside
as raindrops pelt the table
my butt keeps chair dry

See writing haiku
is not difficult at all
Count – 5,7,5

Chatting in haiku,
I pause to count syllables
Boom! Still get it done

Gretchen came up with six haiku last night despite her mother’s aggravating haiku texts. But the one in the text chat, here, wasn’t in the final cut. And I did have to help with some syllable count. She had nine syllables in one. I’m pretty sure one reason was she counted every as two instead of three.

Stop speaking to me
in haiku! I speak German!
Ich spreche Deutsch, Ja

She even told her creative writing teacher yesterday, My mom keeps speaking in haiku since I told her about the assignment. 😉 Never tell a poet you don’t like poetry.

Hello 2016

Both girls are back to school. Yesterday Rachael started her clinical hours for vet science. She will be working from 6am-7:30 which means leaving the house at 5:30am! On Wednesdays when Gretchen normally has late start and doesn’t have to leave the house until 8.

Then Rachael was back home a little after 10am because college courses don’t start until the 19th. She only has to be in school for four hours a day. When one starts at 6am four hours finish too early! Once college starts though, she’ll be scheduled to be in class from 6am-3:30pm on Wednesdays. But it is her only long day and by May she should earn her high school diploma and associate’s degree.

Meanwhile Gretchen didn’t start school until 8:50 yesterday. Her school works on a block schedule. They have 4 academics each day. They earn one credit for each class in a semester instead of a year. The second semester is a whole new schedule with new classes. She is in creative writing now and brought her stories in to show her teacher. I get a text yesterday, Rachael has the car, right? My teacher wants me to stay after school to talk about my stories. Yes, my youngest voluntarily stayed longer at school. Three days in her new classes, I’m thinking she really likes creative writing already.

This morning she asked me to help her with haiku. They have to write six for tomorrow’s assignment and she complained, I hate poetry. 6 x 3 = 18 lines and short lines at that. I checked the Wednesday poetry prompt at Writer’s Digest, Robert Lee Brewer wrote many people tell him how they have trouble writing less than 30 lines. The prompt is to write a 10 line or smaller poem. Since I’ll be helping Gretchen with haiku later and I haven’t written any poetry in awhile, I wrote a haiku.

Trouble writing more
than ten lines. I much prefer
concise poetry

To prove that I have risen on occasion to write poems with more than 10 lines even with Excuses for quitting. Hopefully Gretchen will not find excuses to quit before writing six haiku.