A Haiku experiment continued ... #5 - #11

There is a challenge to simplicity.  A Haiku seems to be one of the "easiest" forms of poetry -- and to my untrained sensibility it is.  However, it is not so easy to summarize a train of thought or an action into seventeen syllables.  I find that I need to look for a simple moment in the day.  Trying to sum up 24 hours, or 8 hours, or even one hour, is unwieldy and clumsy.  The act of filling the bird feeder, or watching my cat play seems more manageable and lends itself more to the structure of the poem.  It also feels more appropriate to write such a brief poem about a brief moment in the day.  So here are this week's offerings (including a few that others have posted to my Facebook wall):

#5

Taking a sick day
Coughing, headache, no gumption:
Hubby's misery ...

Monday my husband stayed home with a nasty cold.  I suppose this day is pretty self-explanatory ...

#6

Single digit temps
Jack Frost nipping at my nose
Time to hibernate ...

Tuesday it was particularly cold.  I drove to town in the morning and saw on the bank sign that it was 9 degrees and promising only to get colder later in the week.  I am not a Winter person and have often stated that I should have been a bear, so I could sleep through until Spring ...

My friend Wendy posted the following haiku on my wall:

I wake, reluctant;
Too cold to get out of bed
But I need to pee.

Nice one!

#7

He's home sick again
All day: seventies T.V.
Can you dig it, man?

My husband stayed home again on Wednesday.  Between episodes of The Love Boat, Quincy MD, Rockford Files, Emergency, and CHiPs, I felt I was in a time warp.  Hubby was having some fun identifying all the vintage cars on the shows (well, except on The Love Boat, of course!).  I think if Jeopardy! ever has a "Cars of the 70s" category, he would totally clean house!

#8

Opening package,
my hand slips, leaving suet
beneath fingernails ...

I think I heard a chickadee titter when this happened ...

Posted to my wall from my little brother:

Caralee's haiku

Is swinging past the balance. 

Whatever that means.
My response:

My little brother
Thinks he is very clever
What a Dorkleton ...

#9

Unexpected card
Brings greetings from a long lost
Japanese sister ...

I got word from my dad that he received a holiday card from a former exchange student that we had lost track of for many years.  It is very exciting that she sent the card.  I am looking forward to reconnecting with her.

#10

Brady - Edelman
Edelman - Amendola:
Awesome touchdown play!

Play off game today between my team (Patriots) and a mighty foe (Ravens).  There was a sweet trick play that was a hoot to watch and that resulted in a touchdown.  The game was really stressful, though.  Even down to the last play with 3 seconds left on the clock, it was a nail-biter.  We prevailed, though.  Go Pats!

#11

Cat crouches in chair
He spins, flips, rolls and pounces ...
Still, that tail taunts him.

Until next week,
Peace ... 


  

Summer's finally here

It finally felt warm today, two days after the summer solstice. I always go into a sort of mourning at this time of the year. After June 21st, the days begin getting shorter. It doesn't seem right, somehow. Of course, on Dec 21st, I begin celebrating, because I know that the days from then on are longer. It somehow takes a little bite out of the frozen season.
I spent sometime last night cleaning out messages from our "sent" folder. We had ones going back to when R went through the GVH setback, starting November of 2005. It was really interesting reading all those old messages. Most of them were to Dr S in Boston, composed by me, since R was too sick or weak to sit at the computer. Just reading them, I could sense that tone of desperation. I really was on the edge. And of course the brunt of it happened in the dead of Winter, my worst time of year under normal circumstances. It's funny, as the time stretched on into Spring, there is a definite change in the tone of the emails. Of course, Rich was getting better by then. But I was relaxing with the warmer temps as well. And to have his 40th birthday party that Spring was really special. It was a real milestone to celebrate. Not just because he was turning 40, but also because we were on the recovery end of that brutal fight. I know that it was really something special for him to see so many of his friends, many of whom traveled from a far way off.
I guess it is good every once in a while to go back and see from where you have traveled. Boy was last night a big dose of perspective!!
Peace
C