HAIKU: Response to One Single Impression Prompt of 5/25/08
lost field guide
no names for these blooms
I'm grateful for eyes
* * * *
sea and shore
meet beyond my reach
the sun shines
* * * *
strolling a lone crow on the manicured lawn
* * * *
gems in the lamplight
her gift of stones
and sun bleached shells
no names for these blooms
I'm grateful for eyes
* * * *
sea and shore
meet beyond my reach
the sun shines
* * * *
strolling a lone crow on the manicured lawn
* * * *
gems in the lamplight
her gift of stones
and sun bleached shells
The prompt for this week at ONE SINGLE IMPRESSION is "reflecting." Each of the moments I reflect on in the above haiku prompted (and still prompts) a sense of gratitude in me. And since today is the Memorial Day celebration, I offer them in grateful memory of all who served and are serving.
Give One Single Impression a visit and check out the delightful variety of responses to this prompt.
(The photo above is one I took in the late 1980's on Block Island, Rhode Island, my heretofore favorite place on earth. My favorite now? Here, at the beach overlook in Goleta, California, my new home.)
P.S., sometime after posting the above: I looked up from my computer and a poem I just taped on my wall last night jumped out at me. Eerie! Something similar happened last week with my response to the OSI prompt. And again the "found" poem seems highly apropos --
A WALK
by Ranier Maria Rilke
My eyes already touch the sunny hill,
going far ahead of the road I have begun.
So we are grasped by what we cannot grasp;
it has inner light, even from a distance --
and changes us, even if we do not reach it,
into something else, which, hardly sensing it,
we already are; a gesture waves us on
answering our own wave...
but what we feel is the wind in our face.
(translated by Robert Bly)
* * * *
‘til next time, keep dreaming,
Roswila
[aka: Patricia Kelly]
****If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”)****My other blogs ROSWILA’S TAROT GALLERY & JOURNAL and ROSWILA’S TAIGA TAROT, and Yahoo DREAMJIN: Group for Dreamku – Haiku-Like Dream Poems.
Labels: haiku, One Single Impression, one-line haiku
posted by Roswila @ 12:13 PM
21 Comments:
Thanks for these! That first one won my heart straight away. Better than the names of things are the things themselves. Thanks for taking me on this walk.
Writing in Faith: Poems
All lovely, all thought provoking... I can see the Crow walking on the lawn.
Enjoyed your poems, Roswila! Thanks you for commenting on mine! :)
Hi me ann my camera,
Glad you liked the crow haiku. It's probably the one I am most OK with of all of them. I worry, though, about how it may get taken since it's so simple and a one-liner. But there is that little play on words in the first three: is there more than one stroller (crow and observer); and "a lone" can be read as "alone" -- is the observer "alone" also? :-) (Didn't write that ambiguity in deliberately, it just happened.)
Isn't it wonderful when things just come naturally! I am partial to the second simply because I am grieving a move that took me away from the ocean.
the beauty of simple enjoyment of what one finds, without analysis, in your first poem speaks to my heart! (i tend toward overanalyzing & am beginning to find joy in just being)
Loved the photo and the lovely walk you took us on. Also enjoyed your explanation to me ann my camera of the crow poem. Amazing how clever and creative our minds are even when we aren't paying attention.
Hi qual cosa di bello,
Yes, "what one finds without analysis..." This is what unconsciously drew me to trying my hand at haiku so many years ago. Though I didn't know it at the time. It is still my challenge to just be with the moment and not write a line that sums up it's meaning or impact for me.
And so haiku writing becomes a meditation....
Hi Pam,
In a way, I'm separated from the sea as I can't walk the dozens of rickety wood stairs down to the beach here. (Arthritic knees -- it would take half a day to get down, and the other half to get back up. LOL!). I watch it from a lovely park overlook. (There are other beaches, but they aren't near enough by foot and that's how I travel.)
My sympathy on adjusting to having moved away from the ocean. May there be new aspects to where you now live that delight you!
These are all lovely! I grew up on the seashore in MA and while I no longer live by the shore, my home is filled with seaside momentos.
For many years my parents walked the seashore at Cape Cod. They collected sea glass which is now scattered around the house in lovely jars. Seaside Memories in a bottle.
What a nice bit of reflecting. Makes me want to see it all.
Blogger ate up my previous comment. To cut it all short, I liked what you write here. And that Rilke poem too!
reflected changes
Hi gautami tripathy,
LOL! For some reason (maybe I dreamed it) I thought I did see a comment from you yesterday in my email inbox.
Well, mystery and all, thanks for visiting and for your positive comments. :-)
Hi willthink4wine,
Isn't sea glass wonderful? I know someone who uses it in her hand-crafted jewelry. I'm fortunate enough to have a piece of it. :-)
..hello Roswila,
the meditative serenity of ur word portraits are uncanny and attractive..thank u so much..
these haiku are all special but i especially love te crow one-liner (ok, i may be partial to crows but this one really really speaks to me) and the last one
the beach... there is no other... thank you for "the walk"... it is a beauty i can relate to...
Hi one more believer,
I literally just wrote a regular poem about beauty (and have a corrected draft right next to me as I'm typing) and here your comment mentions it. Thanks. :-)
I can smell the ocean with the third one. Makes me miss San Diego where I grew up.
I apologize for visiting two weeks late …(and I’ve skipped over Week 15s OSI piece because I’ve not yet posted mine) … but I’m glad I didn’t miss these ‘gems’ of yours. Gratitude is a sense I cultivate as well, and each of your offerings evoke ‘resonant’ feelings within me … so it’s impossible to select a favorite.
Thanks for visiting mine at Sacred Ruminations and leaving such a thoughtfully supportive comment ;--)
Hugs and blessings,
Visit anytime, storyteller, it's always a delight to hear from you, and to visit your blogs.
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