#AtoZChallenge ‘N is for New York’ #Haiku #NaPoWriMo #PoetryMonth

This is another photo taken by Gabriela, one of my best friends and colleagues, from One World Trade Center Observatory, when she was visiting New York last summer.

Two Haiku today. I’d say New York deserves some special treatment!

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New York

Sleepless in New York

Sirens, movie scenes, bright lights

Where dreams are made of

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Find Lazarus’ muse

Hidden in concrete jungle

Promised land shines bright

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I found the inspiration for my haiku from Gabriela’s photograph and also from Alicia Keys song ‘Empire State of Mind’, below, and Emma Lazarus poem, ‘The New Colossus’, further down.

I’m devastated that the last time I visited New York was in 2009, and I didn’t have a smart phone, or a good camera, so none of my own photos are good enough to share, but the good news is, I really need to go back and take some photos!

Emma Lazarus (1849-1887) poem, ‘The New Colossus’, was cast onto a bronze plaque and mounted inside the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal’s lower level.

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I recently came across hundreds of Haiku about New York, written by ‘New Yorkers’. For National Poetry Month, 2014, The New York Times asked readers to write haiku about the city: three lines of five, seven and five syllables. The response was more than 2,800 submissions in 10 days of fabulous poems, check them out, there are plenty online.

You can also buy a selection in the following book:

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This year is my fourth AtoZ Challenge. My theme this year is poetry once again. I’ll be writing a haiku a day, but I’m also adding a new hobby to the posts, photography. I will post one of my photos, or a donated photo, every day to accompany my haiku.

This April, I’ll also be sharing my poems and joining another group of poets at National Poetry Writing Month, organised since 2003 by Maureen Thorson. Write 30 poems in 30 days. I’m in! What about you?