Dear Bunny Rabbit,
You’ve gotten me in big trouble now. I know you’re a good-hearted and thoughtful fellow, but I think maybe you’re too chatty.
I keep getting sad looks from all the other bunnies. I try to explain that the haiku I wrote was a gift for all the rabbits in the park. Sure, you and I have a special bond, but I feel a lot of fondness for your whole species.
Anyway, I’ve started work on an epic poem with a bunny hero and a bunny maiden and all kinds of stuff about warm days and green grass. I’m pretty sure you’ll like it. Can you help me get the word out so your friends will stop looking at me like I ate their mother or something?
Yesterday, an armadillo looked like he was trying to get my attention, and then as soon as I went to talk to him, he went shy and nervous the way they always do. But the look of reproach on his face was unmistakable, so I went home and wrote something for him and his people, too.
The armadillo
bravely crunches the dry leaves
on the twilit path.
It’s not much, but I hope they’ll appreciate the gesture.
Note: This exercise was to link together two pieces of text we’d written in the course of the 50/50 class. On the day I wrote Exercise #33, I also penned a haiku about an armadillo, but I couldn’t figure out how to incorporate it into a letter to a rabbit. Today’s letter bridges the gap.
© 2008 Edward F. Gumnick
I think you should do a whole series of animal haikus – what a funny book that would be. A haiku collection for cute animals, one for zoo animals, one for African animals, one for insects, one for sea animals…