An unsolicited email showed up in my inbox. Rather than spam, it seemed like a message from the universe. Here are the big ideas:
1. Make Art for Social Change
2. Channel Your Pain into Art
3. If You See It, Say It, Sing It, or Sculpt It...
4. Be Visible
5. Collaborate
In a seemingly unrelated email,
Carol Wilcox asked if I was planning to write a haiku a day in December again this year.
My creative spirit, who has been sitting out on the porch with her head between her knees for the last couple of weeks, looked up and nodded. Yes, that seems right, she said. A response to the news of the day, shared in the concise metaphorical form of the haiku.
#haikuforhealing
waning moon
darker nights ahead
light the lanterns
11/25 Black Friday
autumn leaves
windblown into the corner
some still fly free
11/26
mob of cawing crows
one hawk flying sure and low
ducks the raving flock
11/27 #BetsyOurLoss
bushels of apples
vibrant orchards with strong trees
menace of blight
11/28 #commonplacemarvels
chickadees and wrens
nuthatches, cardinals, finches
all share the feeder
11/29
after rain
puddles reflect
dark clouds
11/30
overcast skies
unexpected kindness
ray of hope
12/1
Hello, December
Orion races west
Big Dipper empties
12/2
cold wind
oak leaves rattle
long winter ahead
12/3
winter tide: rest, rest
ignore moon's pull: lull, lull
wave goodbye: surge, surge
12/4
(a meditation on birthdays that are past the half-century mark)
another year
snowflakes gather in drifts
spring melt looms
(in response to a Turkish haiku in #haikuforhealing)
butterfly wings
small movement stirs the air
revolution
12/5
five birds
huddle on the wire
welcome one more
12/6
woodpile expands
winter heat stored in neat stacks
stoke the fires
12/7
(after reading articles about Trump's lies about jobs saved at the Carrier plant
and his designated security advisor is perpetuating fake news
and he knows squat about the Constitution)
brave little mouse
this lion can't be trusted
be vigilant
12/8
dark horizon
menacing storms build strength
children play tag
12/9
(a fun exchange)
from Van Allen (@GRProject43X), in reply to my 12/8 haiku
Your 5-7-5
is short a few beats. Why? Why?
A butterfly weeps.
my response:
my 5-7-5
is not worth tears, butterfly
who's to say what counts?
12/10
prepares to bask in the heat
of a dying Earth
12/11
Poetry to the rescue.
in emergency
dial nine-one-one for body
eight-one-one for soul
12/12
6:00 a.m., The Morning After the Neighborhood Lighting
sheltered
one luminaria
shines on
12/13
prickly day
softened by sticky snow
balm of silence
12/14
Hat-tip to Renee LaTulippe for the first line.
predator-elect
poised atop the food chain
not my keystone
12/15
fifth grade --
teaching parrots
to think
12/16
yammering cuckoo
eagle remains vigilant
beware the talons
12/17
rain stops, ice melts
temperatures keep rising
shroud of fog
12/18
For Birds...and Friends at Solstice Dinner
even a few seeds
are enough for these birds here --
feed your flock
12/19
so much can't be fixed
but when the sink starts to leak
out come the tools
12/20
one bird -- one squawk
a mighty din -- the whole flock
add your voice
12/21
Winter Solstice
our darkest day
followed one spin later
by more light
12/22
#senryu
laundromat
honest work, like-minded folk
everyone comes clean
12/23
Solstice, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa
light and levity --
we gather all the candles --
blaze away darkness
12/24
under snow
at the base of the old oak
trillium sleep
12/25
Tyrannical Regimes use Isolation as a Weapon of Oppression
harmony, beauty --
haiku sung acapella --
join the chorus
12/26
planet is heating
sixty-eight in December
slow, comfortable death
12/27
sunrise looks forward
lights all the dark corners
fades all the stars
12/28
There are no big box stores, shopping malls, freeways, or stadiums,
but Eastern Colorado has this:
bolt of night fabric
black velvet stretched tight with stars
Milky Way ribbon
or
black bowl of night sky
overturned on plate of land
Milky Way flows
12/29
homecoming
moving target
bullseye shrinks
12/30
ganderless goose
takes young chicken under wing
comfort for both
in the village
a stranger calls for help
answer comes quickly
fuchsia sunrise
be glad for another day
shadows be gone
12/31
mother bird
you raised your chicks to fly
don't be sad
this treacherous road
built by those who came before
fellow travelers
Fox News is Blaring on the Nursing Home TV
giving thanks
for print media's page turns
for website browsing
old oak stands silent
bare branches ache for spring
leaves will return
small town life
so slow, squirrels are safe
no roadkill
1/1
Happy New Year?
You've already forgotten?
Fresh hell awaits us.
I Feel Violated, Not Safe
security
groin alert requires pat down
you could smile, she says
1/2
The Return of Civil Disobedience
Hello, 2017.
Civil disobedience
knocks at your door.
1/3
rain
incapable of deceit
transparent
Unlike this one:
Asked if Trump is playing the media with his comments on who was culpable, Woolsey said it was a "possibility," noting that
Trump is an "expert in weaving around" on issues like this.
1/4
west wind
bitter cold barrels in
chimes complain
1/5
a different kind of #haikuforhealing
cold
(pass the Kleenex)
hazy fog
1/11
As I ponder whether my work with 5th graders
will survive the crazyweird to come...
Collaboration.
Will you remember this, kids?
Practice it as adults?
Accepting difference.
Will you remember this, kids?
Do it as adults?
Outrage over hate.
Will you remember this, kids?
Act on it as adults?
1/12
Rumors. Fake news. Anything that's not the real issues.
flash
heads turn
wolf advances
1/14
sunrise
please help me believe
in today
1/17
sense of urgency
every word and action must
promote harmony
1/18
today's mountain
eventually a hill
but oh the rubble
