Category: Poetry

Autumn asters

plum-coloured asters

final flourish of summer

clusters of rapture

©️2018 Ontheland

:

broken by the storm

the asters’ fragrance rises

out of damp earth

©️Jane Reichhold (1937-2016)

memories in wildflowers

sun-kissed pebbles by the sea

(my response)

:

Carpe Diem’s Tan Renga challenge #15 inspired me to write about the wild asters behind my garden and to provide a Tan Renga response to Jane Reichhold’s haiku that I intend to be a small tribute to her as a haiku poet and teacher.

on the highway

Yesterday I was driving on the 401 to and from Toronto—it was no picnic, in sweltering heat and hours of bumper to bumper traffic crawling next to lines of towering trucks. There were pleasant moments—beyond nibbling buns from a Chinese bakery. Squirrels were everywhere at the downtown park…one boldly snacked in the middle of the roadway…too tame for its own good.

On the highway I contemplated leafy canopies of deciduous trees.

September treetops

leaves slowly changing colour

like my hair

~

©️2018 Ontheland

September Tan Renga #9

between dusty cars

an orange butterfly flits

the traffic rumbles

©️2018 Kim M. Russell

losing time in a standstill

dreaming of wings shifting fate

(my response)

~

In this Carpe Diem Tan Renga episode the featured haiku is a contemporary one written by Kim Russell of Writing in North Norfolk (see link above). I was thrilled just a couple of days ago—when sitting on a four-lane highway in a traffic jam a Monarch butterfly brushed against my window. I immediately thought of Kim’s haiku.

Renga with Basho Hineri #8

This 8th episode of Carpe Diem’s Renga with Basho features six of Basho’s haiku, as translated by Jane Reichhold, including one that was unfinished—I have completed the first haiku by adding a third line. Basho’s writings are shown in boldface type and my additions are in regular type (hopefully the Reader does not alter this).

~

missing a wife

putting on bamboo grass

I step out the door

:

into the blazing sunlight

a dusty road before me

:

above all else

a dependable chinquapin tree stands

in a summer grove

:

shade welcomes wanderers

a place of rest for weary feet

:

path of the sun

the hollyhock leans into

early summer rain

:

another cool blessing

I lower my grateful head

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each with its own light

fireflies in the trees

lodge in flowers

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no darkness this summer night

my way well-lit from above

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a dragonfly

unable to settle

on the grass

:

wherever I am is home

until the wind calls my name

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an early winter shower

a rice paddy with new stubble

darkens just a bit

:

this bamboo hat keeps me dry

as winter wind nips my cheeks

~

©️Matsuo Basho haiku shown in boldface type (taken from Basho, The Complete Haiku by Jane Reichhold)

©️2018 Ontheland