Spring

Thunder of peepers*
welcomes me home -
spring night.

You can read about peepers here. Be sure to scroll down to the sound files on the right.

The back story: our yard backs up to wetlands, and at this time of year the night is filled with the sound of peepers.

One Single Impression: Listening

sitting in silence
listening for the spirit
worshipping Quakers

Colors

cardinal red
against forsythia yellow
visual feast

See more color haiku here

For Abe

commonplace object
by photographer's eye

transformed

This haiku (an explanation of the syllable structure follows) was inspired by the photograph you will find here. The photographer, Abelardo Morell, is an old colleague and friend from my days as the registrar at an art college. It hangs in the lobby of my current employer's main building. Abe is also the subject of a documentary film, Shadow of the House, which gives a glimpse into not only his work but his life. If you have a chance go see the film.

As for the haiku, as mentioned in a previous post, I am participating in a year long haiku writing project. The moderator's theory on haiku, which you can read here, is that the strict syllable structure is in part a mis-translation to syllable of a Japanese word. His critique of my first haiku was in part that it was too wordy. So, I'm working on making my haiku fit the spirit of haiku rather than fitting a strict syllable stucture.

You can read more submissions to the haiku project here.

Haiku Project, Week 3

web dances on wall

revealing winter antics

of sunlight and wind

See more haiku project here.

Haiku Project Week 2

low spots collect fog
overhead squirrels frolic
January thaw

You can see all of the week 1 submissions here. My favorite is Norma Dunlop's (about 1/2 way down in the right column). It paints a lovely picture.

New Challenges

The new year has dawned and with it new challenges and experiences. I don't make new year's resolutions, but this year I've volunteered myself into a few new challenges.

I have my sister-out-law, Shelley to thank for encouraging me to write haiku. She was the one who alerted me to the Nengajou exchange, and with the new year approaching she encouraged me to join in on the Haiku Project. The challenge of the project is to write at least one haiku a week and submit it. My frost haiku is my submission for this week and I have the women of One Deep Breath to thank for the inspiration.

Challenge number two is one of my own making. As those who read this blog regularly know I take and post a lot of photos. The numerous photo memes have really inspired me to carry my camera with me most places and to use it regularly. Carrying that to the next level I've decided to take and post one photo a day every day this year. You can find my 365 project here. One note - I actually failed this on the very first day of the year. I did take pictures that day, and I did post a picture that day. But the pictures I took were with my film camera, not my digital camera, and the photo I posted was taken on December 31st.

For challenge number three I have committed myself to being up and out of the house by 7am every Saturday for 5 weeks. Those who know me well know that early mornings are not my thing. I can count of one hand the number of sunrises I have seen in the last 12 months, and two were this weekend. I was up early today because I was so zonked last night that I was asleep before 10:30. The reason for the early rising is that I am taking a workshop class at the North Bennet Street School in Boston's North End. I took Fundamentals of Fine Woodworking there two years ago and loved it. So for the next 4 weeks I'll be spending all day Saturday at NBSS taking Fundamentals of Machine Woodworking. I've used all of the tools we'll be using in the class but this is a wonderful opportunity to fill in gaps in my knowledge and to get an understanding of the inner workings and maintenance of the machines. None of my previous classes have covered maintenance. The bonus of this is that I got some interesting sunrise pictures yesterday and during lunch some shots of the North End. I expect to add more in the weeks to come.

Finally, because I can't resist - the new year challenge haiku:

daily photograph,
saturday woodworking class
write weekly haiku

This week's prompt at Sunday Scribblings is "New" or "New Year". No story came to mind but since I hadn't written about this yet I decided it would fit the bill. Read more Sunday Scribblings here.

Steam Shadows

outside the window
steam shadows dancing on brick
winter afternoon

Frost Haiku

web across windshield
etched by cold winter's finger
frosty morning dawn

Find more frost haiku at One Deep Breath.

New Year's Eve Tradition

year draws to a close
knead dough, chop toppings, shred cheese
bake homemade pizza

Homemade pizza is our New Year's Eve tradition in our house. Most years it's just Amy and I. There was one memorable year when we spent New Year's Eve at our friends ski house in New Hampshire and I made pizza for 22.

