Let the Lint Fall Where It May
Let the lint fall where it may,
In the dirt or in the hay.
The clock is stuck at half-past one,
Desolation has begun;
Now the table won’t be set
For the meal I’d hoped to get.
Things have turned out to be worse
Than this twisted, tortured verse.
All my feelings go awry
When a stick’s poked in my eye,
And the sound of heavy metal
Grinding every flower petal
Seems to last for forty years—
Who will wipe away my tears?
More The Whirligig #253
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Shadow Shot Sunday 2: Decorated Stones
Shadows accent some stones decorated for Valentine’s Day.
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Photo © by Magical Mystical Teacher
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Heart on Sleeve, er, Window: A Haibun of Imagination
An artist named Velma has hung her fanciful painting in an Airbnb in Yuma, Arizona.
You’ve heard of wearing your heart on your sleeve? Windows don’t have sleeves, so what’s a window to do? I remember a window hanging in a tree (don’t ask me why) that had it all figured out. It wore its heart like an ensign whipped by fearsome winds. Crows came from far and wide to admire the effect. Instead of jeering, as crows are wont to do, they cheered. Foxes hunting for a winter snack of mouse or vole looked up in admiration—probably because the heart was red as blood, and we all know how foxes love the taste of blood. Even the distant mountains seemed to approve—at least they didn’t shrug off their burden of snow and start an avalanche. The window frame seemed to take this approbation with equanimity. “See,” I could almost hear it say, “wearing your heart on your sleeve isn’t such a big deal after all. On Valentine’s Day it’s all about the love.”
Old men go to pray
at the place where dreams begin:
bend in the river.
More SkyWatch Friday
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
More Writers’ Weekly Scribblings #6 at Poets and Storytellers United: “Cliches”
Blue Monday & Ruby Tuesday Too: Lockdown!
Red on the hasp, blue on the lock. One photo, two memes.
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Photo © by Magical Mystical Teacher
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Onion Sandwich: A Haibun of Imagination
My mother used to say, “It’s hard to improve on an onion sandwich.” She’d peel three small beauties, slice them, and lay the slices between thick slabs of buttered brown bread, sprinkling them with salt and pepper. She chewed slowly and thoughtfully until she had eaten every pungent morsel. Then brushing the crumbs from her lips, she’d reach across the table for her garden catalog, delve into it and dream of planting peas—and more onions—in several parts of her garden.
Winter afternoon—
two jays at the bird feeder
fight over one seed.
More The Whirligig #252
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Shadow Shot Sunday 2: Castoff
Shadows can’t conceal this castoff cup lid in Yuma County, Arizona.
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Photo © by Magical Mystical Teacher
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Squabbling
Sunrise comes to a little southern Arizona town on a crisp winter’s day.
Ignoring sunrise,
birds at the backyard feeder
squabble over seeds.
Haiku and photo © by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
First Flowers of Spring: A Haibun
For weeks I stumble through dark clouds of grief, after losing my little point-and-shoot camera to an ignominious death. My constant companion on nature walks no longer functions—the lens will not retract—and I slog through my beloved wilderness with unseeing eyes.
Yet a new day dawns, with a new camera, and I am ready again to romance the little things that others spurn.
I slip through a fence with a sign that warns against trespassing, my heart beating wildly. Will this be the day that my transgressions are discovered?
But I have no time to worry, for at my feet I spy some tiny, reddish-purple flowers. Willing the wind to pause in its pummeling of the delicate blossoms, I fish my camera from my pocket, kneel, and focus the lens for the first photo of the day.
First flowers of spring
nourished by underground streams—
gratefully I drink.
Blue Monday & Ruby Tuesday Too: Flashy Mural
A mural with liberal splashes of red and blue liven up a storefront in Ajo, Arizona. One photo, two memes.
I’m overseas with limited Internet access until 25 February. Please visit other participants and leave a comment.
Photo © by Magical Mystical Teacher
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Evening
Shadows lengthen at day’s end, Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona.
Wilderness evening—
the breath of a dying dove
settles in the dust.
Haiku and photo © by Magical Mystical Teacher
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More Writers’ Pantry #5 at Poets and Storytellers United
