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Celebrate National Poetry Month with Garden Haiku

We all remember first learning about haiku in grade school with the familiar pattern of three phrases written in five, seven, and five syllables. As I developed this year’s Words in Bloom: A Year of Haiku program, I learned that the world of haiku is an expansive one with many forms. Designed to be “one breath” poems with a focus on nature, haiku has the power to strike an emotional chord.

Collaborating with the Midwest Region of the Haiku Society of America, the Chicago Botanic Garden put out a call for submissions for haiku poems. After careful review of hundreds of submissions, we’re excited to share our selected poems from Garden enthusiasts everywhere for National Poetry Month.

Get lost in these beautiful haiku poems paying tribute to the Helen and Richard Thomas English Walled Garden for spring and early summer.

English Walled Garden haiku


wisteria season
my teenage son
begins a conversation

Sandra Simpson, New Zealand


thyme growing
between garden bricks
I imagine you all grown

Deborah P Kolodji, Temple City, California


much ado
about everything ...
rambling rose

Cynthia Cechota, Dubuque, Iowa


early June
the elusive scent
of a rose named “Peace”

Lesley Anne Swanson, Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania


wedding day—

the unexpected hummingbird

through the pergola

Michael Dylan Welch, Sammamish, Washington


 old cistern

the deep echo

of herstory

Roberta Beary, Westport, County Mayo, Ireland


 hedge door

a sunbeam illuminates

my footprint

Deb Koen, Rochester, New York


this floating world

white dogwoods

in morning fog

Nancy Shires, Greenville, North Carolina


in a flurry

of cherry blossom pink

mother blows us a kiss

Jill Whalen, Waukesha, Wisconsin