Out of the Woods Poetry Contest

April is National Poetry Month and so today we begin the First Annual Out of the Woods Poetry Contest. This year’s theme is Twelve Step Haiku.

The guidelines: Write a haiku about one of AA’s 12 steps. You can do one step or all 12. The description of a haiku is this: Seventeen (17) syllables in three, non-rhyming lines. It typically is like this: 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables. But we are recovering alcoholics and addicts so for our purposes we’ll be flexible: poetic license not perfection.

The joy of haiku is that they are fast simple and always right. They can be funny or serious or mysterious, and they are often surprising to the reader and the writer. Here are some samples:

Step One:

Admitted, “No power”.

Set the drink on the bar,

Then I called AA.


Step Two:

Not alone, but crazy

I came to ask in the dark,

“Will you make me sane?”


Step Three:

My hands in the air,

I surrender me to you.

Please, God, care for me.


Now it’s your turn. What is the essence of each step for you? Is there a key word or two? Challenge your friends and post your favorites here. You can use the Comments link below or email your 12-step haiku to me and I’ll post them in the blog