Karrie Hardwick

Restless Faith: Selected Haiku Here is a collection of my finest haiku. I find that when writing haiku, it is much easier to relate the haiku to my personal experiences. A lot of my haiku have a hidden story behind them or tell a secret that most people do not know about me. The biggest question I ask myself when writing haiku is, will this haiku make the reader think? I want the reader to be actively involved with what they are reading. It is my goal to ignite emotion and thought when my haiku are read. Some things that influence my haiku are my faith, my friends, and my personality. Everyone who knows me well knows that my faith as a Christian comes first in my life. Several of my haiku have a sense of hope or joy in them and when I am writing these poems my joy comes from this faith. My friends and relationships also had a large effect on my anthology. I have a great family and dependable friends. I have also had several relationships one in which I fell in love. It is amazing how a broken heart can spark so many haiku. Finally, my personality effects my haiku. I always try to be real with people and I think that this is very evident in my haiku. Most of my haiku are very straight forward and easy to relate to. I believe that a haiku that is confusing, is not a successful haiku. If a reader does not understand what they are reading, he or she can not relate to the haiku. Imagery is also something that I have tried to include into my haiku. I want the reader to be able to picture in their mind exactly where they are. I also want them to feel the weather around them or smell their surroundings. These are my major goals when writing haiku. I always go for originality. I strive to write about a topic that no one has thought of or use a word that no other haiku has in it. I want my haiku to be as unique as I am. I hope that I am successful in achieving these goals. I invite you to sit back and enjoy the wonderful images and memories of my haiku. —Karrie Hardwick Reader's Preface Karrie Hardwick's collection of haiku strikes responses to me that others may not feel. This characteristic is what is so wonderful about her work. As a whole, her work tends to emphasize the visual and auditory senses. One of her strongest assets as a poet is her ability to place enough detail that an image is created, but not so much that it limits the reader to a specific instance. I like Karrie's haiku particularly because she is able to successfully bring her personal passions into the poetry. Karrie's work not only focuses on the specific imagery of nature, but also in the moment's feelings. I like the contradiction of having emotions that you don't want to deal with during the moment, but being forces to recognize them through the poems by Karrie. —Katie Hill