Category: Haibun

last year (haibun)

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It’s been a challenging year personally and professionally. I can’t hide behind a cloud and pretend the New Year changed that. However a new year offers opportunities to continue processing areas that need attention somewhat like housekeeping. I need to look at what I want to keep among all the dusty clutter before I can find balance in my life. That is the longest part.

Think about when you are clearing out a closet and all the things you find at the bottom way at the back. You take out a box for example, that is covered with dust; you open it and look at the contents. It brings you back many years to a moment in time. You feel the emotions good or bad; you may weep a little, you may get angry and even kick that box around…again the feelings resurface and another layer is removed. You may feel you are done with this and  trash the box or you may dust it off, put it back securely at the back of your closet for another year or so. There is no right or wrong way…but your own way.

There are good things I want to topple over to this year. New and old friends I have encountered near and far, the relationship I have with my children and grandchildren is my duvet for the cold months and stroke of soft silk in the warmer months;  my  poetry and  the past six or seven months training in Japanese poetry at Carpe Diem with our host and mentor/master Chévrefeuille, his followers who inspire me and the amazing WP community that inspire and support me.  And my amazing  colleagues who are the strength and foundation that serve youths across this country and allow me to love my work.

like a gambling debt
stays too close for comfort
last year’s loss
~
spilling over
like turkey leftovers
last year’s grief
~
a new year
good housekeeping
feng shui
~
last year’s haiku
shadow into the new year
time to excel
~
my heart beats
to the love my children,
flame of a candle

© Tournesol ’15

Carpe Diem Kozo

Life is a play (haibun)

First words of the New Year 2015:

I wake up to blowing winds and white dusted grass and realize it is the first day of 2015. What is different today except for the snow? My bones may be a bit more brittle, my skin drier, my hair is tangled in knots but my heart is still filled with love. My mind is calling to me softly today, and whispers stories of peace and love.

dreams are stories
played out in our minds
life is the stage

© Tournesol ’15

Life is a Play (haibun)

a father’s blessing (haibun)

New Year’s Eve was exciting when I was a child up to early teens. There were traditions, like being the first to say Happy New Year to your parents or calling them on the phone if they were out at a friend’s celebrating, I would dial all the numbers (on a rotary phone of course) and not release the last number until the stroke of midnight and beat my father to wish my mom Happy New Year.

But the real excitement (for me at that time) was beating my sister to reach my father so he could bless me for the New Year. I would kneel in front of him wherever he was in the house and he would make the sign of the cross over my head and then kiss me on my forehead.

We were only two in the family so it was not really a grand event. In my mom’s family there were seven children and they would all gather in the living room on New Year’s Day and GrandPapa would bless them as well as my grandmother.   It was sort of like a good omen for the new year. I suppose if you went to mass or church services and the minister or priest blessed you before you left it might feel the same but New Year’s was special for that reason for me.

children kneel in wait

in the name of the Father,

blessing a New Year

(c) Tournesol ’14

Carpe Diem Haik Kai

new bond (haibun)

It was beautiful to see the patience a young child can have despite his age, his anticipation and yet, he managed it with eloquence. For a few years he would be so happy to see my cat at home so he could pet her, hold her and perhaps even play with her. The attempts were always short-lived and he would leave discouraged, certain that this picky feline did not like him. Try as I might to explain her fickleness was part of her personality and that in time if she saw him more often, she would certainly come around. And come around she did this week.

© Clr ’14 Bette and my grandson

Since he slept in “her” spot, I was actually surprised that she was drawn to him instead of being jealous but no, she totally drew closer and his patience certainly paid off. To see him beaming when he started petting her…that she allowed him to even touch her was magical to see.

Patiently waits,
human-animal bond
first calm

© Tournesol ’14

MindLoveMiserysMenagerie – Heeding Haiku with HA – New Year

train ride home (Kikobun)

 

 

© Clr è14
© Clr ’14

I had spent a very brief visit with my family in Toronto last summer after a four-day retreat.  I always look forward to the long ride returning home to Montreal. It gives me time to adjust to the change of places and reminisce of things I did, people I saw and the life I once had here.  I had time to think of my new personal mantra I was given which I could practice for over four  hours and how much a part of my heart is still in this city I once called home.

