Sunday, April 20, 2008

A haiku for you

Karen at Outpost Mavarin hosts a Weekend Challenge every Friday, and this time the assignment is to write a poem in honor of National Poetry Month. I don't usually do writing assignments; my blogging problem is not in finding subjects, but in finding time to write about them. However, I am a big fan of poetry. So how could I pass on this one?

The assignment demands a new poem, fresh from the fires of creation, so to speak. *Here's mine:

Blossoms dance in wind
One bud shuts tight her eyes
Petals sigh and fall


We were not supposed to haul out an old one, but when will I find a better excuse than National Poetry Month? (Hey. You click in here, you get what you get.)

Turning of the Leaves

I must be home at the turning.
Some passion not understood, keenly felt
sends me to the mountain
to hermit out winter in hot tea.

Leaves carpet the evening
and horizons grow on branches, gradually.
A hushing deep in the mountain's heart
gathers power and silence,
reduces all to absolute seed and center.

Now is the iron time and the knowing.
I have always been here for the turning.

(Copyright 1977)


Extra credit: If I had to choose, my favorite poets would be Robert Frost, Billy Collins, and T.S. Eliot.

P.S. OK, so I'm missing the seventh syllable in the haiku. I'm workin' on it.
*Update 4:07 PM. Here's the extra syllable I owe ya.

Buds balloon, bursting
Blossoms dance in laughing wind
Petals sigh and fall

3 comments:

Karen Funk Blocher said...

I wasn't going to mention the missing syllable....

And thanks for the longer poem, even if it isn't new. It's a good'un. And you did create new poetry as well, so you're covered. Thanks!

Carly said...

Hi Vicki

Beautiful poem. You and I understand autumn, it speaks to us, and encourages our creative side. Lovely.

Always, Carly

Kiva said...

I liked the image of the first poem even though it wasn't technically a haiku. The "old" poem made me feel melancholy. Just beautiful.