So here, friends, is what is currently going down in my life:

It is summer. It is hot, miserably hot. I have three people between the ages of 1 and 5 asking me for things, begging me to feed and entertain them. Oh how I want to write, but I can’t. It seems that’s just what this summer is: The Summer of Not Blogging.

My children have my creativity on a leash, and it is wrapped around their little fists.

But I have a solution- a temporary one, at least. You see, I have these haikus. The goal, for me, was to take a particular parenting experience and metaphorically put it into that Willy Wonka machine that made a Thanksgiving dinner into a tiny piece of gum. To distill what it means to be a parent into seventeen syllables.

I wrote them quickly, dreaming big dreams of the prestigious parenting websites that would agree to publish them. How creative! they would gush. How cute! Yes, a million times yes! I thought they were pretty good; I was proud of them. Certainly someone else would appreciate them.

After silence, more silence, rejection, rejection, rejection, I came to a decision. I am declaring this summer The Summer of Haikus that May Not Be Good Enough for the Washington Post but Dammit, I Like Them and I’m Just Going to Put Them Out There and See What Happens.

So there: I bring you my haiku of the week, volume 1. If any of these haikus speaks to you, please share them. Share with anyone and everyone who understands what it is to be creatively tethered, or to have to find ways to get creative within the confines of motherhood. Share them with those who have so much they would like to say, but cannot find the time to say it. These haiku are for you.