Yelp has now kindly invited us to two of their events to charm and entertain their guests with our quick and witty haiku creations. We posted about the latest event recently, but never got around to actually sharing some of the night's inspiring haiku. The time has come; here's the latest from the Vow Muse haiku think tank:
Topic: Vampires, by Alicia
Bella's newest love
The vampire squid from hell
Edward, move over
Topic: Cupcakes, by Angie
Warm and delicious
Cupcakes are so yum yum yum
Decadent heaven
Topic: Pandas, by Alicia
Do sadpandas wear
Sadpandapants? Or perhaps
Panda pajamas?
Topic: Two whining children, by Angie
The whine of children
Maybe sell to the circus?
Love them anyway
[Angie's favorite of the night:] Topic: Bacon, by Alicia
Would you eat bacon
Were it made from the mighty
Hippopotamus?
Topic: Drama & a bad boss, by Angie
Oh lord, hate my boss
It's always something crazy
Totally drama
Topic: Va De Vie (a wedding planner at the event!!), by Alicia
Weaving the pieces
Of a joyous occasion
She is Va de Vie!
Topic: The long line to get into the event, by Angie
Admission to Yelp
The line's around the corner
Totally worth it
33 haiku and two hours later, it was time for Vow Muse to call it a night. Them's some good haiku-ings!
Want Vow Muse to formulate fabulously fun haiku at your event? Email us!!
One (out of many) of Alicia's fabulous ideas: promoting Vow Muse by writing free haiku poems for people!
If you're like me, you may have been first introduced to the haiku in the Japanese Historical Literature class of your writing Master's program. Not! I first heard the word spoken by the timeless* Wayne Campbell:
You may remember our post regarding a stint at a Yelp Helps! event in Berkeley in October where we were stationed as the designated haiku makers of the night. With Garth as our inspiration**, we chatted it up with countless Yelpers that night and wrote approximately 33 haiku (haiku is plural for haiku) on a variety of topics.
Here's how it went: after chatting up the patron for a few minutes and explaining what it is that a Muse does, we asked said patron to give us a topic. They did, and it was often something we had been chatting about beforehand or just something they like. Muse #2 would then step in and distract the patron (envision tap dancing and puppet shows...) while Muse #1 took two minutes or less to write out a topical haiku. The pressure was on!
Most "customers" were very happy with their haiku and impressed with our efforts. Here's a few of our faves from that night:
Topic: Calm, generous, loving - a nice lady, by Alicia A balmy breeze that Already feels at ease Having just met her
Topic: Sex, by Angie (yeah, he tried to throw me for a doozy; I showed him) The birds and the bees Females and males all around Dim the lights down low
Topic: A hyper doggie named Dylan, by Alicia Dizzying Dylan Chasing flying bananas Adorably, duh
Topic: Hula, by Angie Aloha hula Grassy hips swing with the wind Elegant movement
Topic: Sandwiches, no mayo, by Alicia No zest for this guy Between two slices of bread Simplistic heaven
Topic: College Track (a non-profit at the event), by Angie On track for college A leg up from mom and dad Climb the life ladder
You may notice that we're not absolute sticklers for the 5-7-5 syllables rule, and if you read the wiki article, apparently even haiku aren't always sticklers for this rule as it's a loose translation of the rules from the Japanese language. Either way, we try our best and everybody seems to have a great time.
Want Vow Muse to formulate fabulously fun haiku at your event? Email us!!
*Who are we kidding, Wayne was so 1990s. But still totally enjoyable.
**Garth Algar's alleged haiku was actually not even close. But it didn't make the movie any less awesome.
Last month on October 18th, Vow Muse made a debut appearance at the first East Bay Yelp Helps event! Yelp Helps is a gathering of local non profit organizations that strut their stuff for one night of do-gooder fun. Yelp users from around the area were invited to attend and enjoy nibbles, beverages and a multitude of information on ways to get involved in local communities. From groups that help the homeless to organizations that assist in preparing at-risk youths for college to folks who host a rock 'n roll camp for girls, there was more than enough good karma to go around.
How was Vow Muse able to cash in on this non-profit action, you ask? Well, Alicia had the brilliant idea to offer free haiku to attendees and we were accepted with open arms! For three hours on a cold October evening we three Muses (Angie, Alicia and our lovely intern Kane) manned (or womanned, as it were) a table, handed out business cards, spouted informative monologues about VM and wrote haiku for only the most daring passersby.
Below are some photos of our beautifully decorated table (inspired by Courtney, the best decorator ever) from the event. We met some really nice people that night and, though this wasn't a prime audience to receive our services, we had a great time nonetheless. Here's to helping with Yelp!