© Clr '14
© Clr ’14

 

Settling by the window, I allowed the train to rock me like a lullaby…chug chug chug…eyes focused on the city we are crossing, up above on elevated tracks…I am on top of the world and once we are further out, buildings become scarce. Kilometres of meadows, farms and the occasional crossings in smaller villages flash by…my eyes begin to feel so very heavy.  I am sitting on the opposite side I usually sit for Lake Ontario is on the other side. I will be noticing a different view on this trip.

© clr '14
© clr ’14

 

I see fields and fields of tall grass as it is time for the first harvest of hay. As we sped by I saw stacked bales of hay each farmer displaying his own mark…some tight round bales, some bales shaped like huge barrels and some square blocks. From the train they looked like mounds of hay or straw plants or shrubs.

© Clr '14
© Clr ’14

 

The loud echo of the train’s whistle at some crossings roused me and I admired the sky changing colours as the sun began to set…the man across from me gave in to the lullaby but I am still like a little child fighting sleep always, in the event I just might miss something.

20140716_024707_Android
© Clr ’14

 

rocking on steel rods
fields flashing on fast-forward
a man snores

© Tournesol ’14

Carpe Diem Ghost Writer, Hamish Gunn has asked us to write a Kikobun; this is writing about  about a journey, or part of a journey or wander. The idea of it being about wandering and observing is very relevant.

bleu lavande (haibun)

© Bleu Lavande, Fitch Bay, Québec

Many farmers give directions very differently than city people are accustomed to. Living in a very small town we would chuckle a bit when asking for directions when looking for directions to get the best sweet corn or my favourite apples that were usually the first category that came out early in the season…Lobo of course, juicy and tart they made your lips pucker.

Directions were often turn left at the red silo and at the fork keep to your right until you get to the Old School House make a sharp left behind the speed limit sign…careful now, you might miss it if you are admiring that old school…city folks are always dazzled by that plain old building. Now keep on going until you get to the Willow Tree. If your windows are open you should smell the lavender field just over the hill. Across the road a fair bit, Fontaine’s tractor should be parked with his trailer full of fresh picked corn of the morning and the afternoon if you come by before supper.

Our host has given us one last haiku by Richard Wright:

keep straight down this block,
then turn right where you will find
a peach tree blooming © Richard Wright

This is to inspire us to write in that same tone…the blossoms made me think of various scents of certain trees and plants blossoming. How fitting to include the poignant and soothing scent of lavender!

I have included a link here, describing Mr. Pellerin’s story on how he started his venture in the largest lavender farm, Bleu Lavande,  in Canada and second largest in North America. I find his story fascinating. His farm is situated in the Eastern Townships about an hour and half drive from Montreal.

passed the Willow tree
just over the hill, explosion
of lavender

© Tournesol ’14

Carpe Diem Special

White Christmas (haibun)

© Clr '14-12-11
© Clr ’14-12-11

December 23rd, the temperatures rose over 10 degrees Celsius. It was springtime weather at the end of December.  Two days of rain cleaned the streets, sullied snow banks and melted most of the snow. Makes it doubly hard for half-doubters..one of my three grandsons… to still believe but painstaking stories, Crosby’s songs and want-to-believe children makes it still happen…one more year.

grey puddles
born from melted snow
earth’s enigma

~

White Christmas
fairy-tales echo
crooner’s refrain

© Tournesol ’14

Carpe Diem White Christmas

River rink (haibun)

© Jessie Botanical at Deviant Art

I remember first time I skated with my mother and sister. Mom and my sister were so darn adept on their skates…they could actually stand up witout wobbling! I must have been about four wearing dark brown leather skates that folded at the ankle, so my body rested on the leather rather than those blades.  But my mother was so patient with me…chubby me, clumsy as could be…no side boards to hand on to …just low snow banks after they had shoveled a personal skating rink just for us on the river behind GrandMaman’s house.  I must have been wearing my older cousin’s skates…boy’s skates to boot!

I later managed to stand up on better skates but wobbly I was. One night when I was about 12 the river was cleared of snow and my uncle wanted to go out skating with his girlfriend…well! I decided to tag along this romantic venture…but I did stay back several feet…it was a full moon, we skated across the river…whoosh…scratch…whoosh, whoosh…the moon was so bright we could even skate to the little inlets…I was a bit worried the ice may not be as thick but still felt safe following my uncle…my hero.  What a guy to let his niece tag along on this magical evening. I will never forget that night…whoosh, whoosh…scratch…whoosh, whoosh…wind blowing softly on my face.

children giggling
wobbling on the ice
river holds

hands clasped
lovers glide on the river
under a full moon

whoosh whoosh
blades scratch the river floor
frozen in time.

