Category Archives: Haiku

Fleeting Flowers

Posted on by
19

They are blooming now, the cherry blossoms. I see them on FaceBook and Istagram. I know they are across the river in city parks, and up the road six or seven miles in the neighborhood where I used to live.

But here in COVID times, I do not find myself across the river or up the road much. Not to worry, though. In my own back yard, however briefly they can withstand the March rains and wind, my flowering quince regale me with their fleeting blossoms.

Don’t blink! They fade fast.

yesterday’s blossoms become

today’s confetti

dVerse haibun Monday: cherry blossoms

restoration

Posted on by
14

The idea of the new landscape undertaking was to plant only native species and ultimately do away with all conventional lawn surrounding my house. I began with my side yard, covering the grass and weeds with cardboard and spreading layers of wood chips over that. The scrawny “twigs” of bare root shrub and tree plantings I obtained from the soil and water conservation district barely looked alive. By the time I finished prepping and planting, my side yard resembled a miniature clear cut logging site. Not auspicious.

As the year progressed, some plants grew and blossomed, some appeared to die down and later surprised me with renewed growth, and some just flat out died. A work in progress, for sure, but it’s always fascinating to step around the corner of my house and see how my project is unfolding.

Can nature restore what my predecessors spent centuries grooming to our vain human whims?  And will my tenth of an acre make a difference in the grand scheme of wildlife preservation? I don’t know, but…  it’s a beginning.

bare root crab apple
first autumn foliage drops
mere inches to ground

dVerse haibun Monday: New beginnings

Found!

Posted on by
19

The poetry challenge today on the dVerse site is to write a “found” poem using the words on book spines.

Bjorn asks us to:

Go through your collection on books, and note the titles.
Sort them so the titles form a poem.
Take a photo of the books.
Write down the poem.

And so, my found poem — a haiku of sorts —  with its found title:

Finding Your Way

found poem

wherever you go
roads of destiny — options —
some answered questions

dVerse ~ Poets Pub: Finding poems in bookshelves

Please Fasten Your Seat Belts

Posted on by
15

jet1

Today it is cold, wet and windy outside. From my living room, I watch jets coming in low as they approach PDX three miles to the south of my home. Usually they are high up and flying due south when they pass overhead, but with high winds, they must change their approach to an alternate runway, and so they pass across the view from my front window in a westerly direction, appearing almost as low as the trees.

It is January. A new year, a new decade no less. And with my birthday falling within the first week of the month, I face a triple mile post of time marked, and the reckoning that elicits. Have I spent the past year well? Wisely? And what will I do with this blank slate of 2020?

I will fly high, I vow, when conditions allow. I will be open to alternate approaches when circumstances turn dicey. And even through turbulence, I’ll take full advantage of the journey. because that’s the way of the determined traveler. I’m buckling up for 2020!

winter winds bluster
branches swing on steadfast trees
holding through the storm

jet2

For dVerse Challenge: Beginning (again) ~ Haibun