Tag: poetry

privilege to help (haibun)

Ste Catherine Montreal
rue Ste Catherine, Montréal May 1st until September (Labour Day) the part of this street is closed to vehicles…streets lined with pedestrians  and terraces.

In the past two days she had attended a clinical training in downtown Montréal,  to improve in her counselling techniques and brief solution focus approach. It was nice to be with colleagues that she rarely saw all at once due to varied shifts scattered over a 24 hour period. The fun part was eating out together and interesting conversation.  Their hunger to learn is apparent as they want to be the best they can to help youths in need.

embrace their role
puddles of misery
youths reach out

 ~

open to change
new options replace stale ways
privilege to witness

© Tournesol ’15

Three Word Wednesday The word in this prompt are: Misery – Privilege – Stale

left with dreams (haiku)

The Poet Reclining by Marc Chagall

I find this interesting to have this prompt this week, seeing as Marc Chagall was born in 1887 in Russia. He moved to Paris in 1910. However,  I just finished reading Please Say Kaddish For Me by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields, the author also of Friday Fictionneers. This novel takes place in Russia from 1899. I can only imagine how Chagall may have struggled with all the mayhem going on in his Mother Russia during that period.  To read more on Chagall’s cubism art read here.

grief-stricken
 dreams of what was once home
haven no more

haven no more
 still,  trees shudder such malice
wars destroy

© Tournesol ’15

MindLoveMiserysMenagerie – Heeding Haiku with HA

under the trees (haiga)

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It was a hot muggy day and she dreaded going to work. She shuffled across the street with her sunglasses protecting her sensitive blue eyes from the hot sun at high noon. Suddenly she got a whiff of those amazing lilacs on the side of the road. She had to pause briefly to take in that moment. Such a mundane experience lifted her spirits and added a bit of a lilt in her step on her way to the Métro.

Under the trees
 pink posers
 fragrant

© Tournesol ’15

Carpe Diem “Under the trees”

beholden (haibun)

She stayed all  night and day, as her daughter cried from the pain she too felt striking at her heart at each contraction. If only she could have bargained with the devil to lesson her agony.    Twenty-four hours of labour and finally, her grandson was born.  The doctor offered her the honour to cut the umbilical cord. She gasped, overjoyed with her new role. She looked up at her precious gem through teary eyes and humbly bowed in her mind’s eye at her offspring’s gift.

beholden, she beams
pearl at the centre
 reaping blossom

© Tournesol ’15

Carpe Diem “Clam”

intimacy’s perch (haiku)

intimate yet free
sucking on sweet nectar
hums the bird

unquenched thirst
wings a blur with such flurry
another blossom

time to rest
jagged edge of fragile twig
hummingbird’s perch

© Tournesol ’15

3 WW – intimate – thirst – jagged

Carpe Diem “fragile twig”

budding promise (troiku)

Weathered
fleeting blossoms flit
barely a trace

weathered
budding promises
hope or despair

fleeting blossoms flit
a kiss dismissed
innocence lost

barely a trace
every sense evokes
my muse delights

© Tournesol ’15

Carpe Diem

healing hugs (haibun)

She is a hugger, born and raised… a touchy feely “minouching” person. Her mother could never get enough holding her, kissing her, hugging her.  Her grandmaman rocked her and embraced her when she was sick. She always thought it was an innate asset for most mothers who had birthed children to have this gift of soothing their children regardless of their age. She never did outgrow that need to be hugged.  One day she met Amma.

mother breeds love
devotees are her children
hugs with compassion

(c) Tournesol ’15

Written for Carpe Diem Special The Childless Woman

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/the-power-of-love-in-the-arms-of-a-stranger/story-e6freuzi-1225852939366
DailyTelegraph – Power of love in the arms of a stranger

Photo Credits: Daily Telegraph

angel of mercy (haiku)

http://www.fashionlady.in/mother-teresa-a-little-pencil-in-the-hand-of-god/12428
A little pencil in the name of G-d

feeding their hearts
the hungry are her children
labour of love.

© Tournesol’15

Carpe Diem Special Childless Mother

bossy pants (haibun)

Such a beautiful family, she noticed in the tree by the river.  The male and female along with the younger chick…beautiful red cardinals.  They stayed throughout the year because of the birdfeeder.  She loved sitting outside in the summer and hear them sing to her.  Of course this was a multicultural tree and others birds claimed a section including woodpeckers who had their own temperament.

 Darn woodpecker
drive those cardinals away
bossy pants!

© Tournesol ’15

Paying respect (haibun)

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The family gathered in her home, feeling her presence everywhere. One daughter, sat rocking in her mother’s chair by the window, reminiscing


all took turns
even the woodpecker,
paid their respects

© Tournesol ’15