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HaikuMom, a place / to vent, celebrate, and laugh / about this mom life

Decatur Trending

HaikuMom, a place / to vent, celebrate, and laugh / about this mom life

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Jami Becker, creator of the HaikuMom Facebook group. Photo provided to Decaturish.
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By Christopher Rosselot, contributor 

Jami Becker was visiting friends in Chicago when she first envisioned the HaikuMom Facebook group. One day, the daughter of Becker’s friend started listing every event that was complicating her life: homework, soccer practice, etc.

Becker thought to herself, “Well you’ve gotta say what you’ve gotta say, but us parents have something to say too.”

Not long after returning home to Atlanta, Becker’s son lost his winter clothing. With a sense of humor, she wrote a Haiku and shared it on Facebook.

After a favorable response from friends, she started the HaikuMom Facebook group. In the five years since its beginning, the group has grown to include 760 members, most of whom live in or around Decatur.

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Becker estimates that 50 percent of the Haikus touch on parenting experiences, and the other 50 percent cover all other topics.

Local mom Amanda Lockwood doesn’t post her own Haikus as much as she once did, but enjoys seeing the shared experiences expressed in the Haikus.

“I think the group is popular because it gives a true snapshot of our lives in a creative way,” Lockwood said. “Sometimes funny, sometimes wistful, sometimes political.”

Becker’s often found herself thinking about a Haiku to post, only to discover that someone else just wrote a similar one. She views the Haiku format as helpful in letting adults express their shared experiences.

“I think art forms are generally kind of freeing,” Becker said. “It’s like speaking another language … it lets out creativity and enables you to be more expressive about something you would otherwise be cautious about.”

Becker offers advice to those who might be hesitant at trying their hand at Haikus.

“I think it’s a really supportive group,” she said. “Don’t be afraid and have fun doing it.”

Here are some of the most recent Haikus submitted to the HaikuMom Facebook group:

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This is so awesome
I love our community
The ways we connect

– Tammie Willis

We know words matter
Haiku is a smarter way
To articulate

– Kelly Walsh

Haiku: mothers share
poetry of their daily
laughter and sorrows

– Tanya Frazee

Decaturish. Wow!
Publicizing HaikuMom
It’s all over now!

-Clare Butler

Mindful words entwine
Ferry infinite Journeys
Unearthing vast truths

– Allison Taylor

It takes a village.
Momming is not for the weak.
But, oh! The rewards!

– Nikelle A Klareich

Haiku’s are not my
Forte says Dan Whisenhunt.
Just Decatur dirt

Leave it to the moms
To deliver the real shit
About Decatur

The ugly planters
Bloody Mead road women and
the popsicle wars.

Ain’t nothin’ compared
To being a mother here.
That’s the true drama.

– Amanda Lockwood

Editor’s note: Headline written by Leslie Joiner 

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