Talking about another writer’s book today, spreading the love, baby! This time it is (drumroll please) Peyton Price with her new book, Suburban Haiku: Poetic Dispatches from Behind the Picket Fence.
You may have “seen” Peyton around these parts, she comments here and on FB in haiku form. You know, a poem in 5-7-5 syllables? I wrote one in elementary school about a swan and a red flower. It was neat. But hers are in a totally different league. They are clever! And true! She distills the trials and tribulations of life and parenting down into these succinct 17 syllable bundles of brilliance.
Her new book is about living (and also raising kids) in the suburbs.
Here is a sample from the book that I slapped on a crappy picture because she said I could draw it:
And here’s another:
If two-thirds of kids
are in the advanced math class
aren’t they average?
It’s not just parenting stuff either. You’ll see yourself in it if you live in the suburbs, whether you like it or not. Carpooling, parking spots, lawns, dog poop, shopping, losing your phone, checking out other moms, school stuff… It’s all there.
Giveaway! You can WIN a copy of Suburban Haiku: Poetic Dispatches from Behind the Picket Fence by filling out the rafflecopter thingy below. Giveaway ends April 2, 2014.
As a child of the suburbs, and having seen what just that does to a person, I have a deep fear of how the combined power of suburbs and technology will shape the childhoods of tomorrow. That being said, I can’t wait to read this book.
Teaching my children
Causes daily frustration
A lifetime of growth
I need this book so
A seventeen syllable
Wry smile in poem form
Sit and eat your lunch.
Why is this always so hard?
“Time for cookies now?”
it’s time to sleep now
not later or in a bit
but now, please please please
I could use a laugh.
My son is terribly two.
I don’t know what to do?
Amen, sista!
this is really quick
checking your blog while at work
good for a quick laugh
I’m not very good
At coming up with Haiku
Oh look, I did it!
oo oo oo, pick me, pick me! *Flails arms in the air*
I never knew I’d
Have to tell my darling son
Not to eat his hair.
Terrible haikus?
I think I can manage that.
It can’t be that hard.
I struggled to “hear” syllables in grade school. Thus, no haiku. But I appreciate a good one! 😀
I cannot haiku
seven syllables to write
I can just do five
“I no eat, Mama!”
Three weeks of this, I’m done.
Can she live on air?
Eating my lunch now.
I only have fur babies,
but still so much poop!
Awesome 😀
I don’t read poems
But those haikus are fun
And we all need laughs!
My four-year-old son
will not poo in the potty
someone please send help.
Bolted from slumber
Wretched noises awake me
Cat vomit abounds
A haiku party!
These comments are amazing.
Amber, you’re the best.
It was clear to me,
You needed some more haiku,
In best comments evs 🙂
If I have to sing
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
One more time, I’ll scream.
Also,
Why do all three kids
Have to talk to me at once?
Only two ears here.
My two year old son
Goes ‘hop hop like a bunny’
Then wants grass for tea
love this! Maybe a salad?
haiku is meant to
be about nature, what is
most natural? KIDS! 🙂
Can totally relate to the ipad haiku!
Illustrated life
So true, she drew my life too
Childhood in crap form.
Oh no, how to haiku?
But mommy I want the book!
Let me try baby
Peach plum pear and beans
I pick my nose in my car
Random is funny
She comes home cranky
from school every single day.
Give her a snack quick!
Parenting is hard
Sometimes it fucking sucks, yeah
But I love little me’s.
I am a poet
However not a parent
I have two ferrets
Why I need this book
Don’t know how to write Haiku’s
so help me out please
Writing this quickly.
Baby sleeps– but for how long?
Computer distracts!
Imaginative
I thought, comment in haiku.
But you all beat me.
One kid is asleep
The other is on my boob
Story of my life
When one falls asleep
The other wakes up again
I’m so very tired
When I’m away from the kids
I miss them so much
When I see them, I forget
OH SO TRUE!
I have no talent for writing poetry of any kind, but would enjoy reading this book!
Great ideas!!
eating blueberries
some are mushy and yucky
came from Chile, oh
Three under five
Please let this one be easy
The first two are not
Birth control is great
for women who are sexy
moms with three new kids.
(I’m just teasing you.
…it cut off the rest:…
(I’m just teasing you.
