Begins as a bud,
Pink petals quite tightly bound,
Large flowers open
Soon, attractive sweet nectar
Leads to medicinal seeds
This was difficult, since I do not have much personal experience with peonies. For this week’s haikai challenge.
This time for DVerse Poetics, Jilly is inviting all of us to get a little wild. Unsurprisingly, this prompt was a challenge for me. I’m known for being rather inside-the-box.
Sometimes —
Even though I hate having
Wind in my hair
And dirt on my hands
And getting bitten by bugs,
I hear the wilderness
Calling like a wolf’s howl,
Chorusing like the crickets,
Shining like constellations
Showing me the way.
Sometimes —
I can’t keep walking along
Pristine paved roads,
Though I like the little
Flowers in their lines,
I must make my own footprints
Blaze a new trail
With the fire of passion
And zeal // the wilderness
Is often truer, more real.
For Frank J. Tassone’s latest haikai challenge. This one was difficult for me.
We waited for spring.
February was too cold.
Love was not coming.
But look! Pink as sun’s first rays,
Cherry trees in bloom, hope stays.
This is for Frank J. Tassone’s haikai challenge for this week, which is about white lilies or azaleas. I loved this prompt and wrote many haiku but not one that I wanted to share, so here, finally, is a tanka. Frank describes the meaning of these flowers in his blog post, and part of what gave me inspiration was this: “Gifting white lilies to someone during this time indicates that you are very happy to be acquainted with the recipient.”
You are pure beauty
And you were made perfectly,
White-lily woman.
You hid your petals before.
I am pleased to meet you now.
This week’s “Meeting the Bar” is all about the Shadorma form. Like many other forms, it requires a particular syllable count but no rules about rhyme or meter. Due to the form’s unknown origins, Amaya is challenging us to write about some aspect of mystery, life, and death, but Shadormas can be about any topic.
Planted seeds
From darkness they rise:
Potential
Blossoming
Taking variable time,
To see true colors
This week, Frank J. Tassone is challenging us all to write about the “first spring gust,” which in Japanese is “haru ichiban.” I wrote this tanka, thinking about the hope of new beginnings. Join other poets here.
First spring gust blowing
Against cherry-tree branches:
Flowers’ aroma
Enticing new beginnings,
Face turned toward the soft sun.
Frank J. Tassone has us writing about “barely spring”this week. In Japanese, this is “haru asashi.” I wrote several haiku using or referencing that kigo, and here are my two favorites.
It is barely spring,
Nature dreaming a new dream
My eyes have opened.
Do flowers dare bloom?
When will pink cherry blossoms
Blush, and bear their fruit?
