I like haiku.

I am not a big fan of reading poetry, in general…but I do like haiku.  Perhaps there is something about the efficiency of a haiku that appeals to me.

5-7-5

Easy.  Succinct.  Predictable.

Here’s one I wrote back in 1997 while sitting in my cubicle at Rockwell Collins shortly after filling my coffee cup:

Ode to Joe
O rich dark liquid
Nectar from the roasted bean
Pleasure in a mug

So, I toast you with my tiny espresso cup this afternoon as I give thanks for all things in the coffee family.

My brother recently gave me a copy of Seth Godin’s new book What To Do When It’s Your Turn, and I graciously accepted knowing that it would likely just go on the shelf.  I think I may have even told him that, or at least something similar.

I mean, I know that Seth is brilliant, and I have benefited from several of his books and blog posts.   But the truth is that in recent years I often find him drifting too far into the abstract with often very esoteric musings that don’t really seem to say much.  So, I didn’t figure I would enjoy this book much, either.

Turns out I was wrong.

Earlier today, I picked up the book and started leafing through it.  True to my peculiar book and magazine browsing form, I started at the back, and the first thing that caught my eye was a picture of a loon.  On the opposing page, there were a few paragraphs under a heading that read “The illusion of safety (and the mistake of fear)”.  Good stuff.

Randomly jumping to another spot in the book, my eyes caught the question, “When was the last time you did something for the first time?”  What Seth wrote under that heading stirred something in me.

I leafed toward the front again, scanning the pages for more, and I found it.  Two or three more flips, and I found bits and pieces that were speaking to thoughts, fears and hesitations I have experienced in the recent past and sparked the desire to change something.

Dang…so much for my dismissal of Seth’s content.  I like this book.  And I think I like it a lot.  I texted my brother and told him so – thanking him for the gift.

The words he wrote under the question “When was the last time you did something for the first time?” spoke almost directly to several things I have been wanting to do, meaning to do, but have consistently found reasons not to do.  And so I haven’t.

I guess that perhaps it is time for that to change.

It’s my turn.