Margaret Ryan
Janet Bergeron
Marilyn Myerson
Poetry Month 2023 wraps up with a unique spin on the Haiku form where lines of haiku are interwoven in a short story depicting a jogger’s observations during a morning run. Images of winter in Florida, the sights and sounds of a runner’s trail and even resolution of a final dilemma are expressed in self-conscious haiku interjections. Margaret Ryan’s combination of association and haiku delivers a fun sprint to the end. The haiku are presented a second time below the prose section to let us read them as standalone pieces. You will notice that Margaret does not strictly adhere to the 5-7-5 structure rule of a traditional Japanese haiku, choosing instead to rely on the secondary guideline for writing in this format, to wit: a moment of observation or insight. Modern haiku can often be structured with far fewer syllables than the originally proscribed seventeen, and the composition of syllables over lines has enjoyed a newly accepted fluidity. A guide for beginning and intermediate poets written by Brian Evans-Jones on his website entitled The Poetry Place clearly describes recent approaches to writing haiku. First time contributor Janet Bergeron and Marilyn Myerson round out our final 2023 poetry blog in traditional haiku mode.
Many thanks to all who shared their personal poetic journey with us this month.— Editors
The above poster image was created by tenth grader Samantha Aikman from Mount Mansfield Union High School in Richmond, Vermont for the 2020 National Poetry Month Poster Contest for Students. Samantha won the top prize for her submission incorporating line(s) from the poem “Remember” by U. S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo that reflected a celebration of the art of poetry. Aikman chose the following line: “Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you.” — Editors
National Poetry Month is a celebration of poetry that takes place in April every year. It was introduced in 1996, organized by the Academy of American Poets as a way to increase awareness and appreciation of poetry in the United States. Their 
Like way too much of life these days, National Poetry Month has had to go online this year. Even this issue of OLLI Connects is an online manifestation of an experience that would be more powerful if you were there, live and in person, hearing both of today’s poets read their own works. We can’t give you that exact experience, but we suggest–seriously–that you read the poetry in this piece aloud. Pay attention to the punctuation, the timing, the sentence melody. Let each poem tell you how to read it. 
April is National Poetry Month, and we’re celebrating it (again) with another group of poems by OLLI members. That fellow in the picture is, of course, Robert Frost, one of America’s best known and best loved poets. He was Poet Laureate of Vermont, though never Poet Laureate of the United States. He once described poetry as “a way of taking life by the throat”.