Haiku

 

New Mexico
High desert Summer

Violet ribbons of grass

Black birds fill the sky

The Ravine

Velvet cloak of Spring grass
cut by red clay; dry ghosts of dirt

Sunflowers light the shade

Desert Cake
Earth laid bare by time,
Decorated by piñons;
sunflower confetti

First Sign of Spring
Longer days now
The pink light of sunset
lingers past six

Don't Go Back to Sleep!
In my Spring garden
A bird not seen before lands,
sings, then flies away

Winter Lingers
Pussy willows bloom

Cold blossoms shiver in the breeze
The stove still warms us

 











Colour Returns
Clouds gone, sun is out
Jeweled hummingbird returns

Apple trees blossom

Dusk's Sweet Song
A new sound at dusk
From the reeds the sweet rasp and

croak of newborn frogs

April Day
Perfect day; dog barks
Children laugh a block away
Songbirds in chorus

Territorial Twitter

Red-winged blackbird
Advertises his great plot

"Cattail fluff for nest!"

Night
Cool sheets against legs
Rumble of the cat nearby
Soft cover of sleep

Another Grey Morning
Graveled eyes open
Sodden light through dirty panes;
Dream fades; day begins

Love's Tomb
Two empty cups and

wilted flowers on the table;

silent testament

Betrayal
Betrayed not by love
But by fear - and the real pain
is that I don't care

Doldrums
Spinning free in time
No bearings to anchor my heart
Sails luft, ship adrift

 



Northbound Train

One hundred wood ducks;
Train passes, ferry arrives,
Slate grey sky threatens

Sunday Haiku

Getz, Miles or Billie;
Coffee cooking on the stove.
Sundays are my day

Sunday Haiku Redux
Mozart on Sunday
Eggs and bacon on the stove
The calm in the storm

Sunday Paper
Sunday newspaper
Offers important world news
First read the funnies

Spiritual Help
Reading the paper
my cat friend sprawls across to

help me not worry










 


Help Wanted
Cat sleeping soundly
Until I need to focus
Then he's wide awake

The Assistant 

The cat types for me
In a language unknown
To any but him

Haiku Rules
A season and cut;
5-7-5 syllables;
Description of now

Haiku Fest and Pepper Ann

Late last night, I surfed my way to a quite nice blog in which a lovely woman had put forth an idea for a Haiku Fest. If you know me at ALL well, you know my love of haiku from age 11, when first I encountered the form. I've been writing and reading them ever since, so of course I HAD to join in the fun! Tomorrow, all over the world, haiku lovers will be posting their pieces on their blogs for all to enjoy. I'll be here, and I invite you to be as well.

Life often seems to be an endless string of coincidences and happenstances, and the discovery of Tracy and Elizabeth's haiku-a-rama falls into that category, too. MUCH earlier in the day I was watching old episodes of a Saturday morning cartoon show I used to enjoy back in the 90s (no, I'm not that young, merely at heart), "Pepper Ann." In the following espisode, watch for the mention of "your 16th Century haiku discussion group" at 5:11...

There's a second part, but you'll be able to access that from here, or you can just click on the YouTube window above and it will take you there, where you can find part two in the list on the right. If you're confused about how to use YouTube, I would gently suggest you might not want to read any more of this blog.

Two mere months ago...

Iris, March 8, 2009

It's a glorious day outside here! 61 sunny, blue-skied degrees, with birds and lawnmowers singing their Springtime chorus through all the open windows of my house. But just to keep anyone's Spring Fever in check, allow me to offer you a glimpse out my front door from two months ago today:Port Townsend, WA, March 8, 2009

On the Road Again...

My wonderful schoolbus-turned-rv and rolling studio is loaded and ready to roll again...this time I'm head west to Hobuck Beach, a camp owned and run by the Makah Nation. I plan to spend from a week to a month over on the Pacific Coast, walking, biking, singing, dancing, thinking, and creating art, art, and more art. I'll be parked JUST south of Cape Flattery, which is as far north and west you can go in the Lower 48.