© Clr ’14 Saw this girl at Montreal Atrium today, at the bus terminal/Metro Bonaventure and could not resist…that would have been me a long time ago.

© Tournesol ’14

Carpe Diem

solitude (haibun)

© Clr '14
© Clr ’14

Solitude may not always mean sadness, it is simply being alone. Many times it is by choice.  It is interesting that loneliness, isolation, seclusion and privacy are synonyms found for solitude.  I suppose if it is not by choice it can be painful and lonely. However, if it is by choice, it is almost a refuge, a place to breath, collect one’s thoughts…create, compose.  Perhaps when we know of someone who is living alone, we could ask if they feel lonely and not assume all persons living alone are unhappy.  I love people; I am a very social person and love to laugh and enjoy the company of friends and my children. I also love my “alone” time where I can hear myself think.  The silence sometimes screams …those are often my thoughts waiting to be put “on paper”.

Since the passing of my mom, I don’t feel the same aloneness I felt leaving work, walking with a heavy step after a shift…I feel a presence, a shadow that quickens my step, removes a load off my shoulder…I feel blessed…in her grace…shadow of her love.

vignette of mom signed

Walking home
under the umbrella
skies weep

skies weep
souls scream shedding despair
bleeding,
I no longer walk alone
her shadow comforts me.

shadow comforts me
arriving home alone
my cat purrs

my cat purrs
lingers by my laptop,
hushed whispers

hushed whispers
I’m here if you need me
no longer alone.

© Tournesol ’14

necessary greed (haibun)

Mary Cassatt, Young Mother Nursing her child

I can see how a mother and her newborn would experience a genre of  greed …this need to possess…to be connected and not quite ready to share with the world. My mother told me I was like a tigress with my babies when they were newborns and she could relate so well as she was the same with my sister and me.

A psychologist explained to us in a class last year that an infant is born one year too soon. Gestation continues outside the womb but the connection mother/child is most important. The couple needs to cocoon together for longer than many industrialized cultures allow.

key connection
budding human nature
symbiosis
~
mother and infant
hoarding every moment
tenderness and bliss

© Tournesol ’14

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Our host says: “This week we are going further with exploring the powerful ‘Om Mani Padme Hum’, mantra. This week it’s the fifth ‘sound’ , “me” … I will give the mantra here again:

Om purifies bliss and pride (realm of the gods); Ma purifies jealousy and need for entertainment (realm of the jealous gods); Ni purifies passion and desire (human realm); Pad purifies ignorance and prejudice (animal realm); Me purifies greed and possessiveness (realm of the hungry ghosts); Hum purifies aggression and hatred (hell realm).

As we look at the mantra’s fifth sound “Me” than we can see that it purifies greed and possessiveness (realm of the hungry ghosts) and this is what is said about this mantra by Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche:

“The mantra Om Mani Pädme Hum is easy to say yet quite powerful, because it contains the essence of the entire teaching. When you say the first syllable Om it is blessed to help you achieve perfection in the practice of generosity, Ma helps perfect the practice of pure ethics, and Ni helps achieve perfection in the practice of tolerance and patience. Päd, the fourth syllable, helps to achieve perfection of perseverance, Me helps achieve perfection in the practice of concentration, and the final sixth syllable Hum helps achieve perfection in the practice of wisdom. “So in this way recitation of the mantra helps achieve perfection in the six practices from generosity to wisdom. The path of these six perfections is the path walked by all the Buddhas of the three times. What could then be more meaningful than to say the mantra and accomplish the six perfections?”
—Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Heart Treasure of the Enlightened Ones.

This fifth sound is connected with the fourth and together with that sound it refers to Wisdom. Om Mani Padme Hum is a very strong mantra and in it self the world of Buddhism … it offers us the basic rules of Buddhism, one of the pilars of haiku.

This sound is about purifying greed and possessiveness, but what is wrong with greed or possession? I am greedy in a positive way: “
Our host’s inspired haiku is here:

looking for more
hunting for gold and diamonds –
haiku community

© Chèvrefeuille