Happy New Year

At the urging of my sister-out-law, Shelley, I joined a group of more than 60 haiku writers in sending snail mail Nengajou. The short description is that these are traditional Japanese New Year's cards, most often postcards which usually include some reference to the creature associated with the new year. 2008 is the year of the rat. Follow this link to read more about Nengajou.

The snail mail group has brought a wonderful array of cards to my mailbox. Both Amy and I have enjoyed seeing the different approaches and reading all the haiku. Pictured above is the card I sent. Each of the elements is something I created.

The photo at the top was taken in Brighton, Massachusetts a few weeks ago. (Although it looks like the middle of nowhere it was in fact taken from the Turnpike exit ramp looking north toward Cambridge Street.) The numbers at the bottom are details from other photos - the 2 is from a photo taken in the parking garage at work, the first 0 is from the ice castle at the 2004 Saranac Lake Winter Carnival, the second 0 is from the Wellesley College class of 1940's banner and the 8 is from the Wellesley class of 1981's banner. The rat is based on a mouse my college roommate (hi RT) used to draw next to her signature.

I hope that the new year brings each of you peace, love and happiness.

Blueberry Hunt

small boy hunting through
jungle of green in search of
yummy orbs of blue

My nephew N loves blueberries and each summer while at Wakanda he heads into the blueberry bushes to pick treats. This picture (he was not quite 2, he's 4 now) was taken just before the bushes got the better of him and he sat down to wait for rescue.

Read more yummy haiku at One Deep Breath.
See more search photography at See It Sunday.

Bonus Road Sign Haiku

Five letter road sign
merge or yield too complex for
Boston drivers' minds

I couldn't resist this bonus poetry for Totally Optional Prompts "road sign" prompt.
My original road sign haiku are here.

Adventure Haiku

small boy joins father

climbing small mountain
giant adventure

The picture was taken by my brother at the top of Baker Mountain near Saranac Lake, New York last July. This was N's first mountain. He's already done another.
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paddle propels me
toward adventure ahead
around rivers bend

These haiku were inspired by this week's prompt, adventure, at One Deep Breath.

Monday Morning Haiku

grey morning, breeze brings
scent of snow to my nostrils
winter approaches

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single snowflake falls
panicking driver ahead
traffic slows to crawl

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washing instructions
on reversible fleece jacket
turn inside out. Huh?

Haiku Grandmaster

To my complete and total surprise I have been crowned haiku grandmaster by Xinher. This is based on the poems posted here. You can see all of the entries here.

The truly entertaining part of this is that the decision came down to Amy or me. I have consoled the runner up.

Haiku Smackdown

Here is my response to the haiku smackdown challenge from Xinher. The challenge was to write haiku's inspired by 6 pictures she posted. The pictures are hers not mine.

it’s all in a name
snail transformed to escargot
garden pest to treat


around the corner
google-eyed creature lurks
red wall leads the way


light waves in tunnel
barely acknowledged by the
travelers who pass


chew toy distraction
leaves slippers unscathed
dog owner finds bliss


light designs enchant
intentional patterns or
tripod less shooter


no inspiration
for pigs feet haiku today
perhaps tomorrow

Morning Vision

bloodhound goes one way
beagle heads in the other
dog walker arms strain

Inspired by the view outside by bathroom window one morning last week.

Balance Haiku

On the brink of six
bicycle proves difficult
balance eludes him


frustration finds him
overwhelming confidence
the training wheels stay

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river flows past me
paddle splashes quietly
soul achieves balance

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For an update on the bike riding click here.
Find more haiku here.

I missed the deadline for ODB on this, but decided to post it anyway.

Haiku - derailed train

Stars shine upon me
sparkling off still lake water
perfect summer night

This week's prompt over at One Deep Breath is Haiku Train. It's a collaborative multi stanza haiku started by host Susan. Each subsequent participant uses the last line of the preceding haiku as the first line of theirs. I added to the poem earlier today (you can read all of the entries here). When I stopped by to see the subsequent progress I was struck by the line above from Pixiedust. Since I'm not sure about making multiple entries in the group effort I decided to post this here instead.

One of these years we're going to schedule our time in the Adirondacks so that we're there during the Perseid Meteor showers. I love gazing at the stars from the dock or from my kayak. We've seen shooting stars there, Amy saw her first there, and I think it would be a real happening to watch the meteor shower where you can see so many stars.