Category: Haibun

do you remember? (troibun)

She remembers metals taps on the soles of her shoes, click click clicking on the sidewalk pretending to be Gene Kelly. Do you remember buying bubble gum for a penny? Oh! and for nickel, you could get an ice cream cone or a loaf of bread! She remembers scratchy feeling crinolines and hula-hoop slips…the latter you could not sit unless you wanted everyone to see your undies. Thanks goodness mini skirts came out…no room for crinolines!

She remembers when she was ten running to the chip wagon with a quarter and getting a small order of French fries and a hot-dog. Those were the days her mother was too busy in the beauty parlour…she loved those days and preferred this meal to Swanson’s frozen dinners where meat tasted like cardboard.

 

http://hollywood0nlinetv.blogspot.ca/2010/12/john-lennon-wrote-3-books.html
HollywoodOnlinetv.blogspot

She remembers watching the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show and falling in love with John; that’s when she bought his book of poems and fell in love with poetry.

Sonny and Cher in Soho Square, London to promote ‘The Beat Goes On’, late 1966 or early 1967. Photo by Jan Olofsson.:
Saved from theswinginsixties.tumblr.com

Do you remember Sonny and Cher. Those were the days the only fake thing Cher had were her eyelashes…how I found her so beautiful!! Did you know that her real name is Cherilyn? (Thought that might be an interesting tid-bit.)  She remembers her first love lasting twenty-eight years; married the year the Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour started.

Do you remember when milk was delivered to the house in bottles? She remembers the bread man delivering to the house in a horse drawn cart. How she felt sorry for that horse who looked so tired and old! She remembers watching the fireworks at St-Jean Baptiste on June 24th and eating her nickel cotton candy!

Then came mini-skirts and fast cars, sit-ins and love-ins. Teenage love and wedding bells…baby carriage and empty nests…and suddenly grandchild  is soon entering high school!

(troiku)

time passes
such delight in innocence
like wind gusts

time passes
every year
spring returns

such delight in innocence
remembers
that first kiss

like wind gusts
taken by surprise-
how time has passed!

©Tournesol’16/05/30

Haiku Horizons “remember”

Daily Moments May 30 2016 “Do you remember” Troibun

On Living and Dying Day 16 by Kristjaan Panneman

Our haiku master and mentor, Chèvrefeuille from Carpe Diem Haiku Kai,  has written a beautiful and though provoking post at TheSeekersDungeon where Sreejit Poole is inviting people to write on his series 365 Days on Living and Dying.

against gravity (haibun)

She thought about her speech she was chosen to give for her group. Her spiritual advisor had chosen her to give her confidence and believe in herself after working for months on her spiritual growth. She had scrunched up dozens of paper already, never satisfied with her words. She closed her eyes and repeated her mantra which usually helped to calm her mind and then like magic, her muse took over.

“I hope to convey my learnings these past months where I have searched deep inside of my soul and am pleased to have found my true self.

I exist because I am who I am
I desire enlightenment
at this stage of my life
I hope to gain insights
as I continue to search my soul
I do believe there is a higher consciousness
and trust my Higher Power will guide me
I shall let go and let myself be
in the hands of The Great Spirit,
Whom I love
and now,
I am prepared
to receive His love and blessings.

through muddied waters
against forces of nature
a lotus blossoms

©Tournesol’16/05/28

Heeding Haiku with Chèvrefeuille at MindLoveMiserysMenagerie

(182 words)

Daily Moments ~ May 27 2016 midday siesta troibun

© clr 2014
© clr 2014

Strolling on a quiet street close to two in the afternoon, she is reminded of this special time in the day when her children were little. When they were babies they were napping and as toddlers, they were told it was quiet time and they would play quietly in their rooms for an hour. Sometimes they would read and fall asleep. There was often resistance but she knew they needed time to refuel. Their crankiness was a sure sign of a welcoming rest.
She walked passed a row of trees along the railway tracks in front of the houses. Humming sounds of city traffic further away and one particular tree seemed to have some commotion going on.

cacophonic peeps
leaves flutter to sopranos
cicadas trill

cacophonic peeps
maternal  chirps prevail
midday siesta

leaves flutter to sopranos
hatchlings’ rehearsal
children’s choir

cicadas trill
sun’s burning rays
dog in the shade

life’s too short (haibun)

Sometimes it is best not to know what some people think about you especially if it will only break your heart. It is so much easier seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses even if there is suffering in the world, why not let the good outweigh the bad?

