Just another Spider Tuesday in the Garden

It's an open forum on Tuesday, even if you don't get to it until Wednesday.

I have a lot of music events on the near horizon, including some challenging solos to master.  I guess I have a limited amount of creativity, since it seems to always be music or writing, not both.

Here's a haiku I wrote for Carpe Diem back in 2014.   There were strict requirements, as per classic haiku.  I've written a lot of bad ones, and even worse - haiku shaped word clusters, but this one came out well, I think.

on the silken strands

sad fly plays a minor chord

orb weaver's delight

It has 5-7-5 structure, a summer kigo, 1st-3rd line interchangeability, and phrase and fragment structure - an English language adaptation of the cutting word.  There might also be a deeper meaning, which I'll leave for you to ponder, if you so chose.

Happy Thanksgiving, all.  He will be spending the day with my kids and their kids.

Fussy Garden Form

Today we are exposed to a form that is new to me - the shadorma - a 6 line, syllable-counted haiku derivative.  I love haiku/senryu, as you can see by scrolling through this blog, so I like this ideas.  The first one is just playing with the name; the second is how my day is going; the third is today's weather, and the last is in the haiku spirit, reflecting my affection for the amphibians I find in my yard.

Correction, a day later - this form is not a haiku derivative.  It comes to us from Spain.

shadorma

it’s not a shadow

nor gray shade

nor color

standing out in black and white

waiting to be read

~:~

lonely day

i sit by myself

just writing

scribing thoughts

my lovely wife lies in bed

sick and all alone

~:~

falling rain

in early autumn

thick gray clouds

the whole day

night falls and darkness deepens

winter is coming

~:~

slow hopping

under the bushes

mottled tones

blending in

hiding from the hawk’s sharp eyes 

a brown speckled toad

~~::~~

Haiku Writing Techniques #10

Back to Basics

Write a classical 5-7-5 haiku, with a kigo, a kireji, and first-third line interchangeability.

I'll repeat a story that I posted last September.  

Grandson Nate and a miniature toad

I have a great fondness for amphibians.  There is no reason for it that I can identify.  Something about their squat lumpiness and agile leaping simply pleases me and soothes my soul.  My yard is a haven for toads.  They live in the garden and under the bushes.  I've seen tiny toadlings, smaller than your fingernail, galumphing across my lawn.

Earlier in the Summer, I went walking in a wetlands area near my house with a few of my grandchildren.  As we crossed the street to get there, we saw dozens of miniature toads bouncing on the pavement.  Sadly, many of them must have perished there.  As we walked the gravel path around the ponds, we had to watch our footsteps carefully to avoid stepping on the many miniature toads moving along there.

There were hundreds of these little toads everywhere along the path, and who can say how many thousands were hidden among the wild flowers.  We did our best not to harm them, but I doubt that many live to be adults.

thousands of toadlings

scurrying to the roadside

smell of car exhaust

 ~~::~~

Carpe Diem #569, Corn

an insect buzzes

up against the corn stalk

on the cob a web

Carpe Diem #569, Corn

Carpe Diem "Little Creatures" #6, Lizard

Today's challenge is to write a haiku in 5-7-5 form about a lizard.

I like working in the structured format.  Here's version 1.

patient orb weaver

waits for the next fat insect

then comes the lizard

Best laid plans of mice and spiders.   But the last line too closely echoes my apple haiku, and I don't want to get into a rut. Plus, "fat" is superfluous - it's just in there to hit the syllable count.

Then I remembered first-third line interchangeability, so I wanted to bring that into it.

spider's epiphany

as then next insect arrives

the lizard is pleased

Lizard might be pleased, but I'm not.  Spider's epiphany is a reach too far, and somehow this just doesn't sit right.

trapped insect panics

in orb weaver's silken threads

lizard licks his lips

Well, that's better, I think.  Not good, perhaps, but better.

