Mono no aware is not only “a Japanese idiom for the awareness of … the transience of things.” It’s a paradigm through which the Japanese view life.Linking this haibun to dVerse where Frank hosts.
Neighborhood cats chase one another through backyards, loudly caterwauling in the night. Five interested toms follow one breathless tabby who flees under the deck. Food dish is ignored in this spring mating frenzy. Once she’s bred, hormones calm, kittens develop and toms slink away.
Lilacs bud in May, one of the first blossoms to appear. The tight buds open to a thousand tiny flowerets, blooming in bunches of profligate purple display. The delicate scent of each cluster concentrates on fragrant breezes. After a few days, the heads wither and flowers fall.
Young couple speaks wedding vows on sunny May day. The bride wears sleeveless lace gown with tiny corseted waist and magnificent hoop skirt. A fingertip veil, lacey wristlets, and ballet flats complete her bridal finery. She dies of asthma complications a month past their 4th anniversary.
brief season of life actors pass across the stage cherish spring vignettes
orange city celebrates the dutch colorful beds of tulips you’ll see rich almond pastries (we eat too much) look! baton twirlers lead marching band big parade horses know master’s touch view provincial dress and wooden shoes, enjoy quilt show, dutch dancers and such hear street organ and singers for free real delft displayed in museum’s hutch
This form is a “magic 9” poem with 9 lines of 9 syllables each; rhyme scheme of abacadaba.
bitten by the snake, poison circulates system. venom on the tongue, with desire to bite back.
why live on blade of bitterness? if offender will not be offended; yet stabbed more hearts than one when chose another over dear son.
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Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19, ESV)
My friend Marie is a force of and for nature. She’s come by her fierce soul honestly, through the trauma of living with, not one but two, abusive husbands consecutively; and losing an adult son to hit and run. She’s seen her share of suffering and grief. Yet, she cares about others and about the earth, our home. It hurts her to see people trash it.
She encourages everyone who will listen to recycle. When I lived on the farm (where we burned our own garbage) Marie accepted all my empty milk jugs and other plastics to put in recyclables bin in town. Now I live close to town and bring in our recyclables myself, including cardboard and glass. That makes Marie proud.
Marie picks up trash while on our walks and checks garbage cans for plastic bottles within reach. Sometimes her little car is full of bags of materials to be recycled. It’s almost a part-time job for her, now in her seventies. She may be small but she has a big heart and faith. She believes we must take better care of God’s beautiful world.
earth’s creatures fragile plastic rings can suffocate choking on our trash
Written for Earth Day 2024, “Planet vs. Plastics” theme and linked to dVerse poets where Frank hosts haibuns.
i’d like to write a book so that people would understand good farmers truly care about the animals they raise and feed and breed, deliver young, nourish the herd.
it’s more than just business and bottom line but for the love of cows that farmers will work hard to keep them growing and alive thru snowstorms, heat, disease, and parasites.
explain how methane cycle benefits; how cow manure enhances health of soil. why farmers plant their fields with corn and hay to keep cattle content chewing their cud.
cows give us dairy products and real beef both protein sources good for humankind we treat our cattle with humane kindness and they in turn help us to feed the world.
Sanaa hosts poetics at dVerse today featuring poems of Maggie Smith. I’ve written in monologue style with no end rhyme but rhythmic pattern of iambic pentameter.
a poem in my pocket 
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