Weed Therapy

sunday afternoon
weeding the front bed by hand
moving back to calm

first day of summer time -
playground slide
...a silver waterfall

Walking in the French Quarter - 3/27/2008

I took a couple of master classes this past Thursday as part of the Tennessee Williams Festival.

I had to walk several blocks to my car to go back to work, but it was a beautiful spring day!

Royal and St. Louis St.
classical notes spring
from upright piano

Royal and Toulouse
blues music
happy band

lunch in alley
baliadas
warm beans and tortillas

windy again -
crow raises
a ragged wing

how do they know?

sprouting
in the cool dark place
- the spuds

REVELRY

Spring revelry
on the Ganga's bank
my lone home


--R.K.SINGH

March snow -
white flowers
in the forsythia

***

neige de mars -
des fleurs blanches
dans le forsythia

WHAT GOES AROUND (a haibun)

The retirement community where I live is uniquely affordable for those of us less privileged. Still nothing can be or is wasted. A thrift shop on the grounds does a brisk business in items no longer needed by community residents. Its profits support the classes and cultural events offered by the Residents Association. Two residents trade a small refrigerator and a full-size one, the small one ultimately a gift to me. I purchase a microwave from another resident. Tonight, I carry a fan back to my room bought from yet another resident, thinking not only is necessity the mother of invention, but of conservation and caring.

the fan
goes round and round
my heart warms

Spring announcer

Black and white squares
flapping over ploughed field
Lapwing – another Spring announcer.


Sort / hvide firkanter
flaksende over pløjemarken
Viben – endnu en forårsbebuder

New Life

the ground is warming-
beautiful weeds in the yard
my fingers itching

Thru the Window

first watch-

stars hang in the forsythia

Easter weekend - pile-up on the autobahn!

Yellow helicopters
arriving at the crash scene
- not angry wasps

Day-glo doctors
working in the snow
with needles and stretchers

TV crew
with long cables -
cameras pointing everywhere

busy sparrow:
a long thread of grass
to weave around her

At the Bridal Department of the Consignment Store

future bride runs outside
not scared of prices
but of morning sickness

snow shower
on Knokke's dike -
where is the sea ?

***

averse de neige
sur la digue de Knokke -
où est passée la mer ?

blue skies
wisps of clouds
true artist - God

Moonligt Night

trying to catch sleep
seeing the moon travel
over the daffodils

Winter Bamboo

Bush of Bamboo
stands elegant
even with snow

spring by the calendar

more snow coming,
post equinox sun –
spray of orange peel

spring sunset
leaves me for the first time
in warm air
and loud crickets-
thinking of our first kiss

spring surfing-
looking for cool new plants
and flower boxes

MARIGOLDS

Expand smile
marigolds yellow petals -
the spring sun

--R.K.SINGH

nuance

behind the nodding
trembling daffodils
the yellow bush
the wild forsythia

spring cleaning

brings back memories

of spring cleaning

early commute-
enjoying the moon
while driving to work

creekside -
bank swallows make
a withdrawal

first fledglings -
spring just got
noisier

Easter Mass

easter mass
the candle flames
stright up

[A slightly revised older haiku, made into a haiga]

Easter Day

Easter day afternoon daffodils thrive on snow melt

words and photo © gerald england 2008

This was at 2pm - see what it was like at 6am on Ackworth born, gone West.

***

spring tide

awaiting the coming spring tide with patience

words by mandy smith
photo by phill deasson
© 2008

encouraged by the prompt at One Single Impression.

--

.

Easter Sunday
I paint a free range egg
a bright blue


Please visit Area 17 for a haiga by newcomer Mrs Chris Hulbert, who was one of a few who braved the elements back in March, and consider leaving a comment that she can read: Herefordshire Haiku: poems on the move

.

GOOD FRIDAY

Unable to clean
the cobweb of years he eats
the passover meal
but forgets to wash the feet:
now drinks good friday prayers

--R.K.SINGH

morning surprises
tiny new leaves on rose bushes
first magnolia bud

UP AND DAWN (senryu series)

left cheek pressed
against the fantasy novel
two a.m. waking

up at three a.m.
the glow-in-the-dark Goddess
stands guard

memory stirs
shadowy four a.m. light
through lace curtains

giving up on sleep
and reaching for the lamp
dead heat with dawn

Last Year's Leaves

last year's leaves
pushed aside by
opening wildflowers...

if you had wanted it
this place, too, could hold memories

daffodils-
lifting up their heads
trumpeting spring

full moon -
maundy silver
for everyone


(Maundy Thursday)

walking under
a spring moon
the wind sighs

First Day of Spring

first day of spring
my friend
goes into labor

pure white
of snowdrop petals
first child

~for K.G. born March 19, 2008

St. Joseph's Day Haiku

See an explanation of this custom here!