Only meant to make you laugh!
Here’s a Haiku hug.)
Hahaha. I love the iPad haiku. So true…and sad…and funny. All at the same time.
Knitting with kittens
is nearly as frustrating
as cleaning with kids
I think I need a cross-stitching of this haiku on my wall.
Love a good haiku
I wish I could win
Being mom is not easy
But I love my life
No suburbs for me
but i still appreciate
suffering of moms.
I need to have this book!
I used to teach school.
Sixth graders made me crazy.
So glad I retired.
haiku’s have always confused me…sounds simple…but
I am way to tired
and my children are still wired
when is it bedtime?
I’d love to read this book.
Daughter is pregnant.
Don’t think she knows what’s coming!
Recommend “CP”!
I would like to win!
Oh yes I would. Please, Amber,
tell rafflecopter!
I actually wrote a haiku one sleepless night when my (now 3 year old) was a newborn:
Tiny Baby Boy:
Why won’t you go to sleep, huh?
Mommy is (so) tired.
(I can’t decide if tired is one syllable or two. So is optional depending on how you say it). 🙂
I would love to win
I need a good laugh today
My toddler is nuts
I love to read books!
Especially funny ones.
Please give me a book!
<3
Ha ha ha! I liked her on FB, not necessarily to win (not super odds), but because of the iPad thing. I’d LOVE to read more!
Ah, haiku, how fun!
Perhaps I could win the book
and learn to do some.
Is it bedtime yet?
Busy life with three kids, but
Wouldn’t change a thing.
Trying to remember
How to write
In Haiku
Gives me stage fright
The books looks super cute and funny! Thanks for a chance to win!
feet in the stirrups
singing twinkle little star
must find a preschool
What is a haiku?
Many minds have often asked
But I just want to win the friggin’ giveaway
Poop on the sofa
Poop on the dining room chair
My kid has the runs
These comments are good
I’m sure the book is awesome
If Amber liked it
two boys: sun and moon
from different planets BUT
common goal: crazed mom
I need a new book
Nothing is not about kids
My life as a mom
I can’t write worth shit
But I’d like to win this book
Yeah, I just did it!
I’m due in July
Friend told me to read Crappy
I’m hooked forever
Why won’t my kid sleep?
I just want to be alone!
I need Pinterest
Wish I could make food
Without a kid on my leg
The impossible dream
Oh bedtime, so hard
Why won’t she just stay in bed?
“I’m not tired Mom”
Time to go to bed
Mom and Dad party instead
Morning comes too soon
teenagers today
smartphones and tablets do play
stupid am I
signed Mom.
I’m in to try one
For some good liturature
And maybe to laugh.
small girl with big cast
toddler with broken arm sad
but OOH butterfly!
Haiku
Bless you…
Mom….
Small one on my lap
Latch on unlatch latch on un-
Ouch, that’s mommy’s hair!
relate to this!
Haiku Waikiki
Uka Laka fiddledee
Syllables are strange
I haiku…can you?
Sitting here drinking some wine
Fingers crossed I win!
TV on in room
Always playing kids’ cartoons
When is it my turn?
Seriously… I am so very behind on Coronation St! But quite caught up on Curious George.
I am Mom to five
Laundry, dishes, piling high
Loving these fun days
Witty haiku book
Will breathe fresh air into my day
I want to read it
The end of the day
Does not lend itself to wit.
Check, I commented.
Wish I could win book
But who has time to read now?
Kids keep me too busy
must. have. this.
You guys make me laugh
Much needed after bedtime
Wasting precious time
i have not written
a haiku-style poem since high
school. twenty years?! *faint*
Got 2 sons also
Potty train 1st this weekend
Wish me lots of luck!
Looks like a good book!
My son loves Star Wars
Jar Jar Binks is his hero
Mom and dad so sad 🙁
i like poetry.
but i’ve never liked haikus.
um…yeah i’m done here.
😛
During dinner time
Baby only spits on me
When my shirt is white
Thursday is my day
For 8 hours at work, so
Dad has kids all day!!!!!
Also,
On the floor, chair, pants
Pee and poop. Potty training
Is no fun at all.
I should be sleeping
But a “quick look” at your blog
Keeps me up too late!
This is the best!
I can’t wait to read haikus
In my Twitter feed.
