Noticing the Flourishing

May’s full moon is on Wednesday, and it is known as the Flower Moon, as Frank, the host of DVerse Haibun Monday, says.

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This month, I have noticed a wealth of new flowers in the garden: varying shapes and shades, hues of pink and yellow, almost whatever one could name. Bees are busy pollinating, and the blueberries, too, are growing and ripening from a gentle light-green. We have already picked a bowlful; soon the fruits will fill baskets. The garden is waiting to give many other fruits and vegetables as treasures.

after heat of day
buzz of all activity
rests under the moon

 

Quintilla: Healing

It looks like it’s not too late to share some paint-chip quintillas, so here are the words and phrases for the week. I wrote 2 of them today, and I will share with you the happier one. For more inspiration, I looked up the symbolism of jade.

When Winter Thaws

This short poem was inspired by FOWC: Buoyant and MLMM’s Saturday Mix: Opposing Forces.

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Winter freezes her: numb thumbs
Until winter becomes spring,
Turning frozen heart to melting.

Frozen in one lonely spot,
Now back to front she floats,
Buoyancy with happy notes.

Time of New Birth

The décima challenge this week is “Birth” in one of the D rhyme spots. It’s a timely prompt, as it’s April. Last time I went to the park, I noticed a profusion of new flowers and multiple ducklings! Linked also to today’s Writers’ Pantry.

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Sun rises earlier each day:
It has been hesitant to wake
Yet lately decided to make
The most of it, a better way.

And later the sun also stays,
Shining its rays upon the ground,
Illuminating all around.
Now this April springtime-green Earth
Is filled with blossoms and new birth:
Even more beauty will abound.

Ducklings with their Mama Duck

A Day in April

What happens when a survivor
Wants to stop surviving?
This piece of identity
Crumbling

What happens when the birds
Make her so happy,
But their songs fly
Like their wings?

What happens is, even when
April is new-born and sunny,
There is an understanding
Of what Eliot meant

When he said April is the cruelest month.

 

This is so not the poem I intended to write, but life has a way of throwing stuff at us, right? Hooray for being able to respond to NaPoWriMo day 23 and the Weekly Scribblings at PSU.

Spring Flowers

I colored this picture for Linda G. Hill’s coloring club this month and wrote a limerick to go with it. Pusheen the cat is probably only smelling the fragrant flowers, but to me, it looks like she is chomping on it!

Haibun for the End of March

A haibun for DVerse, alluding to cherry blossoms, also partially inspired by FOWC: Slight, but mostly inspired by my family’s garden.

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A warm afternoon at the end of March passes both languidly and much too quickly. The sky is blue, with no clouds blowing in the slight breeze. A monarch butterfly, black-and-orange wings majestic and beautiful flies — almost floats — nearly close enough to kiss the nose of an observer. The bird-feeders, filled for the first time in a long while, attract many other winged creatures, feathered things opening their hungry beaks.

And it is around now, when the cherry blossoms bloom at their peak.

Nature takes her time —
From the outside see Earth spin
Making us dizzy

Happy Spring!

For Linda G. Hill’s coloring club this month, I have another picture from my Pusheen the cat coloring book, which I hadn’t colored in in a while.

As another, bonus sign of spring, there are some strawberries growing in my family’s garden!

This was taken a few days ago. Soon we’ll get to eat them!

Not Ideal, yet Idyllic

For Linda Kruschke’s paint-chip poetry prompt, I have written this poem. I’m not sure if it counts as an idyll, but I did use a lot of imagery of nature, and it certainly counts as a paint-chip poem. 🙂

Awaiting Spring

I almost forgot to post a décima for this week’s challenge (“spring” in the A rhyme line). I’ve written two of them this week, and this is the one that I think is better. 🙂

Expectantly, we wait for spring,
We await the rivers’ flowing
And sapling greenery growing,
As meadows with sparrow-song ring.

Now winter still is felt. Its sting
Admittedly not so severe
In northern places, over here
In California, still is felt.
There are distinct ices to melt:
One which most needs to go is fear.

That brings me to what I am loving today: the weather in California. Even a cold and grayish day such as today is not actually cold.