peeking under
altar server's gown
tall, spiky heels

word left
word right
domes bounce sound

can't wait for Mass
to be over -
Italian treats

shaking with laughter:
the nuns
...the daffodils

No way Jose....

morning routine
Yuki eating his cat grass
and scoping my sausage

Budding

morning routine
counting new magnolia buds
outside the window

[Illustration and dreamku by Roswila (a/k/a Patricia Kelly); a dreamku is a very haiku-like new form based on night dreams]

Touching

touching
for the first time
wildflowers

City Park View

brown shorts, shirt, and tattoos
tying his boots
camouflage broken on rising

woodchuck
steps out of hibernation
into traffic

FRAMED NUDE

cherry pink
in the spring--
a framed nude


--R.K.SINGH

HIBISCUS

Love tickles
with erect pistil:
hibiscus


--R.K.SINGH

BUTTERFLY

A little child
chases the painted dreams
on butterfly wings

--R.K.SINGH

first cherry blossom -
branches reach
into snow clouds

morning commute
magnolias starting to pop
above the daffodils

in the meadow
a carpet of starlings
rising and falling

busy blackbirds
fly across the sun -
their whiskered shadows

dining alone
palm frond shadows play
across the table

a strange but true story

the scent of jasmine
from the blossom
of the apricot tree

street, rain-shined
reflections double crowds –
I halve the bread slice

Home Late

home late
on the rose stem
new thorns

hedge blossoms a motionless cat stares

Pokin' Through

warm morning
purple and yellow crocus
sprinkle the lawn

walking to the car
seeing a verdant blush
creep over the lawn

Purple Nettle

purple nettle...
beneath her make-up
a darkened bruise

what would you wish,
tiny sparrow in a big
pot of clover

The Curve

back-country curve
where two teenagers died...
so hesitant,
the fawn
preparing to cross

morning commute-
magnolia starts to bud
new growth on hedges

Philly Flower Show
smelling gardens in full bloom
while it pours outside

At Lake Pontchartrain

demarcation
grey skies, grey water
white caps

splash
hurling waves break up
hitting the shore

seawall interrupts
roaring wave
end of journey

daffodils gazing
into the stream -
typical narcissi

Last Morning

last quiet morning
before the birds' return…
in all these beginnings
how we focus
on the end

Seaside

seaside
we talk about resuming
the affair...
these pools that yesterday
were ocean

Encounters of the Deer kind

Dappled face looks up
from dewy grass. Cautious step.
Anxious chew, ear twitch.

sky
is hardest —
rainy day jigsaw


(Cross-posted at But Wait, There's More!)

spindly daffodils
and nests
of speckled eggs

the last things
before
the checkout

the deceptive
cold of spring
sunshine

march winds -
chirps, of tiny birds
blown shapeless

morning routine-
Yuki serenading the birds
right after first light

spring seep
the stink of skunk cabbage
rotting ice

blossom warmth

blossom warmth
she folds it into the quilt

Lunch at Caffea

impy Nicco invites himself
to my table
sipping a red juice

Nicco's mom pushes
big baby carriage
and pink hair

Nicco's brother declares
I am a Genius
on the t-shirt

6:45am

dawn's pink blush
fading now
in daylight's glare

through the park
young lovers -
daffodils' heads lean and touch

enjoying the day

picking out planters

to fill this seaaon

At the Freret St Farmer's Market this past Saturday

Daddy made me change careers
bartender now
soap and candle merchant

potential customer heard the story
walked away after
sniffing the wares

happy to make sale
happy to find soap
vendor and moi

ice storm
in the cemetery
fallen branches

pushing its new buds
through the razor-wire -
forsythia

Plottin'

this week's homework

laying out two mobile beds

for this year's garden

crocuses -
holding their cups
up to the sun

after the storm -
big trees
leaning on each other

holding each other up

two from the morning jog...

squirrel
grips base of tree
- looks up

the bird
flying home
with something in its beak


(have edited these - trying to contrast the squirrel's jerky movements
with the flight of the bird)

mother's day -
in a dark alley
she slurps her gin

Problems with sunlight

Oh Daffodil pot!
Daily I move you, hoping...
But you've found no sun

A Young Woman's Fancy

spring is in the air
a young woman's fancy
turns to new Cap Ex* work

* project work in manufacturing plants

Illness

his illness...
beneath the fallen tree
wood violet petals

we never cure the ones
who aren't sick

BIRTHDAY

Early spring breeze
greets my daughter again
17 Feb

--R.K.SINGH

in the spring sun -
a signwriter
laying on golden strokes

The fast approaching storm...

ice-blue
with ragged clouds
and a noise like a train



An Alpine forestry worker on TV said that the really big storms used to come
every 7or 8 years but now they come 4 times in one year. In one recent storm -'Kyrille' - 15,000,000 trees were uprooted. Approaching is 'Emma'.

Dreaming

weekend gardening-
ordering bulbs and plants
for a warmer day