Embedded Files
1
as they sip bluebells
a ghost silently stares - still
reading the menu
NOTE
They are butterflies. A ghost is our silent witness. The menu is . . . a mystery to unfold.
This haiku is in the (erroneous) 5-7-5 syllable pattern (usually I do/recommend free-form).
1
Similar to April Fool is May Gosling. The idea being that a prank is played, usually in terms of a false statement 0r nstruction, and the target gets laughed at for believing. However, if this is after high noon of the first day of the month in question, the joke is, traditionally, on the perpetrator and they get laughed at. All I can say is that this post is NO JOKE!
May Gosling's dead and gone
You're the fool for thinking on
More news as it breaks . . .
1
Beltane's ashes,
the noise of silence
listen...
The reference is to Beltane being an ancient Celtic fire festival . . .
Another option was :
April's ashes,
the noise of silence
listen...
This would have raised the ghost of Angela's Ashes (literary allusion
which makes the usage of April into a proper kigo rather than simple
seasonal reference). Time advise which of the two is the better haiku.
— taboo —
Small reminder about a big thing.
1
shhh.. tiptoe..
don't disturb the beautiful
swallows!
THE SWALLOWS ARE BACK IN MY PORCH Woot! The only downside (apart from droppings)
is that one has to use the back door until the end of August (if they go for a second clutch).
2
moonlit porch—
my beautiful swallows
stake their claim
SWALLOW DIARY
Yesterday there were signs, but I thought the rain had done it. Pellets of fresh mud on the top step, under the front door porch's lintel where the swallows nest of ages is glued. A comfy cup of mud that has been the summer nursery for several generations of swallow parents, for all I know. Anyway, this afternoon I went out the front door and they whizzed into the sky over my head ... like greased lightening. Fanning out just in case. Last year they left an egg - as a keepsake? I'm looking for a shell on the step to signal they've settled in. Maybe it was a safety test, or a reminder. Something swallows do to not forget. Or, kind of guardian - who knows? Typically Mr. Swallow or Mrs. Swallow (hard to tell which) get stuck in the house each year whilst checking out the area. It's tricky helping out. More often than not a case of carefully grabbing the little creature and gently popping it back into the sky where it belongs (they are very light). This has bonded me with my swallows. But, they still don't take any chances. Oh no. Especially when the eggs come to pass. Then it's all business. Then the scalding begins if I put a foot wrong. Sometimes fly pasts, or even a dive bomb. Man, they get you trained up well do swallows. Still, they did leave that egg last year. Maybe it was a thank you for me having to use the back door for four months. Oh yes, and walking on tip-toe at their end of the house - especially at night.
2
they're back!
the village is festooned!
swallows!
NOTE: The Greek for Spirit is the same as that for wind:
"He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he send lightning with
the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses." (Psalm 135:7)
windy day—
but the beautiful swallows
they don't mind
"The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not
know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is
born of the Spirit" (John 3:8)
3
windy day—
but the beautiful swallows
they don't mind
Exhibit A
stimulus 5
on the bullet train to Kyoto—
a snail climbs
Mount Fuji
"When I first read this haiku, back at the Jesuit college, I visualized a snail scaling the real Mount Fuji, which I knew from pictures to be vast and snow-capped. But years later, when I visited Japan, I was told by a haiku enthusiast on the bullet train to Kyoto that the poem really describes a pseudo-Fuji, a man-made imitation-Fuji, a mere hill in a temple garden. If so, then the snail has a much less imposing task than in my original thought. However, both images work. It is Fuji; it isn't Fuji. Let all images that pop into your mind, be. When you close your eyes and imagine the scene, right now, what do you see? " -- David G Lanoue
little snail
inch by inch, climb
Mount Fuji!
Issa
5
feeling a part
of the Milky Way
today
Astrophysicist Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson gives an amazing answer to the excellent question
“What is the most astounding fact about the universe?”
"The Universe are so marvelous and so beauty, I would love to know much more: we know
the Universe are made of solids, liquids and gases,which through evolutions, because of
heat and cold transforms into one another many times, & expanded into Stars and Planets
and at least hundreds thousands planets having life,and some with much more knowledge
then terrestrials." A.Oscar
feeling a part
of the Milky Way
today
5
supermoon ,
perigee-syzygy , whatever ,
rain , rain , rain , "
5
"supermoon—
"For Tonight Do It Tomorrow."
nuS rM ,ko"
6
"even up a hill
the Hare Moon is hidden—
rain on glasses"
GUEST SPECIAL
6
roots and stems
and blossoms too—
who are you?
Tribe
We notice the trees, their roots mirror their branches. Joined by a trunk. Artists have painted floating trees - so we can see the whole plant. All at once. But, what is a tree, in and of itself? Or a flower? Life expresses in myriad forms all around us. Once there was only stardust. Before that -- if there was ever a before -- nothing we can fathom by thought. Who could decide that life starts at a certain arbitrary place in logic's delta, that web of scientific classification? Surely the first hydrogen atom was alive. Aware. Just like daisies on the living mountain, by the living sea, under the living sky. So, what is a tree or a flower, really? Or a pebble? Or a galaxy? An expression and receptor of universal awareness, already vivid in the first nebulae? I was looking at some small plants, you see. A little tribe of them.
