Poetry ~ Waka
(c) Tournesol
Originally Posted by Cheryl-Lynn Roberts ’14/08/17 at Tournesol dans un jardin
Carpe Diem Special #102, Jim Kacian’s 3rd “falling leaves”
falling leaves
the house comes
out of the wood
© Jim Kacian
Our host writes:flowers of ice
on the window melting in the sun –
“look dad! it snows!”
© Chèvrefeuille
© Tournesol
Posted by Cheryl-Lynn Roberts, 2014/08/16
(haiku)
hot muggy day
spider finds a cool safe place
took a bubble bath
August sailing
gusty winds tense the jib
crow kissed a windshield
fly fidgets
buzzes around his arm.
SWAT!
spider spins
all night long diligently
Eureka!
children’s park
swings, teeter totters, slides
barbarian invasion
children giggling
bright coloured kites catch the sun
string floats silently
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| © Tournesol ’14 |
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| © Tournesol ’14 |
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| © Tournesol ’14 |
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| © Tournesol ’14 |
(free verse)
If I were an insect,
who knows how my life would end?
If I were a bird,
who knows how the wind would blow?
If I were a child living in the wrong part of the world,
who knows when my life would end?
Life is a gift for some,
a puzzle for so many,
an affliction for too many…
What life lends
may be a mystery
black and white blends
interesting and dreary
I can always count
on rivers to flow
on the sun to glow
sunsets sublime
and the moon to shine
originally published @ Tournesol dans un Jardin
© Tournesol 2014/08/12
Khalil Gibran wrote, “We measure time according to the movement of countless suns; and they measure time by little machines in their little pockets. Now tell me how could we ever meet at the same place at the same time?”
changing tides
my restlessness has gone
time is at my side
© Chèvrefeuille
How true! We seem to always be focused on time. How fast we can get this done and that completed. When I am writing, I don’t measure my time but I do see that a whole day sometimes has passed me by on my day off. So what? I enjoyed myself; I was able to create and be inspired by my muse. And all this is free and it is not even fattening! I have earned my time to just be and if writing is one of those moments of `being`, so be it!
Years ago, I used to be a personal support worker in homecare. My favourite days were bath days and individuals would humbly allow me to help them with their personal hygiene. I would take my time…up to an hour many times. I felt privileged to be welcomed in their homes like that. I am pretty sure that today, thirty years later, this “time” is considered a rare luxury…sadly so.
I stopped wearing a watch when I had the children and was a stay at home mom for five years. I didn’t need a clock or a watch. Babies and children can easily determine their needs without a clock and so that is how life was then.
internal clocks pulse
mother nurses, cleans, comforts
infant cries
© Tournesol ‘14/08/03
I remember when I first started working as a youth counsellor at our help line, I used to feel uneasy for talking a bit longer than some of my colleagues. Finally after three years, I had this amazing clinical supervisor who had watched me, observed my style and told me it was just the way I was. That was how I was able to engage with youths before they felt comfortable to disclose. When youth asks me if they are taking up too much time and feel they should let go, I tell them, “This call ends when you are finished sharing what you need to get off your chest, and we can find some options to help you through this.”
Sometimes we may be short-staffed due to illness and colleagues may worry seeing there are other callers waiting in the queue. I don’t look at that…I refuse to for I cannot be present with a youth if I my mind is wandering about caller number 2 or 3. I can ONLY take one call at a time and be with that person in a meaningful way.
just ended a call,
sun sets below the skyline
dinnertime.
© Tournesol ‘14/08/03
willow tree
filters glaring star
birds serenade.
© Tournesol ‘14/08/02
Submitted for: Carpe Diem Haiku Kai #530 Mist
Photo credits: Clr ´14
sunflower sways
billowing clouds overhead
wind chimes.
scorching night
sleeping naked on the cot
cicadas sing
© Tournesol ‘14/08/02
Submitted for: Haiku with Ha – Summer Kigo
affligée par la vie
penchant sur la rive
larmes en cascades
&
tous les peines
déversent en abondances
chutes acceuillent
&
craintes, peines
répands en cascades
paisible
flexibility
rooftops, concrete buildings
city waterfalls
river flows
emotions over dams
waterfalls
waterfalls
imitate
tears
&
river holds
lamenting grief
waterfall
&
river listens
waterfalls
drown regrets
© Tournesol 2014/07/30
Photo credits: clr- Tournesol ‘2014
Submitted for: CarpeDiemHaikuFamily#1Waterfall
Under the cedars
gathering of the crows
before sun bows.
before the sun bows
birds’ jamboree
then take flight.
© Tournesol ‘ 14/07/27
Submitted for: Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, Buson, #525 Glimpse of Dawn
I rarely have the opportunity or privilege (I should really say) of dining with a colleague from work. Since we work on a 24 hour crisis line, our breaks are never together. Yesterday by chance, it was. I introduced my friend to my favourite vegan restaurant, The Green Panther. I have written about this place before and even taken photos with my notebook next to my plate of yummy falafel.
My friend was telling me about how she had gone out for a run the other day and came back with bites on her legs and it swelled tremendously within a short time. The next day when the swelling went down, she noticed 4 little stingers all in a row by a very hungry wasp.
After reading Chevrefeuille ‘s lovely introduction to Carpe Diem’s prompt today #523 Basho (5), ”How Rare!”, I thought of my friend’s running incident.
I also enjoyed the background of Kristjaan’s blog name. Honeysuckle was his seasonword chosen in his very first verse 25 years ago. Translated into French that would be Chevrefeuille and the rest is history.
That inspired me to choose a title for my Blogspot blog. I had originally chosen le jardin de Cher and then I thought about flowers that I love. Daisies are my favourite because they are also easy to purchase any time of year. But I have always loved sunflowers. I remember the giant sunflowers that grew next to our garden shed at our family home when my children were little. Golly!! They were ginormous! And so with jardin still as the theme of my “short form poetry” blog, I chose Tournesol dans un jardin…so Tournesol will be my nom de plume on that blog. Merci, Kristjaan, for the inspiration!
{Basho was host of a renga party at the home of Nagayama Shigeyuki, a military man of the Shonai Clan. This was the greeting verse and it was used as ‘hokku’ for the renga. He had visited Mount Hagura for seven days and was glad that he could finally eat fresh vegetables. It was published in his ‘Narrow Road to the Deep North’, his most well known haibun. © Chevrefeuille}mezurashi ya yama wo ide ha no natsu nasubi
how rare!
on leaving the mountain
the first eggplant
and Chevrefeuille’s offering:
the sweet perfume
of the Honeysuckle
makes me drowsy
Now for my humble haiku with the image of my friend in mind travelling running.
cool spray mist
dreamlike beachy feel
city park
~
smell of fresh-cut grass
running through parc la Fontaine
a wasp stings
© Chery-Lynn ’14/07/24 Submitted for: Carpe Diem Haiku Kai, # 523 Basho (5) “How Rare”
Tournesol dans un Jardin 
