Australian singer/songwriter, Stu Larsen, embarked on a major project in 2024. His project was to embrace Solitude for the entire calendar year.

Each month, Stu experienced solitude in a different location around the world, writing a new song and posting a ‘demo’ version of the song on YouTube. Stu calls these recordings ‘demos’ but, in fact, each one is quite polished – combining good audio production with beautifully filmed and edited video that captures the spirit of the location.

Often staying in rustic cottages and surrounded by nature, I found Stu’s videos provided great inspiration for writing haiku. As a result, I’ve written 12 haiku responding to the songs Stu recorded during the year.

Using the lyrics of the song and the images in the video as a starting point, my aim each month was to write a haiku that could stand alone – a haiku that could be appreciated by a reader who hasn’t heard the song. Of course, if you have heard the song, hopefully the haiku will have extra meaning.

I plan to present Stu’s songs together with my haiku in a series of posts over the coming months. The songs are great. I encourage you to listen to them.

January 2024

In January, Stu stayed at Kohu Cottage near the Whanganui River on New Zealand’s North Island. Stu says Kohu means mist in Māori, and his song for the month is titled Misty Morning. You can find the lyrics by clicking on the top line of the YouTube link and then clicking on ‘more’.

Below is the haiku I wrote, followed by the link to the song on YouTube:

on the kitchen floor
the course the river flows
when its high