Spring walk

Posted on Categories Poetry

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I walk our two dogs on this warm spring day of firsts— my first time out with no coat, just a long sleeved flannel shirt, jeans and sturdy boots. There, beside the ditch hugging the ground, the first dandelion flowers and everywhere fresh sprouts of grass emerging out of the gully water and fresh gravel thrown by the township this winter. My feet land happily on soft ground still moist and pliant after weeks of rain and snowmelt. Bentley turns his head back and I see he is laughing as he pulls us forward. I snap a picture of him as I scan the brush for new buds and I am not disappointed. Tiny catkins have multiplied and droopy green ones hang from another branch.

dog walk heaven

delicious buffet of scents

jarred by distant guns

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©2018 Ontheland

Dverse Haibun Monday—Take a Walk

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Published by Janice

My name is Janice.  I started blogging as Ontheland when I moved from Toronto to a rural area near Kingston, Ontario in Canada.  Over time I have found myself writing poetry, mostly in Japanese forms, such as haiku and haibun.  One of my deepest interests is the natural world: the joy of it and how we can look after it better.

28 thoughts on “Spring walk”

    1. Thank you…I wondered if the last line would be too jarring but that’s the impact on the otherwise happy walk (the dogs hear the gunshots more than I do)…

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  6. I just came back from a walk through a conservation area and felt the same way about the day…finally no jacket and the buds are out…yes! Bentley looks happy about Spring.

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  7. Janice, what a wonderful day out for you and Bentley. He looks adorable and as if he is eager to walk on … no time to admire the nature! 😀😀 Lovely haiku which lulled me into a false sense of security. The gunshots! Are they from clay pigeon shooting … we have a lot of that around where I live.

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    1. Hi Annika. Bentley does tend to be a ‘let’s surge forward’ kind of guy unless there are special items on the ground to inspect…or gunshots. We don’t really know about the guns… it could be practicing or poaching at this time of year.

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      1. Now I’m worried for you, Janice! Do take care. I once walked in a field when I heard a shot and part of a branch nearby came down. Two young guys were out shooting pigeons and stupidly aimed towards the path, not away from it. A guy walking ahead of me gave them such a telling off … I just walked home and had to sit down to recover from the shock.

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      2. Please don’t worry Annika. The bush is large here and the shots are audible but not close. I stick to the road or our small acre…in hunting season they have occasionally come too close to the property line…at dawn or dusk…an exception which we have tried to eliminate by making our presence more known. Your caution is food for thought, I realize though, as I write. It might give my solar light project a nudge.

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  8. I love how you let us walk with you Janice. All sounds so beautiful and your dog is such a bright cutie.
    The Haiku is great and the shocking last line does make it strong as the two worlds are juxtaposed.
    Beautiful pictures.
    miriam

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  11. Gosh the introduction of guns at the end of your haiku really jarred me too. What a strange experience – to be totally immersed in nature and then to be bought back to the harsh reality of recreational hunting so abruptly.

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    1. It wasn’t my original intent but that’s how the haiku ended up…and after some hesitation I decided to leave it…the sound of guns really do rattle the dogs, even when far away as they usually are.

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      1. I think it’s excellent. There’s so much flowery, ain’t life grand, haiku online. It’s great to read something that has some grit and reflects the world we live in now.

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      2. Thanks Suzanne…I do lean towards realism (though I have been learning how there can be an elusiveness about it)…the landscape around here has been pretty stark… even stark has its own beauty but seeing green and fresh buds and hearing more birds now is such a thrill!

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  13. Close to hunters? Eeek. I hear traffic and train whistles. Though the neighbors said that they heard gun shots the week I was away. I also just found out that a neighbor on the other side of the creek leaves out a salt lick for deer… I hope not to attract them to kill… as I know he also practices with a pistol. Though I have not heard that yet.

    Always positives and negatives at each end of the same magnet.

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