BuyChimes is sponsoring our first Spring Haiku contest! Can you tell...we're VERY eager for Spring?! We're ready for all things Spring: the annual Blossom Kite Festival here in DC (For local folks, it's this Sunday, March 27, at the Washington Monument...join us!); warm evenings spent with good friends, good food and good chimes on the back patio; garden beds simply overflowing with daffodils.

To celebrate, BuyChimes invites visitors to submit a haiku about spring. As you might remember from high school English class, a haiku is a Japanese three-phrased poem. The first line contains 5 syllables; the second, 7 syllables; the third, 5 syllables again. They're short and sweet. Here's my best shot (I promise—I won't crown myself the winner!):

March on, Old Winter. Lion, leave my garden now! Lamb, usher in Spring.

BuyChimes will feature the best haiku on our site and give the winner a $25.00 credit toward any wind chime. Best of all, we'll welcome Spring together!

Fine print: Send your entry using the Contact Us page by April 15, 2011. You can also fax your entry to 703-293-6396. By sending the haiku, you grant permission to BuyChimes to use it on our site (and possibly other promotions). If you don't permit it, don't submit it. (Hint: we might be partial to haikus with chimes in them.)

— Carolyn