SPREAD THE WORD
7
Only 17: I don't remember where I saw it, but this sentence
electrified me: “We cannot choose how we haiku this world
but we can decide how we not going to.” -- Betty Rubble
/
at the mirror shop,
a crowd of me take shelter—
supermoon viewing
7
so strange,
this May night's dream—
must be the moon
my neighbours,
the rumble of thunder—
Dustbin Moon
TADPOLE NOTE: Obviously this ('my neighbours') is a western haiku following the 'Official Definitions of Haiku and Related Terms' decreed by that cabal of white clowns (do some ginko -- haiku walking -- guys) who beguile us with their pseudonym: Haiku Society of America (do they own a skyscraper?). I propose this bunch of deluded twerps call themselves: Anything You Like is a Haiku Society of America.
:D
7
Monsoon Moon,
in equatorial England?
ginko flippers!
WEATHER REPORT
Another month of rain as wettest April ever
turns into miserable May - Daily Telegraph
7
supermoon—
even the spiders
take a look
GUEST SPECIAL
8
the way and the road
flowers on blue and red
waiting for the rain
~ mimi
Haiku Results
Excellent ( ) not bad (✓) could do better ( )
don’t call us, we’ll call you ( )
The idea was that Mimi would
showcase this post she did.
Internet Marketing Results
Excellent ( ) not bad ( ) could do better (✓)
don’t call us, we’ll call you ( )
:))
8
There's an old wooden bench on one of my favourite ginko paths. It's
covered in moss and lichen.Nobody sits down there in case they dirty
their clothes. I don't sit on so it can turn into a Zen garden. By
moonlight it looks brilliant.
/
in a trapeze skirt,
my mother hangs out nappies—
summer sky
9
summer funeral—
on the already fallen
rain falls
9
summer in the city—
two-dimensional brides
flash 3-D
NOTE: This is THE GUARDIAN EGG which my porch swallows left last summer to secure the nest and act as a homing beacon. Sort of like swallow voodoo. Like an aeroplane has a black box to record the zone. Even on their holidays in the rain forests of Africa (where scientists lose them on their radar and satellite surveillance), the porch swallows can receive constant updates in the blink of an eye. Anyway, the egg has been cast out and this means they're re-charged with English insect cuisine after their trek back to Northern Europe and are ready to go to work. Man, I pity any poor fool who thinks the front entrance is now a handy utility.
10
egg shell jigsaw,
maybe you could have been
champion, blackbird
a stoat? Hard to tell. Maybe just a reject. Given how many bird's eggs are produced
seasonally in nature it surprises me how few shells are discovered in the grass by this
attentive ginkoist (exponent of haiku walking). The shells were under a tree. But this
is not where blackbirds nest. There were some bushes several paces away. Probably
from there. Not much of a clue.
11
flying saucers?
little green men?
new crop circle!
An introduction to crop circles on
the VisitWiltshire official tourism
website
11
the real bees
are asleep
walking...
11
*** Global Haiku E-mail News Service ***
____________ Friday, May 11, 2012 ____________
Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, May 11, 2012
The outlook for standing stone lichen was uncertain today as water from the sky continued
to pour down, syphoning vast quantities of the North Atlantic Ocean from everywhere else.
summer, rain,
why, oh, why, not, maintain,
your, domain, in, Spain?
11
robin's nest!
you've changed your tune
old kettle
12
Wild Meadow News
/
open butterfly!
launch from nettle! publish now!
for this cow and me
(slumming it in 5-7-5)
13
*** Global Haiku E-mail News Service ***
____________ Sunday, May 13, 2012 ____________
Stonehenge, Salisbury Plain, May 11, 2012
Scientists have discovered that the rain in Spain has moved mainly from the plain and is on holiday
in England until further notice (apart from occasional day trips to Northern European hotspots).
no cloud illusions
on this bright summer's morning -
just lace over glass
"There was an important job to be done, and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry, because it was Everybody’s job but Everybody thought that Somebody would do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody would not do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have easily done. Subsequently, Everybody blamed Somebody because Nobody actually asked Anybody." - Author Unknown
13
cloud dream. . . .
it seemed 10,000 summers
were a spider's kite
MUSICAL INNERLUDE
10 means a lot in China and its satellites. How much more so 10,000?
at the end of the line
a spider's butterfly
kite
The ten thousand things return to it, even though it does not control them.
Therefore, it may be called "the great."
14
look! enough blue
for a highland man's jacket—
car kid's look
Fondly remember the innocence of belief whilst searching for enough blue to make a mountain Scot's jerkin, on a rainy day, on a day out in the car. Back when the world was young. My sister and I would stop squabbling when we heard this authoritative adult information about weather lore and, with renewed hope in our gullible hearts, we'd search the skies for a break in the cloud cover. It kept us quite and industrious -- for a while. Good ploy, mum! We learned how living in the faith works.
