Tuesday, July 31, 2018

AUTUMN IN THE JEMEZ/imaginary gardens with real toads

AUTUMN IN THE JEMEZ

Yes, it was that day
The one we have 
All been waiting for
A sweet day in autumn

We were hiking in the Jemez
In a canyon
With tall dried grasses
Suddenly we heard
Sounds bouncing
Off canyon walls

It was hard to tell 
Where it was coming from
Soft hoots
Echoing back and forth

We hurried our steps
Was it up ahead
What was it
Then we saw the sandhill cranes

Making their migratory
Journey
To the Bosque
Later we were told

Because of the waves
From Los Alamos 
The cranes become lost
They must circle several times

To find their way
It is true for humans too
Sometimes we must
Try more than once 
To find our way

July 30, 2018




Sunday, July 29, 2018

A DAY AT THE BEACH/sunday whirl wordle #362 poets united imaginary gardens with real toads

A DAY AT THE BEACH

As I sat on the staircase
And dreamed myself away
Anywhere anytime
Somewhere else…

On the Texas coast
The Gulf of Mexico
Enchantment by the sea
We did not have to travel far

Volleyball in the sand
Just a little trip
Another world
Sand on the beach

Stretched as far as you could see
Waves rolled to the shore
To crash over you and me
A large picnic basket

And a blue ice chest 
A day at the beach
What a gift it was
Take pictures of day

Memories stored deep in the heart
Would not soon fade away
The sun set in the west
A bonfire

To light up the beach
Soon it was time
To shake out the sand
Fold up the quilt
And return to our everyday 

July 29, 2018



Friday, July 27, 2018

THE BOY YOU WERE STRONG AND STRAIGHT/dVerse

THE BOY YOU WERE STRONG AND STRAIGHT

The leaves rustle
In the wind
Though this morning is quiet
Not a breath
The sky a forever blue
The blue of the uniform

Salute
Forward march
Like a shade drawn
Over the mountains
A lovely shade of orchid-blue
I remember the image of you

Strong and straight
A boy grown into a man
You walk away
Through the tall grass
Into forgotten yesterdays

July 20, 2018


Wednesday, July 25, 2018

WILDERNESS/poets united midweek motif/wilderness

WILDERNESS

Most of what was wild
Has been stamped out
Tamed
Controlled

Still I am told
There are wild things
Which brave the urban blight
Racoons
Snakes
Spiders
Rabbits
Coyote
All kinds of bugs

I am told there is one rat
For each citizen
In New York City
And of course

There are all kinds 
Of wild things
Once called humans
Lose in the city

What is wild
Out of the ordinary
Those with a different point of view
Rare
Sacred

July 25, 2018

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

CHILD OF THE FOREST/imaginary garden with real toads tuesday platform



CHILD OF THE FOREST

Deep within the forest
The path is obscured
By the pounding rain
Trapped by the canopy

Softly I call your name
Wait for your answer
Which comes to me
As pale as an echo

I listen to the forest sounds
Softly sliding down the hill
The rain refreshes the moment
The path appears

Before me
Deep within
The heart of the forest
You wait for me

July 21, 2018

dVerse

It is winter, no snow on the ground, as it rarely snowed on the Texas Coast, yet it was very cold. We drew our coats closer.  We entered the old farm house.  The wood stove in the kitchen was burning.  The room was a warm and cherry greeting for the new family. There were barns and sheds outside for the animals.  As you looked across the fields you could see forever. 

In the large main room, I remember my older Sister studying by the light of an oil lamp.  There was a warmth in the room, the whole family gathered there.

I remember my Sister had a little pet turtle, a little green one.  And then he got lost, no one could find him.  Every one looked high and low.  Later when we moved to town, we found him, in the corner behind the bed.

In our new house in town, the wall paper in the bedroom that I shared with my Sister, had little white lambs on the wall paper.  I remember my Father explaining to us, we were not to color the lambs, and we never did.

