9 Great Reasons to Write Verandakus, or Any Ku At All

PLUS A BONUS REASON FOR WHEN TOO MANY REASONS JUST AREN’T ENOUGH

CONCLUDING QUEENSLAND WRITERS WEEK

I hope you’ve enjoyed the past week of Verandakus celebrating Queensland Writers Week.  I certainly enjoyed writing them and finding photos from Veranda Life’s stock of Photokus to complement them. 

The photoku above was taken at the Brisbane Botanical Gardens at the foot of Mt Coot-tha.  The gardens cover quite a large area and incorporate a kind of arid zone featuring cactuses and succulents. 

I’m no expert, but I really like the look of desert-dwelling plants, and I selected this one to celebrate a return, however brief it may be, to dry and sunny weather here in Brisbane.  People’s homes have been flooded and otherwise inundated one way and another.  Some have even begun to sink, so I suspect a lot of us will look upon our desert flora with some delight.

Now, there must be at least 999 great reasons to write Verandakus, but in the interests of brevity, and to encourage other wiser and wider-ranging hearts and souls to come up with their own, here are a mere  9 – look out for the bonus.

1.  Writing a Verandaku gives you an almost instant sense of achievement.

2.  You’re in touch with the world around you – NOW.

3.  You’re creating a memoir in a moment.

4.  Writing Verandakus will remind you of observations and moments in your life you would otherwise forget.

5.  V-kus are short, sweet, and complete in 3 lovely lines.

6.  Almost every V-ku will fit inside the 140 character limit of a Tweet.  Talk about instant messaging.

7.  You can compose Verandakus while simultaneously walking and getting fit – how efficient is that?

8.  If you miss catching one Verandaku, another will be along any minute – the world is absolutely chocabloc with them.

9.  When you catch a passing Verandaku, you’re staying in touch with the universe and therefore confirming that you belong – you love and you are loved.

And for those readers who like their lists in even blocks of 10, this one’s for you:

10.  Verandakus, in fact all forms of haiku, are just plain FUN, so ENJOY yourself, my friends, and happy catching.