A Haiku Hello...

A haiku hello
   Have you tangled recently?
      Please share your work here!

We would love to feature more student work here on the Zentangle for Kidz website. So here is a new challenge for you to try:

hurry, avreal
ibex, keeko, umble, ahh
huggins, hollibaugh

Opportunity:
   zentangle and poetry
      pair together well.

Haiku you can do:
   tangle names provide the words;
      just count syllables.

Seventeen total
   syllables are all you need
      Five, seven, and five.

Will you try to write
   A haiku inspiration
      for Zentangle art...

Or perhaps compose
   a haiku based on tangles
      featured in a tile.

In the example above, I first wrote the poem, using tangles that started with the letters that spell "haiku." I ended up having multiple "h" tangles...because they made me happy. Then I drew a string with enough sections to accommodate all of the tangles. For this piece I used an Apprentice™ tile and pen (also known as a Pigma 05). It felt a bit strange trying to force all of the tangles into a section ... I had to think about where each one would go in advance, which is not how I typically work. But it felt good to challenge myself.

Perhaps you are not interested in writing poetry. No worries! If you do not wish to write a haiku, you could choose to draw a Zentangle tile or ZIA (Zentangle-Inspired Artwork) based on someone else's poetry.

An option: tangle
   A design based on haiku
       that someone else wrote.

I'll post some "Tile Starters" in haiku format soon. I will write some, but I hope that others—students, teachers, parents, etc.—will choose to contribute so that this is an interactive endeavor!

Why haiku you ask?
   I give Caroline credit
      for this new focus.

For those who don't know, Caroline is my daughter; she's in 10th grade. In Caroline's Zentangle blog that she started in August, she ended her second entry with what she called a haiku of forgiveness for the imperfections in the tile she created:

You may get a smudge,

an unintentional mark,

but it's all okay.

Ever since, haiku structure had been occasionally taking over my thought process. I have been going through phases in which I can't help but try to find ways to express ideas with the 5-7-5 syllable structure.

I love haiku. You?
   Here's why it appeals to me:
      Pure simplicity.

I have chosen haiku because it is short and sweet ... a form of poetry that anyone can enjoy reading and/or writing. No need to rhyme. Haiku is deceptively simple. Often with haiku, ideas have to be cleverly conveyed to fit within the constraints. It's a challenge, but a manageable one. The words of a haiku are like the strokes used to compose a tangle. The strokes that are chosen and the way those strokes are arranged can have a beautiful impact ... in a small space.

Happy Tangling!
-Amy Broady, CZT
Knoxville, Tennessee