The cold wind blew-
In the outhouse
We found a snake

July 24, 2018







Posted by lillian in Haibun Monday
Tags
Bear with me and please read my entire post here, even if you’ve done haibun many times before.
DID YOU KNOW?
** THE HAIBUN WAS ORIGINATED by 17th century Japanese poet Matsuo Basho, who often wrote haibun as travel accounts, the most famous of which is Oku no Hosomichi (Narrow Road to the Interior). 

** FIRST ANTHOLOGY OF ALL ENGLISH-LANGUAGE HAIBUN: Bruce Ross’s Journey to the Interior: American Versions of Haibun, published in 1998.
A HAIBUN IS: 1 or 2 short prose paragraphs followed by 1 haiku.
The PROSE PARAGRAPHS must be a true accounting, not fiction; not flash fiction.
The HAIKU, in the traditional manner, is trickier to me. Notice the musts below:
§  It must be nature based
§  It must be three lines (5-7-5 syllables OR short-long-short)
§  It must have a direct or subtle relationship to the prose paragraphs; enrich the prose without condensing the prose.
§  It must include a KIGO (word or phrase associated with a particular season). See suggestions below in section on the SAIJIKI.
§  Trickiest for me – although only 3 lines, a haiku must have two parts including a shift, an added insight. Japanese poets include a KIREJI (cutting word). BUT there’s no linguistic equivalent in the English language therefore punctuation creates the cut: a dash, comma, an ellipsis, an exclamation point. Sometimes it’s simply felt in the pacing or reading.
Japanese poets often use a SAIJIKI – a book like a dictionary or almanac for KIGO. Divided into the 4 seasons, it includes categories within each: earth, humanity, observances, animals and plants. I found this VERY HELPFUL!
For example, under SPRING KIGO you find words like warm (weather changes from cold to warm; water becomes warm); spring mist and spring haze. Under Animals: frogs (noted for their singing); skylarks (in flight); swallows, and twittering (singing of songbirds). Under Plants: blossoms, cherry blossom-viewingwildflowers.
In AUTUMN KIGO: full moon. Under Humanity: scarecrow. Observances: grave visiting. Animals: crickets. Plants: apples, persimmons, colored leaves.
In WINTER KIGO. Humanity: snow viewing, first snow, ice. Plants: fallen and dried leaves. New Year: first laughter.
In other words, you may or may not actually use the words summer, spring, winter, or autumn.
EXAMPLES OF HAIKU with a Kigo and a Kireji (added insight after a cut)
The crow has flown away:
swaying in the evening sun
a leafless tree.            
                      Natsume Soseki (186 –1916)
fresh snow on the mat –
the shape of welcome
still visible
                     Michael Dylan Welch
Nightfall
too dark to read the page,
too cold. 
                    Jack Kerouac
 Yuki Teikei Haiku Society’s Season Word List contains KIGO hints/words I found very helpful. 
So today,
**Let’s journey together into an interior. Go back in time to one of the very first houses you remember living in. Try to recall a room or place in that house. Take your mind around the room to see what details you can picture. Do you remember this room because of something that happened there…..or someone who habitually sat there?
**Your haibun will begin with 1 or 2 tight paragraphs of prose describing that room. Take us into its interior. It must be a true accounting; not fiction.
**Add a TRADITIONAL haiku. Follow the haiku musts given above. If you just skipped down the post to read this prompt, go back up to read the musts for a haiku – and the section on the SAIJIKI. Let’s try our hand at a traditional haiku!
I’ve always said, I learn so much at dVerse! I love its camaraderie in the writing, learning, and appreciation of everyone’s posts. 

I look forward to, in the words of Bruce Ross, your Journey to the Interior – and seeing how traditional you can be with the haiku portion of your haibun!




