A few weeks ago I posted this, about taking photos while on recess duty and then writing haiku about them. Haiku and photos snapped on my phone have a lot in common. They don't give history or context or explanation. They don't take hours of reflection. They just seize one moment, one moment that would have been gone otherwise.
Fallen hibiscus
Doesn't yet realize its fate
Still luscious and red
Writing haiku is about being where you are, experiencing that particular spot and those sensations. So I don't know quite what to make of my habit of writing haiku about other people's moments. I've been doing it for years, responding to beautiful photos people send me with a haiku. Here, with permission to use the photos, are some recent ones.
Cold thick white frosting
Decorating bare branches
Makes morning sweeter
Fresh snow on mailbox
Adds a brief festive accent
To regular day
Welcome to worship
Echoes through the palm branches,
Bells' loud hosannas
15 comments:
Like you, I sometimes feel I don't have anything to say. But haiku is that form that always comes through for me. These are lovely tiny moments. I love the call to worship with bells ringing. Our church has restored the bells so they ring each hour. Something so ethereal in the sound.
I love the "frosting" making the morning sweeter. And the bells' hosannas. Nice, Ruth!
It's nice to have a poetry form that can bear witness in a way, to one's day, and remember it. Your poems are lovely and do that.
Love the one about the luscious hibiscus!
I always like the ideas you share that you use yourself, Ruth. And I love those moments of yours, like that hibiscus (recess!) & those your thinking is about others, like the decorated mailbox. Thanks!
Hi Ruth,
Oh you give me an idea and you are so prolific. I love each of your poems. Especially the two with the snow. I think they are really good ones. I also enjoy writing Haiku and know my efforts are not always that astute but there is a way to capture some writing efforts with this form. So any day one can't write a lot, a Haiku is doable and with our phones, how can pictures be in short supply. You always have permission to use any of the photos I post on fb should you like!!
Janet Clare F.
Lovely haikus, Ruth. Thanks so much. I especially like "makes morning sweeter." Yes... it does!
I think writing haiku helps one tune in and see below the surface. Your hibiscus photo and haiku are especially lovely.
I love this peek into your (and other people's!) poetic moments. I *love* the hibiscus haiku!
These haiku are lovely, Ruth. Last time we took a vacation, I made a photo book with haiku. The haiku added so much to both the experience and the memory of the experience.
I love that idea, Michelle!!
Janet Clare F.
I like your poetry very much! Keep writing!
Love your description of seizing one moment that would have been gone otherwise. Love how your haiku do that/
Gorgeous hibiscus Ruth and your haiku spot-on! And why not respond with a haiku to an image sent to you–it's also a moment in time as you look at it… Love the echoing haiku too, thanks!
Ruth, these are lovely. Especially that bittersweet hibiscus one. I think when you view an image and that instant becomes yours somehow, then you are the poet perfectly suited to capturing it!
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