Happy-go-lucky
ignorant of any misgivings
joyous to a fault

© Tournesol’16/05/27

Three Word Wednesday: Happy-go-lucky, ignorant. joyous

I love, I am prepared – Latifa Prayer (haibun)

© Clr'15
© Clr’15

Loving comes so easy, she thinks of her children and grandchildren. As much as it is easy to forgive someone you love, it is not so easy to forgive oneself. That is still a work in progress. Once she has mastered forgiving herself she will be on the path of self-love. The greatest love of all is to love self as we are made in the image and likeness of Our Creator. When self-love is achieved, then, she will be prepared.

caterpillar
meditates on a branch
butterfly dreams

©Tournesol’16/05/25

Latifa Prayer, line 2 “I desire”

Latifa Prayer, line 2 “I desire”

Our host has written:

silent prayer
reaches for heaven
sunflowers bloom

© Chèvrefeuille

Desires of youths is to be loved and accepted, somehow to feel they fit in. One grows into human wants and desires and always co-existing with being loved. And yet, to love and give love is so easy…to hold, to embrace either a friend, a child or a lover but without that affection from a lover, I am happier alone. I can fulfill this desire by giving in so many ways…embracing a crying youth on the phone or a good friend.

My desire to see my children happy and content is still strong although I know it is out of my control but still…and to some day have a two books published of my short stories and poetry to give to my children so they have something of me…speaking from my heart, my soul and in my voice.

morning dawn
rousing singing sparrows
bid the muse goodnight
time to rest a spell before 
the sun reaches high noon

©Tournesol’16/05/19

I did write until dawn this morning so this shall be my Daily Moments as well.

I exist – Latifa Prayer, Episode 2 (troibun)

As early as I can remember, times I just knew I did exist was looking at my mother’s face beam at me. I felt  alive and at one with her then. I think that period is different for everyone but the symbiosis was powerful between my mother and me.  I never questioned my existence in her presence.

reflection of me
in those hazel eyes
I am perfect

I am not sure when I felt separate. As I understood more about G-d and The Eucharist (communion) again, I felt connected and not separate. I used to feel a warmth or glow so intense after communion, it made me weep…

if He exists
then and only then
am I

Later in my adult life, learning various imageries and meditation starting with mindful breathing, I chose two imageries to form one which I have been doing for decades that make me feel free of the clutters of worry and stress …then I  begin to exist.

each breath
urging through the darkness
fuels surrender

each breath
pure air
gives life

urging through the darkness
the spirit
grows

fuels surrender
emerge above the surface
like a lotus

© Tournesol’16/05/19

Episode 2, The Latifa Prayer “I exist” at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai

three-seasoned flora (haibun)

If teeter-totter were named something else, I wonder what that might be.  It certainly does not seem to reflect the extreme highs and lows my tummy experiences when a partner decides to let go suddenly! I’m not sure what other name would suit it best.

It is that time of year where children of all ages are filling parks early evenings or after dinner. You hear a whine now and then pleading to stay a few minutes longer but it’s a school night and parents have things to do once the children are tucked in. That’s for sure!

I love spring and noticing each day a new birth, buds on tree branches, leaves starting to grow and so many at different stages.  Nature in spring is a bit like growing into adolescence.  March and early April there is a sudden surge of energy and glow on so many faces, somewhat like the glow of a woman with child. The first few years after a birth, a child is active in the home or daycares but as the season progresses one takes notice of the adolescent.  The tulips, then the lilacs and cherry and apple trees show off their early growth like the young teen with the body of a woman or the tall, lanky athlete towering over teammates.

Isn`t nature amazing offering flora throughout the season onto mid-autumn, from tulips to sunflowers bowing slowly and majestically even after the first snowfall I am always awestruck. Maybe that’s why I love sunflowers and my nom-de-plume for waka (Japanese form poetry) is Tournesol.

© Clr '14 November, rue Henri Julien, Montréal
© Clr ’14 November, rue Henri Julien, Montréal

tulips in april
apple blossoms in May
lilacs in June
flora all summer-long
autumn sunflowers

©Tournesol’16-05-14

Written for LindaGHill’s Stream of Conciousness Saturday prompt #SoCS May 14/16

sparrows wait (troibun)

Such a lovely spring day to be in a park. An old couple sit on a park bench. The man leans on his cane, watching his life partner talk to the birds. Gnarled fingers toss seeds to the pigeons, then places a plastic bowl filled with seeds under the bench where grateful sparrows wait.

cycling by the park
boy holding tight,
kite on a string

cycling by the park
child hangs on the monkey bar
squeak of swings

boy holding tight,
hand on her swollen belly
teeter-totter moans

kite on a string
dancing on blue canvas
how the wind sings!

© Tournesol ’16-05-15

(100 words)

Written for Heeding Haiku for Chèvrefeuille at MindLoveMiserysMenagerie.

We are asked to write a haibun of 100 words with the theme the circle of life.  I chose to include a troiku making my narrative and haiku a troibun.  To see what a troiku is, check at our host’s website CarpeDiemHaikuKai here.