No Moratorium on Writing

The word for today’s FOWC: Moratorium, brought back memories. When I was in fifth grade, I took part in a spelling bee for my school district, and I won fourth place. The word that I misspelled was “moratorium,” which was an unfamiliar word to me and which I spelled with an I rather than an a. I guess you could say that, after I misspelled that word, there was a moratorium on spelling bee competitions for me. 🙂 At least until the next year, which I won. 

It’s the second-to-last day of February, so what I’m loving today is…have I said “writing poems” yet? I love writing poems and wrote 9 today (of dubious merit). 

These are poems that I did not write today. 🙂

Ash Wednesday

For Frank’s current haikai challenge, I wrote a haibun about Ash Wednesday.

The ashes that are used to mark the foreheads of the faithful, as a sign of repentance, grief yet hope, are the ashes from the burnt palm branches from the previous year’s Palm Sunday. Since Palm Sunday was cancelled for the public last Lent, I wonder which branches were burned. They were burned along with the hope of certain earthly pleasures — a reminder that this was never meant to be anyone’s true home.

Symbol-filled ashes:
Journey to destination
Because life is Lent

Me, on Ash Wednesday 2017

Leave It

A haibun for DVerse’s Poetics prompt about war poems. I really wasn’t sure about this category of poems, though I did like “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. I also like Wilfred Owen, but as for writing my own….This is what I came up with.

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Stream-of-Consciousness Corner

A haibun for JusJoJan day 2, which is SoCS today. 🙂 The theme is “in the corner.” I’m not sure why I wrote this, as it surprised me a little bit, but that’s the fun of stream-of-consciousness writing: you must follow the stream!

no title seems good for this….

This is a haibun for FFFC #98 and Frank J. Tassone’s haikai challenge about the New Year / Cold Moon. I tried to come up with a good title, but they were all either too silly or too sad. I don’t want to make the reader sad right from the get-go. 😉

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She lies awake, waiting for the ball to drop in Times Square, for the new year to be ushered in with customary fanfare — or what passes for fanfare (or custom) in these strange times. Times Square is empty, people in their homes, hoping for a fuller year ahead.

silent snowy night:
2021 tiptoes
wolf under cold moon

Happy Halloween!

For DVerse’s haibun Monday about Halloween and for FOWC: Merchandise.

The house is filled with ghosts and graves. Smiles are carved into all the pumpkins’ faces. Bats and cobwebs cling to the corners, hang from the eaves. Such timely horror, that no one believes.

no mere merchandise:
Nowadays this is the state
of those haunting here.

Photo by Ylanite Koppens on Pexels.com
I found this image particularly creepy because the pumpkin is being a cannibal by eating another squash.

October Provides

For the current Weekly Scribblings, Magaly has asked us to write about anything October. I was partially inspired by the moon (shocking, right? 😉 ), so this haibun is also linked to Frank’s challenge.  I love it when multiple prompts synchronize!  (Thank you to Fandango for that one.)

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If Halloween is on a dark and stormy night, remember: the Hunter’s moon is shining, reflecting sun’s light, even if nobody sees it.

Likewise, if current life does not seem fruitful, know: the Harvest moon will share its bounty, even this very night.

Luna’s face imbibes
faraway sunlight, carries
kindness to the stars

Harvest and Hunter

This is a haibun for DVerse, and Frank prompts us to write about the moon today! October has two full moons, on the 1st and the 31st. I am also linking to FOWC: Imminent.

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The harvest moon is a little late, arriving Thursday. It will be worth the wait, since Halloween will also have a Hunter moon, joining in the trick-or-treating (or searching for some normalcy). By the light of two full moons, one sees a unique brightness rising.

bookending the month
full moons bind the days’ pages:
imminent harvest

This is a picture of the moon from Halloween 2017.

Equinox

For Frank J. Tassone’s current haikai challenge, autumn / spring equinox. I wrote a haibun.

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We may have had all summer to enjoy the sun, and now night and day are even. Yet as autumn begins to descend, I can’t help feeling it’s not a fair fight. I keep waiting for the last leaf to fall — for the other shoe to drop.

Flaming, leaves are red —
In a world that’s upside-down
Somewhere it is Spring

Remains

This haibun is for Frank J. Tassone’s weekly prompt. This week’s topic is remaining heat (zansho). I wrote this a few days ago and am just remembering to post it now.

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The temperatures climb to triple digits one weekend in September. Is there relief? When the sun tires of emitting such heat, the fires take over.

somber September:
one last burst of heat before
summer turns to ash

                                     not my photo