Skip to main content

The Haiku Challenge II


Here's this week's haiku dabbling, as provoked by Suze:
'For the second week of Tiny Harmonies, grab the cat and start ruminating on adaptability. All haiku for week two will air Friday, 15 March… It's weird, last Friday as I read the offerings of participants, it was like having salt thrown on the tongue -- instead of satisfying, it left me thirsty for more.'

First I ruminated on the limits of adaptability:


Supple branch
Through solid trunk
Keeps root


Rotted at core
The supplest branch
Simply snaps


I don't much care for the second try, it seems too obvious: true, but obvious. The third try was more spontaneous and relaxed, so it turned out best, I think:


Sun shining
Into my boot tops
Pyjamas tuck


Also I am glad this is how I spent yesterday, for today it has mostly rained.




Comments

Suze said…
The second one, rather than ringing as obvious in my heart, made me a little sad.
16 March 2013 at 00:16
angryparsnip said…
I rather like all three but the third is just wonderful.

cheers, parsnip
16 March 2013 at 02:34
Susan Flett Swiderski said…
See, told ya. I'm "bock".

Very nice. I think I like the first one best. These haikus are kinda addictive, aren't they? I didn't think I liked them, and I certainly never wrote any before, but thanks to Suze, I may be hooked.
16 March 2013 at 04:03
Lisa Southard said…
Thank you folks for your visits and comments- apologies for my late returns- life is busy!
Suze: there are many fallen trees in the woods near here, and for trees it is just part of the living process. They become a different habitat. They dream of the sky, contentedly.
Thank you Parsnip - when I wrote the third one I circled it and wrote 'Perfect' underneath. I had a snail named Parsnip; one of three. The other two were Turnip and Carrot.
Susan you are not the only one- distilled words- utterly brilliant :-)
16 March 2013 at 16:53
Sultan said…
I think I like the first one best. It is very harmonious.
16 March 2013 at 17:31
Anonymous said…
The last was the best. Snaps made me think of ginger snaps. But in a good way. Ok, hard to explain, but...~Mary
16 March 2013 at 18:19
The Armchair Squid said…
I'm with Laoch. I like the first one the best - very gentle.
16 March 2013 at 18:51
Kerry said…
Everybody has their favorites, mine is the first one:) However the pyjamas in the boot tops is a wonderful little image, so maybe it's also my favorite.
16 March 2013 at 18:56
Lisa Southard said…
Mr Laoch and Mr Squid: these choices reflect well on you, gentlemen.
Mary: ginger snaps is kind of brilliant. It brings out the absurdity, I think.
Kerry: Pyjamas in boots for me! :-)
16 March 2013 at 22:35
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Contact Pants Conundrum

There is weather today, I do note it: take a few moments to reckon the size of a cloud (big) and the frequency of rain (sporadic.) Centre of my interest though is a stack of magazines. Not the fashion kind. This is martial arts research. I'm not even sure what it is I'm looking for, but intuition calls loud. A range of old adverts skew some amusement. Contact pants, for example. Pants are not trousers where I come from. They are underwear. Professional contact pants: improved smirk value. But why would a person be likely to purchase a grappling hook and a lock pick set? For specialists and hobbyists only, the blurb assures. Guidance on the pheromone spray that attracts women against their better judgement? I doubt it works any more proficiently than the mysterious potion that defines your muscles while you sleep. But, then: I wonder is some sprayed on this paper? What was my intuition thinking, making this ghastly shout… Tea break time. There's a lot of words...
2 comments
Read more

Back From The Future Blog Party

Another joint blog adventure- if you want to see who else said what the list of participants is here . The premise is this: 'You're up before dawn on a Saturday when the doorbell rings. You haven't brewed your coffee so you wonder if you imagined the sound. Plonking the half-filled carafe in the sink, you go to the front door and cautiously swing it open. No one there. As you cast your eyes to the ground, you see a parcel addressed to you ... from you. You scoop it up and haul it inside, sensing something legitimate despite the extreme oddness of the situation. Carefully, you pry it open. Inside is a shoebox -- sent from ten years in the future -- and it's filled with items you have sent yourself. What's in it?' Here's how I imagined it: Before dawn? Shadows outside, first forming. Sleep has gone, I don't know where. Coffee I can find. All the way from Machu Pichu, this fair-traded pack. Scissors are in the drawer, which ...
26 comments
Read more

A Happy Kind Of Idiot

I am watching hazel leaves shimmy in a breeze, they are keeping time with the buzz of nettle stings that run from my fingertips to my elbows. It feels like I'm wearing gloves made of needles; why didn't I just wear gloves to clear the nettles from the raspberry hedge? But I like to know the plants, how they grow, how they smell, how they stain and sting, what bugs shelter in their leaves, what grubs and gastropods nestle at the roots. How the roots sneak under weedblocks, moon-pale, and over open ground where they are purplish, bullish.  I like the work to affect, I like interactive life.  It has a little pain and a lot of interest.  Not all the nettles are gone, of course, some must be left to house caterpillars, and they are a healthy vegetable for people too. Today’s crop is for compost though, to feed the soil, the miracle stuff from which this abundance grows. How could I not wish to be close to that?  At home I have a shower, scrub my sore hands- and still I sm...
Post a Comment
Read more