OLD SCOTTISH SAYING
"If there's enaw blue tae make a heelain man's jaekit it will be a sunny day."
look! enaw blue
fur a heelain man's jaekit—
car kid's cheer!
TRANSLATION
"If there's enough blue to make a highland man's jacket it will be a sunny day."
:D
15
Used to climb the curtains as if they were mountains,lying on my bed
as a boy, waiting to get no school Saturday morning's late breakfast
call, half awake. Altered states.
pointing...
look! a summer sun
ring
There's more to a torii than transitional landscape décor. These official Japanese lintel gates to nowhere divide here from there. Not just on the ground but in our dreams. We don't need a torii as such though. Every moment there is a gate of some kind presented to our attention if we are vigilant (or even not). On a ginko (haiku walk) this notion can add spice to our meditations in motion. Try changing everything by passing through a divide. Two trees, two rocks, two sheep, two winds, two directions, two elevations, two moments, a plank across a stream, inside to outside, outside to in, the space between two strides, the invisible gap between a flower's fragrance and a bird's song... Enter your new ambient frame of reference, or sensitively notice that this is the case. Let it happen (just expect something), or intend it (this will be). The child's vision. Altered states.
Vivid perceptions of the extraordinariness of the
ordinary. Altered states of childhood. Haiku can
help us return to this innocent way of
experiencing forever changes.
butterfly dreams,
in a primitive future, not yet
wild Eden
"How do I define true religion? Anything that gets us out of the
vanity box and lets the light in." - The Haiku Shaman
butterflies flee!
in his complicated suit . . .
THE NETTLE SPRAYER
16
a bumble bee
on default vibe
looks in
NOTE: "Your vibe is your personal energy signature. It includes
your feelings, thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes." - Steve Pavlina
16
"Please go away this is our place, if you don't we will continue
making big fuss to draw attention to you and you may get eaten."
- Porch Swallows
village shop—
an overall fluc·tu·at·ing
vibe of daisies
pic: porch swallows keeping an eye
BACKSTORY: Getting back from a major shopping trip (only partially in the village shop, God bless it), I actually DARED to use the front door to lug a fortnight's supply of essential ingredients indoors. My porch swallows, you see, are currently in *dedicated to our eggs* mode. Man, forget about passing the time of day with the little devils during this crucial forward planning period in their elegant and wayfaring lives. They were well annoyed and let me know about it in no uncertain manner. Doing their warning cries, zooming around and even dive bombing the invader. I hurriedly unloaded the old Rover and quietly closed THEIR front door with a sigh of relief.
pic: local swallows take time out to chill from border patrol duties (defcom 5/4)
*** Global Haiku E-mail News Service ***
____________ Thursday, May 17, 2012 ____________
Dateline: Planet Earth, Fukushima Nuclear Plume, May 17, 2012 —
Despite knowing that the soil is toxic, décorum silences any interruption of the norm,
according to top nuclear expert who analysed soil samples he collected personally.
gardening
in Tokyo's nuclear waste
good neighbours
COMPLACENCY RANT
The decorum in question is 'wa'. 'Harmony'. 'Peace'. ('Ring', 'hoop', 'circle'.) We had a saying 'up North', here in rainy England, when I was a boy. 'Anything for the sake of peace'. Ostriches. With heads in the sand is the ubiquitous cartoon. 'In denial'. What is the survival factor in all this denial business? Well, it does create a thoughtful buffer-zone to mitigate the problems caused by 'knee-jerk' reactions to passing irritations. Thus survival factored. But, as always, anything in excess may well lead to the palace of wisdom (William Blake), sure, if we don't get exterminated here on earth in the meanwhile. There is a 'ring of fire' which is an unstable earthquake proximity fracture (think 'plate tectonics'. 'continental drift') inevitably influential to many of these genocidal nuclear reactors. Including Fukashima. Fukashima is just one reactor of many in the unstable Pacific earthquake area. There are solutions to the problem but the money speaks louder than the future of global humanity and all the other living things in their myriad amazing utility suits. Can you believe that financial priorities could possibly be an object to planetary security? It beggars belief. Perhaps the human experiment has gone hAyWiRe and this is how nature deals with her failed projects. It wouldn't be the first time the world was spring cleaned. Frankly, sometimes I'm looking forward to the next dimension, dear reader. Get some peace and quiet and security of innocent tenure. Verily, to haiku one's head off without all this nonsense diverting the seamless contemplation of the miracle of existence. Maybe all this utter insanity is reflected there also, though. You know, in the adjacent heavenly astral substrate. Now there's a startling thought. Looking on the bright side, however, these Armageddon scenarios may well be how Creation works. Forcing intelligent life forms to wake up to reality under pain of expulsion from evolution - mayhap permanently.
pointing...
look! a sun
ring
—
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