My 8 year old son Liam is an original. For Halloween this year he wanted to be a sheep. Couldn’t be talked out of it. We hoped he’d change his mind and want to be Darth Vader, but no. A sheep or nothing. So my wife painstakingly constructed the costume using a lot of cotton balls and glue.
Recently he entered a poetry competition. He decided he wanted to write a haiku on the the theme “Beauty is…” where the entrants had to creatively define their idea of beauty in some way. Could be art, photo, dance whatever.
Liam decided that beauty was birds. Specifically sparrows. I was relieved to see his final piece wasn’t too sparrow-centric.
When he showed us his final work it was apparent that he hadn’t exactly stuck to the rigid haiku structure. He loved it so much he kept that haiku structure going some more!
Because Liam doesn’t know that the haiku structure is rigid. To him it’s more of a rough guide. Because he hasn’t been told otherwise.
And guess what, Liam’s new improved haiku works too.
6 responses so far ↓
Tim // November 5, 2009 at 7:28 am |
Lovely poem. Very funny story but also, a very lovely piece of poetry.
nico akkerman // November 5, 2009 at 8:46 am |
That sheep outfit was pure genius!
Still wondering how he came up with it.
Santana // November 5, 2009 at 9:57 am |
well, you could at least make him a black sheep.
theescapepod // November 5, 2009 at 11:12 pm |
thanks tim. he’s a fountain of anomalies is liam.
nico, he just had the idea. and he stuck to it.
and Santana, if you can find me a huge bag of black cotton balls he can be a black sheep next year!
Santana // November 6, 2009 at 3:19 am |
buy white & colour them yourself.
ask a body-painter what he/she uses.
I’m pretty sure it’s safe.
Linda // November 6, 2009 at 4:26 am |
That’s a wonderful poem, and I love the idea of a Halloween sheep. Long may he continue to be an original thinker.