Presents

Christmas morning snow...
even squirrels have presents
under their tree



Another piece from real life, as opposed to imagined life. I was out this morning, surrounded by squirrels and birds all going from yard to yard.

The squirrels especially captured my attention... obviously. They were up and down trees and along phone lines and fencetops. Then, one would stop, turn and dig up a treat.

I got a special treat myself. Yesterday of all days I got a very nice reply to a resume I had sent out. Just getting a reply is unusual enough, but it was nice... and very nice. I don't want to get my hopes up too much, but it is a position I think I am ideally suited to take. I'm sure there are others, as well, who are thinking the same.

So... for today, I am just another squirrel. Some friends would argue that this is no different from any other day, I'm sure.

Tin Roof

snowy wind rattles
the tin roof on the shed
i meant to repair

I have created a sort of "haiku character" that I often write from. To my mind, he is a sort of gentleman farmer, leading a life that is closely connected to the land. It makes a good way of getting natural imagery into the work. I think this fits into that character, although it is drawn from a real life experience.

My friend Beth invited me up to her parents' farm this past Friday. Just a quick weekend so that I could help her with some things. Well... we returned on Wednesday because of the weather. The snow was falling so much and the wind was so fierce that a section of tin roof on one of the sheds was rattling in the wind.

So, I adopted it for my character.

To my mind, the poem speaks about the things we leave undone that come back to nag at us. During a summer or fall day, we might not think of the tin roof that needs to be fixed because it doesn't seem to be a problem... it doesn't remind us. Besides, there are so many other things that are more enjoyable.

But, the roof is still there. And when things get bad, knowing that the roof isn't fixed just reminds us.

I'm feeling pretty good about this one.

Just some haiku

...no stories today, just some haiku from various seasons, bringing to mind different parts of life.

is it my breath
or a thin cloud between me
and the moon?

sorry, firefly
...i didn't mean to flirt
with my cigarette

whispers waking me
--the rustle of paper --
could it be Santa...?

tulip filled with snow...
but in the first light of day
it glows and shines



falling

all day

white

on white

spilling

white

on green

catalpa blooms



is it snow--?
or has her hair become white
only today...

first college break...
my swingset is no longer
in the back yard...


****
Okay, a couple of quick notes.

If you've never experienced catalpa trees -- which are one of my favorites -- they have broad green leaves and startling white blooms. However, as the blooms fall from the tree, they make a sound like a water balloon when they hit the leaves. When there are several of them together, it sounds like it's a really drippy rain.

The firefly one comes from a night when I was out smoking and a firefly dive bombed me when I took a drag. I really didn't mean to flirt... it just happened.

Squirrely

tail curved over back...
does it make you warmer?
squirrel on snowy branch

This is not as traditional as I would like it to be, but it gives the scene.

Sure, this was something that I saw, but I felt there was quite a bit in it, as well. On its surface, it's a pretty cute image: a squirrel eating in a snow-covered tree, its tail making a furry question mark, which is why I included a question.

I've always felt that people are most "themselves" when they eat... same thing for animals. Well, since it did snow (27 more snows to go), I wondered if the squirrel was any warmer, eating that way. I also thought about an interview I heard on public radio with a church leader who has been helping the homeless... including a mother and daughter he met at the trash dumpster behind the church. He heard the daughter first, asking, "Did you find anything for us to eat yet, Mommy?"

There are so many people who are in need of food, and warmth, and a helping hand. I know my own jobless situation (as painful as it is to me) could be so very much worse and that too many people do have it worse.

The squirrel reminded me of them, intent on the one meal, trying to stay warm, and looking for the next possibility.

May there be possibilities for us all.

standing at the window
eating still-warm cookies
watching
dark winter sky

I spent a lovely day with my friend Marilyn cooking. Not cookies, but it was a day for cookies, so haiku-etic license, I suppose.

We made dolmades, or dolmas, or stuffed grape leaves. Neither of us had made them before, either, and they turned out terrifically!

It's amazing how brown rice, Italian parsley, mint, celery, onion, and sunflower seeds take on a life of their own in a grape leaf. Of course, we got to the point where we were making lemon sauce and realized... we didn't have a crucial ingredient. Yes, we had lemons, we're not that foolish.

I lie... we are that foolish, but not this time.

So... why did I make it cookies in the poem? They seem to fit a moment of childlike wonder we shared, eating dolmades fresh from the oven, moaning our delight, and looking at the window, wondering if the expected rain was going to come any moment.

...it still hasn't, actually, but is supposed to start tonight and turn to snow.

Which brings me to something else I intend to track on this little blog. The folk wisdom says that the day of the month that it first snows will tell you how many more snowfalls there will be in the winter. The first snowfall here was on the 29th and there was one more snow since then. So... we should be expecting 27 more. 26 if it snows tonight.

a burst of cold wind...
the cat ducks back from the door
and turns to blame me

It's cold here. Of course, December in the Northern Hemisphere kind of comes with cold.

There is so much sun, though. The cats see that and want to go outside. So do I. Instead, we all stay inside. This is bad news with Java (who is black and white). He seems to resent the entire idea of a litter box. The stairs he likes... which is why there is newspaper spread on the landing. He would make a good accountant, though, because he can find a loophole between sheets, or by standing on the landing and pooping on the top stair.

Since the wind keeps him from going outside, however, he seems to blame me for the weather. He'll run back in from the open door and look up at me and make an evil "meow," then lick his paw. The message I get is, "You know very well you can stop the wind... see how it's injured my paw just to feel the cold?"

I'd like to go out for a walk, but I don't think it's going to happen. I keep finding things to clean, which is often a way I have of avoiding things. Funny how I never find something else to keep me from cleaning.

*sighing in the sunshine*

First Steps

each ginger movement
is the first step I take...
snow-covered sidewalk

Certainly not the best I've written, but it's about beginnings and that's what I'm doing.

A haiku blog? Well... yeah. I'm looking for a way to keep my poetic sense going. I used to write poetry a lot, had a few pieces published, including some in Modern Haiku. Poetry is like a muscle I need to use or it atrophies.

So, when I decided to do this, I thought if I write a haiku a day, it will use that muscle and will surely help my other writing. I had a wonderful writing teacher (wonderful both as a teacher and as a person) who said that someday I would have to choose between poetry and playwriting. Theatre and playwriting had already kind of chosen me, so I went with that. Every once in a while I would have a haiku pop into my head, but they didn't amount to a large body of work.

I don't know what this will amount to, either, but I'm following its path for the moment.

Will it be all haiku and only haiku? No... obviously... already... because not all of life is haiku, or poetry, or writing... although all of life becomes part of writing. Some traditional, some not so much, but all to help me focus.

Part of my intention is to kill time while I look for a job. It's mighty discouraging out there right now and I need some way to express myself other than "I am sooo great, you should hire me sight unseen" cover letters.

When I was looking for a way to start this, I thought about first steps. A baby's first steps are shaky and unsteady, like walking on ice. So, that led me to the sidewalk, which is not snow-covered at the moment, but last year, it slipped out from under me and I landed squarely on my back. Ever since, I have been a bit more cautious with it, and each step is more like a child's first, tentative attempts at moving forward.

So, I'm moving forward. Step by ginger step.