Got haiku? 

Think you’re a poet? And you do know it? Now’s your chance to prove it. Local writer/psychologist Steve Brody will be editing a column titled “SLO Haiku” on the third Thursday of the month for “Artifacts.” Below is his maiden voyage.

Dr. Brody’s project, “SLO Haiku,” is “a vehicle for the county to share its creativity,” he said. This time around, he’s provided five of his own creations, but hopes “to use mostly haiku from others in the community in the months ahead.” Send your submissions to him at [email protected].

Hold onto nothing;

Free from fear and attachment,

Let go, relax, breathe.

I write this haiku,

Which my wife says is silly:

“You’re missing the hawks.”

Stressed out? Not sleeping?

Like Yoda, do or do not:

There is no worry.

Five, seven, then five—

As in life, haiku too has rules:

Can you adapt to change?

Fears and desires:

Sometimes best solved, other times

Dis-solved in silence.

Dr. Brody was a columnist for the Cambrian, Times-Press-Recorder, and Atascadero News and a psychologist correspondent for KCOY, KSBY, and the CBS and NBC network feeds to affiliates nationally and internationally.  He’s the author of the spiritual suspense novel The New Commandments and co-author with his wife of Renew Your Marriage at Midlife. He practices in San Luis Obispo and Cambria. ∆