Q: Is an origami boat a document?

by Vicky on June 14, 2010

A: Yes, it is a document when a haiku is written on it!

Our kick-off for the Summer Reading Program happened to coincide with the regular monthly meeting of the Origami Cool Zone, so an origami boat regatta was planned since this would be a perfect way to “Make a Splash @ Your Library!”

My colleague Anne and I had been talking about the necessity of committing random acts of whimsy, and we came up with the idea of getting people to write haiku on their boats so we can place them around the library for our patrons to discover.

I had my doubts about whether this would work.  Would the origami enthusiasts be willing to pause before learning to fold another boat model and (possibly) use a completely different part of their brains to compose a three-line seventeen-syllable poem?

They would!

With much scribbling and counting syllables on fingers, they tackled haiku composition with the same care and  energy that they bring to paper folding.  I brought the boats home to document before placing them around the library.  Here are some of their creations!

Here are a few of my favorites:

I like my cool boat!
Floating alot in the sea
It awesomely floats!

Green leaves in summer
Sparkle in sunlight with green
On a hill at dawn.

Beautiful and calm
Alone in vast ocean blue
My white boat and me.

Summer books take me
Places like Origami
Sailing in my mind.

Pirates have hook hands
They look for lost gold treasure
They wear eye patches.

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