Dreams

Hand in hand we lay
Otters drifting off to sleep
On a sea of dreams

Strength

Those branches, broken
At New Year's still have courage
To push out blossoms

Self-employed

Red hat, cardboard sign
Peddling pies in the rain
She must love her job

— with Harvey II

Autumn

A dew drop clings as
morning sun lifts the fog —
Last morning glory

Eskimo Song

Cleaning out some old papers, I found part of an old letter containing this poem, attributed as an Eskimo Song. Still seems appropriate as we near midsummer.

What anguish
To feel the winter
Entering the wide world,
To see the moon
Once half moon, once full moon
Following its course of old.

What joy
To feel the summer 
Entering the wide world
To see the sun
Once the sun of day, once the sun of night
Following its course of old.
Ijaija-ja-ja.

Everything Leads to Poetry

Research on typography and layout

http://issuu.com/inpublisher/docs/green_thumb_issue/1

led to a similar publication

http://issuu.com/upstategardenersjournal/docs/ugj_march__14

which led to an article on hard pruning

http://issuu.com/upstategardenersjournal/docs/ugj_march__14/20

then to a website by a rose specialist in upstate New York

http://www.derrosenmeister.com/

and to his blog

http://derrosenmeister.blogspot.com/

then to this post about chickens in his garden

http://derrosenmeister.blogspot.com/2011/02/chickens-in-rose-garden.html

and this poem by William Carlos Williams

so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens

Return

"Old Sam Peabody!"'
Calls the white-throated sparrow
Brisk autumn morning

Peep

Dark October sky
Far away, a distant call —
Night-migrating birds

The World Is Too Much With Us

The Poetry Muse has been on vacation -- it is summer, after all. She suggests a sonnet by Wordsworth instead:

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon,
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers,
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;

It moves us not. --Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.

— William Wordsworth

Poetry Corner

Haiku is in the news today.

NPR's Morning Edition and AZCentral.com report that the Arizona Department of Transportation is tapping Twitter poets to compose haiku about sand storm safety.

To publicize the dangers of driving during the storms, sometimes called haboobs, the agency issued a challenge this week to its more than 14,000 Twitter followers: Write a haiku about safe driving amid blowing dust. http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/06/14/20120614arizona-dust-storm-safety-17-syllables-haiku-haboob.html#ixzz1xsWofZ3w

Visit AZCentral.com or Morning Edition to read selected poems, then tweet your own with #haboobhaikus.

:: :: ::

More Twitter-related poetry

Following tweet by Annette Makino @Ant99, my browser turned to Pune Juice, a quarterly online journal of senryu, kyoka and haiga. Submission deadlines and past publications are at http://prunejuice.wordpress.com/ or follow them at @prunejuicemag

Cross posted from horaizons.blogspot.com

Computer lab

keystrokes softly click
chairs creak, mouse swish, clicky-click
printer whines, urgent


4/9/12

Pi-ku for Pi Day

March 14 (3/14) is Pi Day! Here's part of a rhyme I learned as a mnemonic for remembering pi to the 21st place. The number of letters in each word represent a number in pi (sir=3, I=1, send=4, etc.).

Sir, I send a rhyme excelling
in sacred truth and rigid spelling.
Numerical sprites elucidate
for me the lexicon's dull weight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piphilology

Now, what better way is there to celebrate Pi Day than to eat pie and write Pi-ku? A Pi-ku is a poetry form very similar to the Haiku but rather than following the 5-7-5 form, it follows the form 3-1-4: the first line has three syllables, one syllable in the second line, and four syllables in the last line.

Here is a Pi-ku to me from my husband:

                  Darling Wife
                  Oh,
                  How I love you.

Read more about Pi Day here: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/03/pi_day.html

Bloom

Golden flags unfurl
The bright messengers of spring —
Daffodils are up

NPR: Haiku Traffic Signs Bring Poetry To NYC Streets

"If you're walking or biking around New York City this weekend you might look up at a busy intersection and see signs like these:

 Traffic warning street signs written as haiku are appearing on poles around the five boroughs, posted by the New York City Department of Transportation. The poems and accompanying artwork were created by artist John Morse. ..." 

Read more at npr.org >>

Haikai no Renga Birthday Poetry Party

We celebrated Harvey's birthday last weekend. The usual rituals involving food, drink, cake (referred to as Ken's hard tack), presents and party games were observed: sushi, sake and two rounds of Haikai no Renga. Most often simply called renga, it is collaborative poetry that was developed in 8th century Japan. Each verse is composed by a different author and links to the verse preceding and following it. Typically,

"A renga consists of at least two ku or stanzas, usually many more. The opening stanza of the renga, called the hokku, became the basis for the modern haiku form of poetry. ... "

-- Wikpedia

For our renga game, two clipboards were passed around the party. Guests were asked to initial their verses. The opening hokku were written by Harvey, our guest of honor. When a page or two was filled with poetry, we transcribed the verses:

Imperfections in our game design emerged as we played.

