soupçon de mélancholie (haibun)

©Clr'15
©Clr’15

 

It’s been getting colder in the past week. Nights have dipped below freezing point and she has mixed feelings about that.  Ragweed allergies will finally cease;  daytime walks are still splattered with colours but the nights walking home from her late shifts will now be cold.

On her way back from her favourite grocery, Thai Foo, greens in her backpack,  she cannot not help but notice sweeping changes with nature around her.  Many trees have lost most of their leaves, and the late bloomers who also shed the latest, still hold some beautiful colours.  The yellow turned to a dark orangey tint, the maples were an even brighter red and one tree she could not name had yellowed leaves with dark brown strips of seeds hanging.  It truly looked like a Hallowe’en decoration. How totally apropos, she thought.

© Clr,15
© Clr,15

She knew there was about a  week left of signs of life through tints and hues.  After October 31st…the goblins will have eaten up most of life’s colours. November will prowl like rodents lurking garbage bins; life will appear barren  day by day.  She admires the last photos she took today, wishing this week could drag on a few more months.  Le mois des morts(the month of the dead)  is what they call November in her region.

novembre se faufile
soupçon de mélancolie
envahit

November slips in
drop of melancholy
spills over

© Clr'15
© Clr’15

Heeding Haiku with Chèvrefeuille and MindlovemiserysMenagerie

Exploring poetry in all its forms.

Plop interuptus (haiku)

Our host at Heeding Haiku with Chèvrefeuille at MindLoveMiserysMenagerie has asked us to rewrite this famous haiku by the master, Matsuo Basho

furu ike ya / kawazu tobi komu / mizu no oto

old pond
a frog jumps into
the sound of water

© Basho (Tr. Jane Reichhold)

A description of the surroundings when Basho experienced this moment, by the old pond were Japanese yellow roses (yamabuki) growing around the pond.  Here is my rewrite.

Yamabuki (Yellow Roses, Kerria Japonica)

scent of roses
by the old pond
frog plops

© Tournesol ’15

©

autumn walk (haiga)

more autumn leaves

late afternoon walk
cascade of autumn colours
way to end my day

© Tournesol ’15

Heeding Haiku with Chèvrefeuille and MindLoveMiserysMenagerie – autumn colours

The river trail (troiku – haiga)

next bike path autumn

Troiku

along the river
autumn colours adorn
riverside path

along the river
water turning bluish grey
frigid ripples

autumn colours adorn
public parks and highways
nature’s last show

riverside path
bike trail runs along the keys
season’s last ride

© Tournesol ’15

bike path

Heeding Haiku with Chèvrefeuille and MindLoveMiserysMenagerie

late frost ( Jisei)

This is the last haiku by Basho.  It is now known as his “death poem” or Jisei.

ill on a journey
my dreams start to wander
across desiccated fields

© Matsuo Basho (Tr. Chèvrefeuille)

It’s very common in classical  times that poets wrote their death-poem, the last poem of their life.

Here is our host’s Jisei

my dreams wander
along the path of my life …
Honeysuckle blooms

Honeysuckle blooms
sharing her sweet perfume
I dream away

© Chèvrefeuille

**********************

Today on my way to work I was shocked to see new blossoms in the thicket. Most of the flowers are dying except for sunflowers growing through the concrete in the street and tiny daisies among dead bushes.   The bees were busy kissing every flower they could find today and one lone blue butterfly winked at me.

a bed of daisies
unusual blossoms
end of season

a bed of daisies
lie in wait
like poppies

unusual blossoms
caress my weary bones
butterfly kiss

end of season
contemplating
a late frost

***

© Clr '15
© Clr ’15

heart aglow
 love still to spare –
liquid blues gaze,
purple veils magenta skies
  fading sunset

(c) Tournesol’15

MindLovesMiserysMenagerie & Heeding Haiku with Chèvrefeuille

perfection (haiga) 30 days of Haiga September 9

flowers for mother

Mother,
roses scream our love -pompoms
your perfection

© Tournesol ’15

September 9 30 days of haiga – Northern Hemisphere: Chrysanthemum blossoms or Chrysanthemum tea

Heeding Haiku with Chèvrefeuille – Chrysanthemum

*The two White roses represent my sister and me,a  Red rose from her husband, Orange roses from her grandchildren, Yellow from her great-grandchildren.

autumn’s bliss (haibun)

© Clr’14 taken first week of October – a stranger accepted to be photographed on this glorious day!

Shivering in the cool air shortly after dawn, you can see her breath in smoke signals as she walks quickly to stay warm. Lunchtime has a change of heart…

midday radiance
greets a summer’s breeze –
season’s treat
fall’s tucked up on a shelf
dead leaves shed their tell-tale scents

© Tournesol ’15

Heeding Haiku with Chèvrefeuille at MindLoveMiserysMenagerie