Blog Archives
Haibun: Pandemic
Last year was hard—it was brutal!—as the world endured the Covid-19 pandemic. Here a mother died, there a father, and somewhere else a whole family. Some of us lost our homes, because we couldn’t work. Some of us ended up sleeping under bridges, or in fields, or in other out-of-the-way places. We were desolate. We couldn’t reach out to each other for a hug or handshake because we were in lockdown, afraid for our lives. Nothing seemed to help. And then came harbingers of hope, bearing strange names: Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca—vaccines to vanquish the virus! We offered our arms for a jab, and started to look beyond our nightmare, daring to hope that our world might someday be normal again.
Hidden mountain stream—
see, a doe and her fawn come
for the day’s first drink!
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
More Writers’ Pantry #6 at Poets and Storytellers United
Shrine
La Virgen de Guadalupe on a shadowy wall, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, México
At a wayside shrine
a weary mother pauses,
hoping to find strength.
Haiku and photo © 2017 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Shadow Shot Sunday 2
More Twelve Days of Mary at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Where
Wixáritari woman on Cerro de la Bufa, Zacatecas, México
Where, O where, has my little boy gone?
Where, O where, can he be?
I’ve looked for him high, I’ve looked for him low,
I’ve looked for him up in a tree!
The moment I find him, what should I do?
(I fear the search will be long.)
The thing every other mother would do:
Love him and sing him a song.
Poem © 2016 and photo © 2011 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Blue Monday
More Twelve Days of Mary at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Weeping
Virgin of Guadalupe on the headstone of a woman who died at age 29, Wellton Memorial Cemetery, Wellton, Arizona
last days of autumn—
somewhere a mother’s weeping
for a daughter lost
Haiku and photo © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Ruby Tuesday Too
More Twelve Days of Mary at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Consolations
Detail from a tiny triptych at Fábrica La Aurora, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, México
The painting itself is about the size of a U.S. quarter-dollar coin.
on the pilgrim way
a mother’s consolations
and the piercing thorns
Haiku © 2016 and photo © 2014 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Haiku My Heart and Twelve Days of Mary at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Single
Mother and child, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, México
A single mother,
feeling hard stares from the crowd,
hurries far away.
Haiku © 2016 and photo © 2015 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Social Stigma”
Refugee
Fishing boat, Puerto Nuevo, Baja California Norte, Mexico
refugee mother
huddling beneath the blue boat
nurses her baby
Haiku © 2015 and photo © 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
Scarf
Mother and child out for an early morning stroll, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, México
a thin scarf of light
wrapping mother and daughter
threads of morning grace
Text and photo © 2015 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Our World Tuesday
More Carpe Diem: “Modern Times Haiku #1”
Mysteries
Fábrica La Aurora, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, México
how a wise mother
weaves her children’s tomorrows
using threads of chance—
quotidian mysteries
falling from sensual hands
Tanka © 2015 and photo © 2013 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Carpe Diem Tanka
More Our World Tuesday
