Cliff Hannan

One night in November, the 18th to be exact, I woke up in the middle of the night and strangely for me I couldn’t get back to sleep.

I don’t normally have problems sleeping, so it was a bit of a weird sensation. I was lying in bed and unsurprisingly, my thoughts wandered to my book. My restless mind was flitting from one scene to the next and from idea to idea, like bees in summer collecting pollen to make honey.

I was thinking about my social media accounts and ways to engage with my followers and the writing community as a whole. I wanted to create something new and unique, not like the thousands of recycled ideas that abound on Instagram, when a curious and novel idea popped into my mind, a riff on the haiku: The Hive-ku.

For those that haven’t encountered it yet, the haiku is a traditional 3 lined Japanese poem, using five then seven and then five syllables. And like so many Japanese things, they are achingly simple and paired back but pack a mighty punch. Their streamlined simplicity is both beautiful and haunting at the same time.

I’ve only ever written a couple of haikus before. One, not surprisingly, was based on a cocktail, also called a Haiku, that I created for a Japanese inspired dinner party.

Plum wine, ginger fire

Poured in a glass with ice

Topped with prosecco

I’m not a poet, but I’m hoping that Hive-kus (fingers crossed!) will give a unique peek into the world of the Codex, my writing, and to me as an author too.

Share your Hive-kus in the comments or on my instagram page. Who knows, perhaps my favourite will receive a signed copy of The Hive Codex when it’s published later in the year!

Three simple lines yet full of hidden meaning! Just like The Hive Codex itself!

Insomnia is

not always a bad thing.

Inspiration calls.

#TheHiveCodex #Hiveku #Poetry #WritingCommunity #AuthorLife #haiku #inspirations #insomnia