Poetry ~ Waka
They arrived at the cemetery, the fourth of July, for the burial of her mother’s ashes. Such a beautiful sunny day and the evergreens mixed with willows made for an appropriate setting. She brought the roses to represent her sister and her, her two children and her nephew and the three grandchildren…adding one red rose for her mother’s husband. A brief prayer was read and they each sprinkled ashes over the urn, “Love you Mom.”
willows weep
breeze kiss her tears
waving adieu
(c) Tournesol ’15
Written for Carpe Diem Haiku Kai Prompt: “tears falling”
Grief followed her like a doting puppy; days, weeks, months of moments tears just soaked her face; never a moment’s notice, tears of grief are spontaneous and sneaky. She knew this; expected this and accepted the sudden burst of tears.
Last week, marked a milestone in her career and colleagues and friends were most generous with comments and well wishes. At the end of her shift in the late evening, a colleague working the night shift rushed to her to deliver a beautiful bouquet of fresh cut flowers.
sudden burst
heart bathed in pure love
tears of joy
(c) Tournesol ’15
cascades d’eau
inondés de souvenirs
d’un temps lointain
même l’eau n’apaise plus
ces chutes moqueurs
***
waterfalls
flooded with memories
a time long ago
even water does not soothe
those mocking falls
(c) Tournesol ’15
Big city fountains offer solace to children and adults during summer heat waves. A homeless woman soaks her feet in tepid water chanting a bluesy song, swaying side to side.
summer spree
water fountain splash
uplifting spirits
(c) Tournesol ’15
Handcrafted by Alain Johnson, Clinical Director
It is difficult to put into words what my heart feels but perhaps with images and a few haiku I may manage to give a glimpse of le moi à l’interieur.
Changing careers in 2000 was not only a choice but a dream for me. Accepting this position was a privilege not a duty. Helping those who find the courage to reach out is a joy. Hearing disclosures of suffering is an honour which I embrace each day with overwhelming love and humility.
I’ve been privileged growing up swaddled in love and compassion which gave me the resilience in times of adversity. Too many have never had this advantage in life.
On Thursday, I was showered with well wishes and compliments…festive balloons and hand crafted candles announcing my 15 years working at a national youth line. And yet, I am the one to be thankful for doing what I love best.
My colleagues warmed my heart with such sweetness and one special person wanted to show her sentiments by giving me a beautiful bouquet of fresh cut flowers that touched me more than she knows.
Bouquet from Stephanie Julien-Gaudry
I never felt so close to my colleagues as this day and grateful to be part of such a great team of loving and caring counsellors. I know how I have always felt but have never realized how I may be perceived by others and truly this is humbling.
red roses
spilling fragrance
bleeding hearts
exuding sweetness
hope restored
blonde petals
swell of golden glow
souls inspire
unsullied
yet, made of substance
with purest intent
(c) Tournesol’15
warm rain
the spring moon returns
to the rusty can
©Yu Chang
warm rain
the spring moon returns
to the rusty can
rhythm of raindrops
a lovers’ cadence
(c) Tournesol’15
The morning after la fête de la St-Jean, waves roll debris on wet sand; seagulls screech for revellers’ leftoversr. Walking on wet sand, she limps to a bench and watches the sun break through the clouds, remembering dancing around le feu de la St-Jean with him.
straw hat shields
greeting new dawn
weathered skin
(c) Tournesol’15
sudden cloudburst
innocence surrenders
wind’s casualty
When she was little, she would climb up into the tree with her sister and her cousin. They would imagine the branches had mini bananas.
such wonder
visions of faraway lands
child’s play
giraffes and elephants
and banana trees
morning sun
beams on nature’s gifts
fragrance grins
(c) Tournesol ’15
Written for: http://chevrefeuillescarpediem.blogspot.ca/2015/07/carpe-diem-special-155-adjeis-second.html
I know I am too late for this prompt as I have been off the blogosphere lately, yet, I enjoyed a post written by Georgia at Bastet who completed this prompt. Now this blog at Bastetandsekhmet is a great blog to visit. This is one blog I never tire reading the depth of many of her poems, the humour in her choka and the authenticity in her friendship.
Our host, Chèvrefeuille, and mentor here posted a narrative along with a breathtaking series of haiku on honeysuckles (which is chèvrefeuille in French, by the way) entitled “How it all started” In response to this post, Georgia wrote about her love of haiku and tanka, which inspired me to write this.
I was first drawn to haiku to post with a photo I had taken of nature and sunsets. I found the image spoke one language and the haiku whispered in the language of the unconscious. Looking back to my very first haiku or haiga (haiku written within an image) I was surprised to see my first was in October 2013; Tanka was a form I noticed several poets used to make a statement…brief, to the point and usually quite poignant…I am trying to master this better but am still devoted to improving my haiku.
shortcut which is through a thicket of odd trees, bushes and wild flowers. This moment truly blessed me minutes before I started my shift.
chasing butterflies
daisies and buttercups trip
searching for nectar
I am blessed with a family or classroom with dedicated, talented and so diverse in writing this form. I think I started a good time in my personal life as well as I process day to day life, I grow in the essence of their creative genius.
I love sunrise and sunsets but usually I get to bed so late it is just pre-dawn, so I hear the first chirping of birds. I have chased sunsets moreso in the past twenty years.
There is not one season that we cannot find moments to capture a moment, hold it long enough to write three lines. Yet, I have to say that I am not only inspired but excited during springtime
The river breeze
skims through Ovid’s poem
scent of lilacs
I don’t know if it is because I am a water sigh or that I was raised by a river but I do love writing about water…it is my place of solace as much as sunsets soothe me, water replenishes the soul.
This was written by the river where I grew up:
By the river
painful secrets trickle
water filled with tears
This was an excellent exercise in reviewing old haiku…I had not realized how many I had accumulated in the past year. I will end with one of many I have written on sunsets. This photo was taken on the rooftop at work in Montreal.
Final brush strokes
transforms hues on canvas
last slow breath
last slow breath
at one with the heavens
life cycles
Haibun seems to be my favoured style without realizing it was haibun…I saw it as a brief journal entry completed with a poignant thought in the form of haiku to end my narrative.
Now all of these were before I discovered Bastet who told such lovely stories through her wide range of forms of poetry…but I was intrigued with her prompts at Carpe Diem. Since then I learned there was more to the forms than counting syllables…oh my, so much more!
What I love about haiku is how we give life, purpose and meaning to nature, birds, insects (little critters)…respecting each and every living thing.
This past year I have been grieving and find solace in writing haiku for it is part of the life cycle…death is part of our lives always. I find haiku is a nice form to include very subtle underlying emotions which for the reader my not be too heavy but for the writer is such a release.
(haiga)
embracing cascades
spilling into dark waters,
release her despair
seeking refuge
leans over the footbridge,
faith holds her back
And what better way than to use metaphors and with nature they are in abundance…
sur sa pierre tombale
verse des larmes pour son père
le corbeau muet
vent doux souffle
écoute ces paroles d’un être cher
le silence cri
Working fulltime and commuting by public transit, I used moments each day to write what I see and feel. One day I had to stop to remove a stone in my shoe and this is what I saw
(tanka)
Pebble in my show
Queen bee hunts sweet nectar
whilted petals weep
whipped by wind and rain
casualties of nature
When I get off the Métro, I have to walk a short distance and a
(c) Tournesol ’15
Written in response to http://chevrefeuillescarpediem.blogspot.it/2015/06/carpe-diem-utabukuro-3-how-it-all.html
Tournesol dans un Jardin 
