Sunday, March 29, 2009

Fleeting Moments of Clarity

Haiku is a very short poetic verse, consisting of three lines of 5, 7, and 5 syllables each. The strictest forms of the Japanese art have special words, evoking the season.

I discovered the style several years ago and rediscovered these personal insights in a binder full of day-planner pages. In retrospect, it would take many paragraphs of prose to compete with the impact of some of these verses.



stop, muse, count blessings
stay as long as you need, rest
you are welcome here




cold hospital room
patient labors, time has come
tears of joy, son born




running, running past
children on their way to school
running to keep warm




dusty Formica
greasy spoons, all-night waitress
sick and tired of work




on the open road
the highway littered like leaves
speedtraps everywhere




the season is done
children playing in the surf
water chills my flesh




winter, char-cold grill
skillet sizzle, sear my meat
diner-smell, let’s eat




top down, ice forming
convertible sure is fun
cannot find my gloves