I've written my next poem, in anticipation of Kim choosing a haiku.

When this was discovered, I was accused of being an overachiever.

I am debating various ways around this. I could write another poem when Kim actually chooses her form, and just count the current poem as entirely separate... but I'm not sure that doing that doesn't qualify as "over-achieving" in and of itself.

And anyway, it doesn't get to the root of the problem. With five (or perhaps six) people involved in this project, it seems to me that there is always going to be at least one person who has legitimate reasons for taking a bunch of additional time on a given form... and I'd rather not be forced to wait until everyone catches up before going on.

Heck with it. From this point on, when I feel the need to write, I'll just write another sample of one of the existing forms we've done. That should keep everyone nominally happy.

In any event, here is my haiku. Consider it entirely separate from our group exercise. Unless, for some reason, that bothers you. In that case, consider it whatever you'd like.

Haiku Encased in Lead

These things belong to me and me alone.
Small comfort can be found here if you look �
Signs can be read like poems, or like books.
Of this I�ll say no more. I must atone:
Fall back from this � the world is not a stone.
Fall back from me � that is, of course, the hook...
Like this idle dream: �what if we mistook
Flags for flesh?� Oh, it pierces to the bone.
At least � at last � I can be quiet now.
The echoes even now begin to fade.
�War�s over,� father says. He sounds so proud.
End of the line. The end. I take my bow
And leave... This is a game I�ve never played.
Then I consider this: my thoughts, though loud,
Are
Quite
Still.

Oh yeah... I also got accused of being an over-achiever for trying to make the haiku into something that might loosely be considered somewhat interesting and readable. If you're in the mood for effortless poetry, just read the first word of each line.

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