Monday, July 23, 2018

A POEM BASED ON THE NUMBER SEVEN/dVerse


A POEM BASED ON THE NUMBER SEVEN

Seven years minus three
Seven tears since you left
Seven dreams on which it is based
Seven children in a row
Seven lovers to kiss and hug
Seven boxes hold seven precious things
Seven wishes none come true 

July 23, 2019

Sunday, July 22, 2018

CALLIGRAPHY/the sunday whirl - poets united poets pantry

CALLIGRAPHY 

Dark ink against 
White paper
Lines and squiggles
Your name in red

A tinge of age
Along the paper’s edge
The cup slips 
Cracks appear

What was once whole
Is now broken
I read that you had gone away 
For good
It happened years ago

I cry when I think of you
There was always 
Space between us
A far away distance

I tap the nib
Against the lip of the ink well
We were not bound
No straps to hold us
Just good friends
The story written in calligraphy






Saturday, July 21, 2018

MY DREAMS/imaginary gardens with real toads dreams


MY DREAMS

My dreams 
Relive my days
In constant repetition
I awake exhausted 
The job incomplete

You appeared there once
In my dream of dreams
You would not look at me
Averted your eyes
Looked away
Far into the unknown

The pantry empty
The crops are all dead
The wind took the soil
Dust storms raged

Suddenly the rain began
Huge drops fell
Like bombs exploding
The dry creek bed filled

Overflowing
The great flood came again
You built a boat
And then a pyramid

Each rock you lifted
And carried many miles
You drew a heart in the sand
You sailed away

July 21, 2018




Friday, July 20, 2018

HOW TO MEASURE THE DISTANCE/imaginary gardens with real toads

HOW TO MEASURE THE DISTANCE

To breathe is not a choice
It is a necessity of life
When I am truly open
My breath
Includes what I see

Again a necessity of life
The sunrise in the morning
To the closing in 
Of darkness at night
Even then dreams

Open a whole new world
Based on the twinkle of stars
The glow of the moon
I wring my hands
I am in anguish

I think of you
Consider the distance
Between us
Since the distance is incalculable
I will need something
Very special for this measurement

July 20, 2018


Wednesday, July 18, 2018

EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG/imaginary gardens with real toads

EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG

Education is a powerful weapon
Where to start
You open your eyes
I whisper to you
I show you all 
The world has to offer

The bird that sings
His song for you
The sun rising in the morning
I introduce you to the world

We walk 
We talk 
I cherish your every day
Soon enough you will learn 
To read
You will learn all the names
Of the ten thousand things 

You will learn the language
Of the wild things
In the late afternoon
You will learn all
About sunsets

And you will learn
All the names of the stars
Which come out at night
You will talk with the moon

Your days will be filled
With learning
It will be your weapon
You will use to change the world

July 18 2018
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – University of the Witwatersrand South Africa, 2003

VICE AND VIRTUE/dVerse

VICE AND VIRTUE

Vice and virtue
Have their appeal
I see myself
Perfect
I alone can judge
And I judge others
By my standards

As you can see
My feet 
Are dainty
My legs
Curvy

A perfect woman
To be sure
My Breasts
Voluptuous
Peek out
From my beautiful dress

My face perfect
My hair the same
Of course, I am the one
To judge others
Who could do it better

I have no vices
I don’t drink or smoke
I am the one
My sole purpose
Is to judge others

July 18, 2018



USA THE GREAT/poets united midweek motif - great

USA THE GREAT

In school
We learned
The United States
Was great

But so many things
We were not told
No one spoke of
The treatment
Of the native people

No one spoke of
Corruption
Of political leaders
No one spoke
Of the treatment
Of people of color

No one spoke
Of the treatment
Of Mexican people
Of women
Of children
Of animals
Was it all kept
In a dark closet

Only communicated
In whispers
So we could
Pat our chests
And talk about
How great we are

If we were ever great
Today it is hard to find

July 18, 2018



Not Just A Cup

  Not Just a Cup       Southern born Not a tea drinker Always coffee For me   Although I often find  Bitter taste Of the dark brew A bit muc...