Driving Home

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by TumblingRun

tawny winter fields

setting sun throws long shadows

illuminates moon

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Sunset on the wide empty prairie: nothing but brown stretching in every direction as you drive across the plate; nothing but blue in the bowl of sky that sits inverted on that plate. And then the nearly full moon rises directly ahead of you in the east, framed by wind turbines. She is pale, but gathering brightness while the sun sets behind you. Moon enters the darkening blue, and the edges of the bowl where it rests on the plate are painted a fragile pink.

Traveling

above Iowa

unexpected turbulence

jolt of energy

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

holding pattern --

banking over crop circles --

around and a round

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Growth Mindset

                                   

why would you assume

your first from-scratch pie crust would

turn out perfectly

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Before

empty canvases

brushes, pencils, mug of tea

anticipation

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Sunday

almost blue sky

single floating feather

unopened package

(c)Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Slow Food

pomegranate

original slow food

savor each ruby

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Playing Haiku Tag With Myself

TUESDAY:

Flickr Creative Commons photo by Flood G.

thick slice of dark bread

minutes like sugar in tea

pencil scratching page

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

WEDNESDAY:

pencil scratching page

fish tank burbling endlessly

clock strikes seven

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

THURSDAY:

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Jo Christian Oterhals

clock strikes seven

sleeper doesn't stir

earth keeps rotating

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

FRIDAY:

Wikipedia

earth rotates daily

as it floats around the sun

my head is spinning

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

On Tuesday, I was running a little behind, but I managed to write a haiku about writing a haiku while eating a quick breakfast.  I decided to use the last line of this haiku as the first line on Wednesday.

On Wednesday morning, I was running a lot behind. It was 7:00am and I hadn't started writing yet, hadn't showered, hadn't packed my lunch. I need to be out the door by 7:45 to be on time for work, so it's a good thing I had the first line of my haiku ready to go.

Thursday morning I was exhausted. I had rolled-cut-baked cookies the night before for hours and hours after an already long day at work. All I could think of was the first morning of break when I wouldn't have to set my alarm. Even though I was tired, I was pretty thrilled to find an image of a clock that really goes with my haiku!

Today, I was able to weave our current studies in science into a haiku that describes both what it's like to be a fifth grader learning about the movements of the earth around the sun (rotation/revolution; day, night, seasons) AND what this week's been like for me. Our heads are all spinning for some reason or another!

Diane has the Poetry Friday roundup at Random Noodling this week.

Thursday

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Jo Christian Oterhals

clock strikes seven

sleeper doesn't stir

earth keeps rotating

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

(In which I dream of sleeping in...)

Wednesday

pencil scratching page

fish tank burbling endlessly

clock strikes seven

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Tuesday

Flickr Creative Commons photo by Flood G.

thick slice of dark bread

minutes like sugar in tea

pencil scratching page

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

What Season is It?

opportunistic

December dandelion --

the season is Now.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

I keep saying I like process notes, so here are some for this haiku. I started with the photo. The middle line came to me first. Then, I thought about the strangeness of this sight in mid-December, but also about the determination and grit of a plant that will take any string of 60 degree days it's given. That gave me the first line, and in quick succession, the last. I don't think haiku are supposed to have a title, but the title of the post kind of works as one, so at first, I had the dandelion answering the question:

opportunistic

December dandelion:

"the season is Now."

Even without the title, those few bits of punctuation change the whole feel for me. Which do you like better -- the poet describing a scene, or a spunky dandelion squeaking out it's own little "Carpe Diem!"?

Go Forth and Make the World a Better Place

rank on rank they stand

formed, but not yet hardened

battalion of love

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Deer on the Sidewalk

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Anne Davis 773

we pass

I stop and look back

our eyes meet

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Poetry Friday -- Rare

RARE from Joel Sartore on Vimeo.

I ran across this video on The Kid Should See This. It filled my heart with love (and concern) for this ball of rock and water upon which we float through space.

beautiful world 

everything we do matters

every single thing

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Tara has the Poetry Friday roundup this week at A Teaching Life.

Number 27

Welcome, new friend!

You have come to the right place--

you are one of us.

©Mary Lee Hahn 2015

Art

I am comforted

by the sky's indifference --

art for art's sake

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Cardinals

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Sean

cardinals hiding 

in a bare-limbed winter tree--

camouflage failure

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Oak, Crow

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Mr.TinDC

yard full of oak leaves

crow stands up to her knees

bead-eye glitters

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Haiku Tag

Flickr creative commons photo by Nimish Gori

faint sounds whispering

oak leaves tumble on west wind

snow is coming

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

It's been fun playing haiku tag with Kevin (@dogtrax) on Twitter:

I write. 

I post. 

I Tweet. 

He reads,

then haiku-riffs off my words. 

(Appropriate, since he's a musician as well as a teacher, poet, and tech guru.) 

Kevin's also done some "line lifting" in the past, as a way to keep a poetic conversation going. So I decided to riff today's haiku back to Kevin by borrowing the last line of his haiku from yesterday for the first line of my haiku today.

Dream

CC image from Unsplash

last night's vivid dream

dissolves like sugar in tea

lingering sweetness

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Birthday Wish

I'll be a ginkgo--

golden leaves circling my feet,

one ring wiser.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Migration Rearguard

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Leroy Andersen

Migration Rearguard

a squadron of geese

invaded the soccer field

yanked grass, dropped land mines

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Fog

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Vincent van der Pas

fog snuggles the grass

I'm wading through a ground cloud

the path obscured, blurred

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

December 1

calendar page turns

wind blows leaves against the fence

heavy clouds hang low

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Inspired by Bob Raczka's SANTA CLAUSES, I'm challenging myself to write a haiku a day in December.

Ice From the Bird Bath

Parched

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Nic McPhee

PARCHED

It's not that the well
of creativity has
run dry

it's that those lovely
crystal spring-fed waters have
been channelized.

Groundwater runs deep.
And aquifers can be
recharged.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Haiku-a-Day

I have spent the month of July with Mom, getting her and her home of 60 years ready for her move to assisted living. Besides taking lots of photos, I saved a bit of time each day to take a snapshot in words. Here is a haiku-mosaic of July:


The move

1
the to-do list grows
fills heaping bowls of sadness
tears overflow

11
a childhood filled
with mother's sacrifices
daughter's turn now

21
shelves and shelves of books
multi-storied richness
wealth measured in words

26
going through dresser drawers
layers of memory
the archaeology of a life

two children
visitors at the museum
of their mother

an inveterate archivist
saver of minutiae
savoring each scrap of life

one more time

30
transplanting is tricky
handle roots with loving care
mix old soil with new




Meditations on the cycle of life and my place in it right now

9
midseason lily
surrounded by bud and wilt
enjoy it now

14
leaf breaks free
flutters away from tree
wind brings it back

Being in Eastern Colorado

4
ripening wheat
indiscriminate thunderheads
farmers remain hopeful

7
unseasonably cool
north breeze, low clouds, drizzle
roofer's gun pops

8
typically blue skies
smudged with a grimy haze --
Canada burns

19
antelope grazing --
uncharacteristically
green and lush prairie

Storms

 

Memories

 

July Garden