Haiga

 

 

Daily Haiga spring 2010

Haibun

                                           CELEBRATION OF SPRING

 

Early spring.  Time for the cows in the Swiss village to leave the winter pastures and head for the mountains.  We gather at dawn with three other foreign families for a traditional ceremony.  A blessing from the priest, a prayer, a song. 

The cows are adorned with ribbons, flowers and bells; the cow herder and his young helper with lederhosen, embroidered suspenders and perky feathered hats.

                                             morning mist–

                                             we follow the scent
                                             of slow moving cows

Up into the Jura we drive, breaking through the fog.  La Madame, the owner of the herd, meets us at her fromagerie in the mountains.  The cows disburse in the open pastures. Pigs shurp their feed in mud-soaked pens. Goats roam freely around the small sleeping hut and the work buildings.

 La Madame, weathered hardened and wiry, dressed in worn work pants and knee high rubber boots. "Ecoutez.  Listen," she tells us. 

We lean forward, trying hard to understand her lesson in cheese making.

                                          bubbling vats of cheese–

                                          a slice of sunlight shines
                                          through a high window

We follow her again, now to her chalet a little further up the mountain.  A vista of sweeping meadows, wildflowers and rock croppings.  Le Monsieur is laying stones for a wall.    Before we can eat, there is work. The men in our party carry stones and level dirt; the women slice bread and carry wood.  In this corner of the Jura everything is as it was a hundred years earlier. A wood stove, water pumped from a well, lanterns for light.

We breakfast on strong coffee with fresh cream, baskets of crusty bread with sweet butter and the local current jam.  Even today, time does not move.

                                         an invitation

                                         from the warm sun and soft grass—
                                         the bugs ignored


Stylus Poetry , Dec. 2005

Haiku

 

fern glen

we find the creek

by its song

 

early morning breathing spring after rain

 

early breakfast

with morning glories

the ticking clock

 

Heron's Nest, Sept.2014
Under the Basho, 2014
Daily Haiku cycle 11, 2011

Haibun

  

                                                    April 

All the pastels of spring.  In the sky, in the leaves, in the grass and flowers. The air, washed clean by rain, smells fresh with the richness of wet soil.  Early blustery winds have been gentled into soft breezes.                                                           

                                                cherry blossoms–

                                                remembering the ruffles
                                                on a pink dress

Frogpond, summer 2012

Tanka

 

                                                 blue doors of Naxos
                                                 matching the sea
                                                 matching the sky
                                                 the breeze whispering
                                                 as to what lies behind

TSA Anthology, 2014

Haiga

Haiku

 

                                           First Day of Spring                                                 

                                            two-fifteen a.m.
                                            spring arrives with a yawn
                                            and a snore

                                            bird song
                                            pulling me out of a dream
                                            first day of spring

                                            haiku group
                                            the discussion stops
                                            for a robin

Chrysanthemum, Oct. 2008
Ambrosia, July 2009
Shiku Kukai, July 2012

Tanka

                                                   mid-March
                                                   neither one season
                                                   nor another
                                                        I ponder anew
                                                        to stay or go

TSA Anthology, 2009