Grand Plans Beaten to a Pulp

Once again, I have a response to Linda Kruschke’s paint-chip poetry, at the last minute. This is about how, this year, I had a bunch of plans and it’s all down the drain now. 🙂 I am also sharing this with MLMM’s Tale Weaver, because any attempt to plan this year has become an epic fail. Without furthr ado, these are our paint-chips:

January 2020: the year was a
Blank canvas of optimistic possibility,
A green flash to signal, “Go for it.”

March 2020: a rainstorm was brewing,
We began to become tongue-tied,
Under the sea of shocking surprises.

September 2020: somehow we have
Tumbleweeded through a surreal summer,
Crispy leaves and autumn colors are coming.

I am a glass of fresh-squeezed
Orange juice, filled with the pulp
Of pressurized emotions, in my skin.

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

Mid-September Changes

For DVerse Poetics today, I have written 2 nonets based on the prompt, “9 Across for a Count Down.” The first line of both nonets is taken from “To the Light of September” by W.S. Merwin.

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It seems as though you are still summer,
Though the smoky sky shrouds much sun,
But the flames are retreating —
Soon may our worries sleep —
May seasons cradle
Even amidst
Change : burning
Fall-leaves
Flame.

Broken shadows across the cracked ground
Point out the path to October:
Mid-September’s hellish flames
Celebrate Halloween
Early, ghost-ashes
Haunt surfaces.
Trick or treat?
Costumes
Change.

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

When I Think Of Future Plans….

A haibun inspired by Frank’s challenge about crickets, and the last FDDA, about plans for September. I will miss FDDA, but I’m always grateful for FOWC. I’ve also been trying to respond to other prompts, but this is the best one that I wrote today.

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Tomorrow begins September. There are no particular plans, but I hope for more time with friends and being able to actually enter the church again. There were no plans for August, either, other than my friends’ live-streamed wedding on the 1st, but the month was better than expected. I’ll take September one day at a time. Too much thinking and I’ll start sinking in anxieties. As always, I’ll be hunting for the silver lining.

in silence a sound:
August chirping a goodbye —
crickets out of sight

Look at Those Faces

For DVerse MTB this week, we are trying our hands at verbing. I do this a lot with friends in my non-blog life, but finding a good idea for it in a poem was unexpectedly hard. 

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Look at those faces:

They sunflowered for a few weeks,

Nature summered for a few months —

See the birds use their beaks

To peck the seeds from what once

Loved the sun’s embraces.

 

A Quadrille, and Carl Sandburg

This poem is a quadrille for the DVerse prompt today.  Our word today is “bum.”

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Summer has been a bummer,
But the mind is my delight.
If my face has looked glummer,
I’ve still been able to find bright
Spots: no job but lots
Of music, reading, and poetry.
I am happy to not need
Busy-ness as a bumblebee.

This quotation is so relatable. I knew there was a reason I liked his poems since I was a senior in high school. 😉

An In-Between Time

Shared with DVerse open-link night. This haibun was a true story inspired by FOWC: Classify.

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I used to tutor kids in math, and one of their favorite questions to ask me was, “How old are you?” “That’s classified information,” I would say with a smile, which wouldn’t stop them from guessing: “Are you 16?” No.  “Are you 30?” NO! There was hardly ever any in-between.

August — late summer?
Early autumn in Japan,
Hard to classify

The Garden Is Growing

For Quadrille Monday this week, Victoria asks us, “How does your garden grow?” I’m a day late with this, but here is mine. I might add pictures later.

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Everything that she touches dies.
So the garden in front of these eyes
Was planted by her brother’s loving hands.
Her heart such beauty understands,
In awe of God and human skill
Under the sun, her spirits rise.
Gratitude and peace her worries still.

Garden Tableau

This is a Tableau poem for the Saturday Mix “lucky dip.” Sitting outside in my family’s back yard, I wrote this. I’m not sure about the final line; the poem got kind of dark, but anyway, I’ll stop rambling 🙂 and let you read it.

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In the breeze, swaying
Sunflowers, whirring
Hummingbird, coming
And going between
The floral faces
Withered, shriveled here.

I really like this photo, which I took last August.