WOOHOO YIPPEE YAY
PEYTON PRICE IS HERE TO PLAY
THIS IS JUST SO COOL
😉 Love that Amber is supporting you girl!! That is just awesome.
mother and worker?
A match made with vexation,
oh to find balance.
Starving! Must eat now!
I see food straight from oven
Why torture me so?
She’s very talented
To write all her stories
In only haiku
Finding poetry
in my day to day helps make
toddlers bearable.
I don’t know how to haiku
I’m just writing this to enter
and hopefully win the book
Many tears are bad
Please send a ray of sunshine
Cloudy puddles suck
5am, wakeful –
small child thinks she owns the bed.
Too tired to argue.
Baby sleeps at last,
Washing up is piling high,
When is time to sleep?
Doing a Haiku
To win a cool book
Yep count me in!
This book sounds like fun! man all you ppl with your haikus…. funny. i’m not so good with them!
Cool cool cool. Sounds funny.
‘void suburbs, my dear –
town anonymity please.
Dodge curtain twitchers.
too much loud yelling
I need some good medicine
please pass the red wine
I want Amber’s book,
But a haiku one will do,
A break needed now!
I love all the haiku comments. Not that clever but I enjoy reading other people’s cleverness
Why did you do that?
Applesauce smears sister’s hair
Oatmeal stuck to face
Sounds like an awesome book!
I want to read books
in the world I dream about
in which I have time
So many things I
never thought I’d have to say
Kids are so weird
One son upside down
One son emits constant sound
Life with ADD
🙂
Bought the book last week.
Winner is in for a treat.
Losers? Amazon!
A small silent visitor
5 scratchy heads
Lots of cash to fix
Lice
How I love my books
House filled to capacity
Want it anyway
Love Crappy Mama!
And love Suburban Haiku!
Wish I were so cool. 🙂
3AM tantrum
No you can not play that now
Desperate for sleep
I see I’m not the
only person to decide
to write a haiku.
I must read this book
I love humor in all forms
Make me laugh please please
Ev’ryone else’s
Haikus are really clever
Amber’s readers rock
Thanks for another great giveaway!
Haiku posts are fab
because I can only think
in 5 syllables.
so sick of winter
supposed to rain all weekend
just want the sunshine
I can’t write haiku
I find it much too hard, so
I won’t do one. No.
oh please let me win
i need a good laugh, I do
I have a toddler
(no further explaining needed) 🙂
They say two for one?
Seven. They all yours? they ask.
Craziness for me.
Crappy giveaway
To win I must write badly
Please can I have it?
I want this book please.
Babies turned my brain to mush.
Need brain food or die.
We’re a gaggle of volunteers and opening a new scheme in
our community. Your site provided us with valuable information to work on.
You’ve performed a formidable activity and our whole neighborhood will likely be grateful to you.
Can I get an amen about the advanced math class bit?!?! I’ve always thought that!
Would love to win this
I cannot write good haiku
Oh look! I did it!
(Well, a haiku at least… I think I failed on the “good” part)
kids out with dad (yea!)
grad school work to do but no
eh. what else is new
Too many errands
Kids need to go everywhere
Just call me taxi
Thanks for the chance to win!
I’m a life-long suburbanite, so I think I’d find a lot to relate to in this book.
I’m sure this won’t work
Very bad poet, I am
But I want that book.
I read every day
Books about all kinds of things
But never haiku.
Thank you for the site
I read it every freakin’ day
Yes, many days are freakin’ (for me)
I cannot write poems
But I really want to read
Poems of another
the coffee is not working
I might as well drink some wine
and then back to bed
I’m really tired
My son is sick, again
Soda is my friend
Chickens or ducklings?
Cloth diapers in the breeze
HOA is not pleased!
Work sucks today, yes
But so does being home with kids
Yet, I am happy
I am a suburbanite. This sounds pretty awesome.
Pee on floor again,
Older son too hot to sleep,
Where is my damn beer??
hope i win!!! 😉
This haiku is my
Way of showing my support
I commented, yes.
Oh mom, my homework
My project is due today
I thought I told you
Yeah….sure you did, kid
One glass of wine
I can’t do poem
Win book, please?
I like these haiku
They are lots of fun to read
And more still to write