Carpe Diem "Little Creatures" #6, Lizard

Carpe Diem #568, Apples

I just read Kristjan's JUST READ post, then read the prompt for this post.  Help me if I've got this wrong, but I think Jane Reichold's apple haiku are way off the mark.  Are they stark and detached observations, or do they depend on sentimentality?  Only the first of the three can possibly be viewed as a brief moment in time.  Like the other two, it is a vivid image, but I see no deeper meaning there, or even a particularly sparkling insight.  The second one strikes me as being both twee and trite - very unlike the CROW haiku of Basho.  The third is the best.  It might have a deeper meaning [though I can't tease it out] and a touch of irony, but it seems to have two caesura when there should only be one.  Am I too harsh, or flat out wrong?  Let me know in comments.

one apple hangs where

leaves have abandoned the branch

now comes the squirrel

Carpe Diem #568, Apples 

 

 

Carpe Diem #566, Crow

Credits: Big Crow on Snowy Branch (woodblock print by Koson (1875-1945))

the caw of a crow

as fall dies into winter

dark wings bring dark words

Carpe Diem #566, Crow

Carpe Diem's "Little Creatures" #4

I wrote about toads just a few days ago.   But last night when I arrived home from rehearsal, I saw another little one, about half the size of my thumb, trying to hop under my car.  I shooed him out of the garage so the door wouldn't crush him.

black toadling pauses

pondering in the doorway

safety or freedom

Carpe Diem's "Little Creatures" #4

Carpe Diem #558, dragonflies

Source

purple dragonfly
lacking both stinger and fire
insect's death angel

~~::~~

through fragile membranes

i view the darkening sky

dragonfly wings

~~::~~

deft insect eater

suddenly gone from the sky

bat's appetizer 

Carpe Diem #558, dragonflies 

Carpe Diem Ghost Writer #24, Hamish Gunn's analyzed a haiku.

TREE OF LIFE

Today's challenge, via Hamish is to write a haiku on the Tree of Life, located in the desert of Bahrain,"a tree that thrives despite no water source, and within the designated area of the supposed garden of Eden, thus adding more mystique to its official moniker, Tree of Life. To me, it is an ideal location, theme and topic for a simple but profound haiku. What does the ”Tree of Life” mean to you? Please title your haiku Tree of Life to help guide you and ensure you won't need to use those words in your haiku."

Tree of Life Bahrain (© Hamish Gunn)

in the blowing sand
evening sunlight fades away
last green thing standing 

Carpe Diem Ghost Writer #24, Hamish Gunn's analyzed a haiku.

Carpe Diem Ghost Writer #23, "Honor the Little Creatures"

 Mr. Toad comes to call

I have a great fondness for amphibians.  There is no reason for it that I can identify.  Something about their squat lumpiness and agile leaping simply pleases me and soothes my soul.  My yard is a haven for toads.  They live in the garden and under the bushes.  I've seen tiny toadlings, smaller than your fingernail, galumphing across my lawn.

Earlier in the Summer, I went walking in a wetlands area near my house with a few of my grandchildren.  As we crossed the street to get there, we saw dozens of miniature toads bouncing on the pavement.  Sadly, many of them must have perished there.  As we walked the gravel path around the ponds, we had to watch our footsteps carefully to avoid stepping on the many miniature toads moving along there.

There were hundreds of these little toads everywhere along the path, and who can say how many thousands were hidden among the wild flowers.  We did our best not to harm them, but I doubt that many live to be adults.

songs from my garden

each night of love and want

voice of a toad

 

[originally written for an Open Monday prompt at the imaginary garden] 

 

 

~~::~~

 

Grandson Nate with a Toadling in Hand

my lovely wife - no

fan of toads - agrees that they're

better than chipmunks

 

 

[defective quasi-haiku originally written just for kicks] 

Carpe Diem Ghost Writer #23, "Honor the Little Creatures"

 

 

Sunday Feature Artist ~ Kelly Letky

Today's challenge from The Garden is to write a poem inspired by the art photography of Kelly Letky.

I chose this one, and my thoughts took a rather grim turn.

 "Spread Your Wings, Fly" from Blue Muse Art

rabbits voles squirrels
seek shelter in the thickets
death stalks from on high

Carpe Diem's "Little Creatures" #2, "I dreamed I was a butterfly" (Soshi)

In the following haiku Wafu was inspired by a piece of poetry by Soshi (Chuangtse) who says the following:

 [...] "Long ago I, Chuangtse, dreamed I was a butterfly, flitting about lightly on if I were really one, happily following my fancies. Suddenly awakening, again I was in the form of Chuangtse. Was it a case of Chuangtse dreaming he was a butterfly, or is it now that a butterfly is dreaming that it is Chuangtse? I do not know". [...]

