Category Archives: haiku
Imprinted
Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
imprinted
on the desert sands
her night tracks
Text and photo © 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Carpe Diem: “Takahama Special”
More Sensational Haiku Wednesday: “Freestyle/Poet’s Choice”
Three Variations on ‘Old’
clever old woman
hoarding sugar grain by grain
for her final cup
~~ ~~ ~~
In the old photo
they never finish drinking
from their tilted flutes.
~~ ~~ ~~
her silky old hands
caressing the holy book
coaxing forth secrets
© 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Three Word Wednesday: “Clever, Finish, Silky”
Tower
Bell tower, Templo de Santo Domingo, Zacatecas, México
ancient bell tower
a piteousness of doves
cooing grace and peace
Text and photo © 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Ein Stück Himmel #73
More Carpe Diem: “The Tower”
More Sensational Haiku Wednesday: “Freestyle/Poet’s Choice”
Whirling with Robert Frost
The first line of each haiku or senryu is taken from “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost.
~~ 1 ~~
I could not travel
the bleak and nebulous roads—
blazing ways I sought.
~~ 2 ~~
Way leads on to way,
even when you’re short of breath
and the timing’s off.
~~ 3 ~~
Be one traveler,
not two or three, divided
in vision and touch.
~~ 4 ~~
in the undergrowth
a torch to cut through darkness
and welcome the light
~~ 5 ~~
in a yellow wood
a broken slab of tombstone
where three wraiths hover
~~ 6 ~~
I shall be telling
an opaque tale that will crush
the strongest of souls.
© 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More The Sunday Whirl, Wordle 109
Slow Death
Old mowing machine, Clifton, Arizona
slow death by rusting
neglected mowing machine
after the harvest
Text and photo © 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Carpe Diem: “Death”
More Shadow Shot Sunday 2
More Carpe Diem: “Death”
More Shadow Shot Sunday 2
Neglected
Clifton, Arizona
Neglected garden—
peering through the sagging gate
an old woman weeps.
Text and photo © 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Friday’s Fences
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
More Friday’s Fences
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Leaking
Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
spring morning
bullet-riddled tin
leaking sky
Text and photo © 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Himmelsk
More SkyWatch Friday
More Carpe Diem: “Takahama Special”
Whirling Here and There
~~ 1 ~~
Hawk with broken wing,
will you be circling the sun
only in your dreams?
~~ 2 ~~
from her mouth strong words—
a vow to love him always,
binding heart to heart
~~ 3 ~~
Still on moonless nights
she chants space between each star—
planets mouth her song.
~~ 4 ~~
the crook of her arm
protecting her nose and mouth
from his smashing fist
~~ 5 ~~
how the preacher’s drone
takes me to my childhood cave
where the dragons dance
© 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More The Sunday Whirl, Wordle 108
Standing Firm
Ironwood (Olneya tesota) in bloom, Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
standing firm
amid the shadows
frail blossoms
Text and photo © 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Shadow Shot Sunday 2
More Carpe Diem: “Special by Kyoshi Takahama: ‘Spring Breeze’”
More Shadow Shot Sunday 2
More Carpe Diem: “Special by Kyoshi Takahama: ‘Spring Breeze’”
Wilderness Now
“It is hard to say good-bye to beloved flesh,” Madeleine L’Engle writes in Two-Part-Invention. It is also hard to say good-bye to beloved places, but the Sonoran Desert and I will soon part company. The tiny public school, where I have taught since last August, is no longer able to retain all the teachers currently on staff. Because I was one of the last to be hired, I am among the first to be let go. There will be no last-minute reprieve. As I prepare to leave this seared and desolate land I have come to love, I find myself humming a plaintive tune, first sung many thousands of years ago by a disconsolate group of displaced persons: “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” (Psalm 137:4).
suddenly a stream
refreshing weary pilgrims
in the wilderness
The future is uncertain. The wilderness is now.
Text and photo © 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
More SkyWatch Friday
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