I made my last grocery run today, stopped by the art supply in hopes my Copic refills had arrived, went in for my annual bloodletting session at the doctor (all my various levels are being checked), and did little odds and ends that needed doing. The embroidery thread needed to finish up the sashiko piece for the silk quilt I'm creating hasn't come in yet, but that's no big deal as I have plenty of other things to occupy my hands and mind while gone. I have TONS of dvds along, so between my iPod, laptop, art, and library, I feel quite content. I always overpack, ANYONE who has traveled with me will tell you that! And again I offer my apologies, gentlemen.

I switched out chairs in the bus earlier this evening, removing the antique rocker that has never quite worked on previous treks, and replacing it with a lovely upholstered armchair that will be FAR more comfortable for me. And for Big, who loves to sprawl in that chair.
I've got a heater along this time, something that was really needed last Fall! Electricity is my only real need whilst out and about. Boondocking really doesn't work for this ol' gal. I like my fridge and coffee maker and microwave. Actually, if I could only have one thing, it would be the fridge. I can do without the coffee maker, and the microwave is DEFINITELY not a necessity at all! Electric light is nice, but not at ALL necessary, but electricity to recharge my computer and phone and pod are fairly important, too. Those three I could charge using the little portable inverter I keep on hand. So we're back to the fridge. No matter, for I plan to buy electricity while I'm gone.

Tuesday I go to the doctor for my test results, to the art supply one final time, and to the grocery for fresh bread, milk, and half and half. Wednesday morning, I go out, unplug, and get on the road again!

One Ping Only...

This is for Ron...thanks for pushing me toward this wonderful Mac, dear friend...

Land of the Lost

Although I was in college and had mostly outgrown Saturday morning television by 1974, I had a nephew who turned me on to Land of the Lost, and I was quickly hooked. Land of the Lost was a high concept show for Saturday morning, with ethical and moral lessons wrapped in a heady mix of time and space travel, where the intrepid Marshall family encountered dinosaurs and aliens while attempting to survive and find a way home. Got that? The effects were extremely silly, but that never seemed to matter much.

This program was very strange, and had some really scary moments with the Sleestacks lizard men. Chaka, a young member of the indigenous tribe, fascinated me. I could never decide if he was a kid or an adult little person. If you're interested, there are full espisodes on YouTube. To whet your appetite, here's the first third of the very first episode. Notice the hokey effects, especially in the opening...

Guess Who's Coming Over?

TLC (aka The Learning Channel) presented the first in a series this evening, titled "Guess Who's Coming Over?" The first program was about a middle class Black man from Harlem in NYC visiting a redneck man from Georgia in an attempt to break through the Georgia man's ignorance regarding Black people. The gentleman from Harlem, Chuck, was invited to stay with the Georgia family by the grown daughter of the White man, David. She has a toddler and is reasonably concerned that growing up around grandpa spouting racial epitaphs and ignorant stereotypes is a very bad idea. It says something about her family that she was evolved enough to recognise the rampant racism in her father, and it's negative effect on her child. No matter, the woman deserves a lot of credit for attempting such a radical alteration of her father's views.

With such an obvious reality-show premise ("two people from wildly divergent lives get thrown together and you get to watch the unpredictable result!"), the opportunity for real dreck hung over this show like the proverbial sword of Damocles, but to TLC's credit, the relationship between the two men was depicted in an honest manner. Chuck deserves MASSIVE credit for his compassionate patience in the face of such abundance ignormation, but perhaps part of his success was the truly compassionate, fearless person at the core of David, too. A brilliant reminder that we are each far, far more than what we may intially appear, and that ultimately we are all so-very connected.

I look forward to the next installment, and highly recommend it to you; Sunday, 9/10pm on TLC (The Learning Channel)