cho kiete tamashii ware ni kaeri keri

 the butterfly having disappeared, 

my spirit 

came back to me 

© Wafu 

Not my finger

This is true, though:

on my fingertip
the soft touch of a monarch ~
many years ago

~~::~~

~ I see the butterfly as a symbol of finding once again that which was lost ~
~ And I see the echoes of this in my own life ~

 in the wilderness
wandering for many years ~
now a butterfly

~~:~~

in butterfly dreams
i soar through space and time ~
spirit regained

~~:~~

[Moondust inspiration]

i in butterfly
or butterfly in me ~
metamorphosis 

Carpe Diem's "Little Creatures" #2, "I dreamed I was a butterfly" (Soshi)

Carpe Diem #539, Trees

Old Horse Chestnut in my Yard 
it will be coming down soon

Only mid-August, but the leaves have been brown and falling for weeks

Cracks in trunk and branch, and a sad face I never noticed until just now

Bark split and peeling


this sad old tree 
not dead yet but on the way 
getting the mercy

~~::~~

weirwood
why do you frown at me
the old gods weep

~~::~~

{Mystic inspiration} 

what fallen angels
lurk in that tangled thicket
hiding from the light

[one more time]

 those who ate the fruit
of the tall tree of knowledge
regretted the taste

[for more tree misery, see here]

Carpe Diem #539, Trees

Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Challenge Month #II Mark M. Redfearn's "by the garden path"

 Toad in a flower flat - my yard, June, 2011

Mark's haiku reminded me of this this incident.

 
Today's challenge it to construct a 2nd stanza of two lines in 7 - 7 form to complete Mark's haiku.

by the garden path
an upside down flowerpot
cottage for a toad                                        (c) Mark M. Redfearn

bounding on the garden path
one hundred tiny toadlings                          (c) JzB

I originally intended to write "bouncing."  "Bounding" is not only a typo, but an improvement!

You just can't throw away that kind of good luck.

Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Challenge Month #II

Carpe Diem "Make the haiku complete" #1

The goal is to add the 3rd line to the first two extracted form an existing haiku.

Today's starter was written by Kristjaan a couple of years ago.

cicadas singing
in the last rays of light -

 ..................................

Completed 

cicadas singing
in the last rays of light -

sad shadow song 

Carpe Diem "Make the haiku complete" #1

 

Carpe Diem #308, Sake (salmon)

From Krisjaan we learn:

"When the Ainu go salmon fishing they always provide a thick willow stick about two feet long with which to strike the salmon's head and kill it. This stick is called isapa-kik-ni, "the head-striking wood" .... The Ainu say that the salmon do not like being killed with a stone or any wood other than good sound willow, but they are very fond of being killed with a willow stick. Indeed, they are said to hold the isapa-kik-ni in great esteem. If anything else is used, the fish will go away in disgust."

~ 1 ~

salmon come

to my boat - i will kill you

with respect

~ 2 ~

placid salmon
happy to be put to death
with a willow stick

~ 3 ~
 

eating pink shake
the clear sake in my cup
whacks like willow wood

~~::~~

Carpe Diem #308, Sake (salmon)

Carpe Diem #303, Tonbo (Dragonfly)

Image Found Here

~ 1 ~

sleek airborn bodies
dragonflies mating
on the wing

~ 2  ~

do the crickets sing
love songs for dragonflies
on hot summer nights 

~ 3 ~
[9/22 Update: with a nod to Wabi]

summer memories
carried off into the past
on dragonfly wings

~ 4 ~
[and a nod to MMT]

last sunbeam glints a
rainbow on dragonfly's wing
remains of the day

~~~~

Carpe Diem #303 

 

Hawk

This fellow - or someone very similar to him just crashed into the window of my family room, about 4 feet from where I'm sitting.

By the time I got outside, he had flown into the neighbor's tree, then soared over to another tree, evidently OK.

I didn't get a good close-up look.  The one I pictured at the link above is almost certainly an immature Cooper's Hawk.  

I thought it was a haiku moment.
 

always seeking battle
belligerent little hawk
crashes my window

~*~

Carpe Diem Special #55, O. Mabson Southard's "chanting, the pond's frogs ..."

Inspirational haiku

Chanting, the pond's frogs ...
among the lilies' dark pads -
the twinkle of stars

brown spotted toad  - denizen of my yard

~ 1 ~

Here is a 5-7-5 I wrote for this little guy three years ago

this Amphibian
moved from grass to patio
saved from lawn-mower's bite

~ 2 ~

after the rain storm
thunder fades and croaking starts
the music of frogs

~ 3 ~

dead amphibian
padded under starry skies
tell me why he croaked

~~::~~

Carpe Diem Special #55