Haibun for the start of spring

An early spring haibun for Frank Tassone’s haikai challenge.

 

Last night a barn owl fluttered, silent, moth-pale across the meadow. This morning hares raced round and round the house and the first babies toddled from their form when we blundered too close. Thrushes throng the high poplars filling the bare branches with song. Blackbirds battle.

last curled oak leaf

brown tenacious torn free

by spring’s first gust

 

Tanka for the New Year

A tanka for Frank Tassone’s haikai challenge.

 

the world’s cold breath mists

billows among black tree shapes

drifting pale and grey

at this year’s end I search clouds

for signs of a beginning

Winter moon tanka

A winter moon tanka for Frank Tassone’s challenge.

 

moon hangs round

in a sky of rushing cloud

frost creeps through the grass

weaving pale furred blankets

cold as my summer-drained bones

Haikai: To each according to his needs

This tanka is for Frank Tassone’s weekly haikai challenge. This week the prompt is about elections or democracy. I’ve lost my grip on the meaning of democracy, since if the majority of voters turn out to be cruel, ugly-minded bigots (and we’re seeing it happen), I would probably wish for a system that didn’t give morons an equal say with nice people like me.  I know, it’s the best idea we’ve come up with so far. Let’s just keep thinking, can we? Maybe a bit of fine tuning?

 

Birds flock, huddle

against the cold, sharing warmth

rabbit and fox share

the same earth shelters both—

and our humanity?

Hunter’s Moon

A Hunter’s Moon tanka for Frank Tassone’s weekly haikai challenge.

 

moonlight pools silver

beneath the shadowy trees

mingling with ground mist

hunters pad on silent paws

I know where the pheasants roost

Peony

A first tanka for Frank’s weekly haikai challenge.

 

blooms hang

heavy with colour

catching the rain

petal cups glisten crystal-

bright bee basins hum

 

Tanka: May twittering

This tanka is for Frank Tassone’s Haikai challenge, using the word ‘twitter’.

 

May music

twitters in the hedge

crickets in the long grass

music boxes know no day

no night—the silent sleep

 

Tanka: May processions

For Frank Tassone’s May challenge—another aspect of the month.

 

white dresses

veils flutter in spring breeze

white shoes pinch

the memory of cold streets rings

hollow childhood gone

Tanka: Triplicity

I’m not sure this is a true tanka. It’s a short five line poem anyway. For Frank Tassone’s haikai challenge, should he choose to accept it…

 

Triplicity—

three facets of the

same magic—

unfolding, blooming, fading,

faces always to the sun.

Haiku: Barely spring 2

Another haiku for Frank Tassone’s ‘Barely Spring’ haikai challenge. Not sure if this is a true haiku. My grasp on the rules is fading.

 

Sky full of pale sun

misted ice crystals—listen,

warm life stirs.