1. We need a key to friends' initials. Some artistic flourishes were a challenge.
2. Not everyone initialed their stanzas.
3. Some of the stanzas were not transcribed during the party. We realized this when we read the poems again the next day. 

What follows are the full poems. Poet's initials are in parentheses.

Haikai no Renga #1

White birds flying high
whispers from the southern wind
life beyond the fence (H2)

Grace notes; a gift from the sky
Pure white droplets from above

lights bright from above
the streets don't sleep anymore
just rain sometimes veils

Sleeping -- sleeping -- I can't sleep
It's 3 a.m. I'm awake (JG)

There is knocking now,
There are Mormons at the door
tell them we're Catholic! (EC)

Heathens! How they waste our time.
Let's all dance a Conga line! (KB)

The line forms right here --
Yes, time flies like an arrow
Fruit flies? Banana. (ES)

John Gabier his arrow aims
He tries to impress the dames (AS)

Weary of notice
women retire to bathe
combing long black hair (LD)

Crouched in the reeds, the watchers
admire the view, pant, pant, drool

Voyeurs dislike me
I foil their devious plans
I watch the watchers (EC)

Upon the high watch towers
Hidden by the purple mist (KB)

Mist obscures vision
Stupid room keeps spinning 'round
Too much to drink. *THUD* (ES)

morning reveals its grayness
anxious cat demands breakfast (HH)

Gauze filmed eyes, "Meow Meow"
How do you like your eggs ... "Meow"
Honey! Cats don't eat eggs! (TM)

Fur and feathers teeth and tails
Those who take care of our souls (DBG)

Just add some sweet rice
Then rolled just so carefully
Slice it and enjoy (GAB)

Consume not food alone
Wash it down with hot sake (LD)

Minds hot with shared joy
Faces flushed with sillyness
Life, horns and laughter

Hard tack from our good friend Ken
Another fun form of Zen (AS)

Zat was Zen, zhis is ...
Tao? Alchemical magic
Created by ... cake. (ES)

Ginger, flour and butter
Sweet chocolate crust like springtime (DL)

So tender inside
melts in your mouth with sweetness
another year born

Settling in between teeth
Sweetness becomes sinister.

Haikai no Renga #2

Tea in one small room
A bigger room for sake
Our house ruled by cat

Our feline overlord purrs
Licks whiskers, thinks of raw fish (DL)

In a springtime pond
Koi swim below cherry trees
Eat fallen blossoms (LD)

Garden pond 'neath grass is sunk
convenient when Harvey's dunk'd. (AS)

Harvey is old now
Friends gather 'round to observe
Drown him in sake. (ES)

As Ophelia in state
At night's end Sensei post drink (TM)

The sun rises now
Night is gone, so is Harvey
Why is the wine gone? (DL)

Dawn is near the body renews
And, now it is time for wine (DAP)

Oh sweet wine sublime
summer kiss in crimson skin
dead grape releasing (SW)

Shake those bones rock rattle roll
Pirates sing up on the knoll (SW)

Wait for the up roll
the song of the battle rattle
heave her out -- give fire

Cannon crews all point and laugh
Bad ship sinks, break out the rum!

A rum cove, he is
Let's give him the old heave ho
Wheee! Sploosh! That was fun. (ES)

Cake cake cake cake cake cake cake
Really, what else do we need (DBG)

We need the sweetness
We want the glory of chocolate
Glory to sweet Ken

Boatbuilder's hard tack -- so sweet
and soft! Greater E-vil weevil. (DL)

Just a bit evil
just a wee bit, I promise
That smile and those horns

Can we stop the cake stuff now?
What's important is the booze! (ES)

Harvest Moon

Twilight dragonfly
Autumn sun sinks, moon rises
Mist on the bottoms

Autumn Foliage

Thousands of leaves fall

Peppering lawn and walkway

Never enough words

Autumn

Lonely cricket sings
Sunset darkens trees and sky
Folding yukata

Flower in my driveway

Flower in the crannied wall

Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies;—
Hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower—but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is.

— Alfred, Lord Tennyson  (1809–1892)

Habit

I'm in a hurry --
I think, "I won't wash the rice."
Then I wash the rice.