Blog Archives
An Easter Story
This is an Easter story, a Passover story, an anytime-you-need-to-practice-gratitude story. Once upon a time there was a butterfly who had no wings. She could not fly from here to there, but had to wait for the wind to shake her loose from one flower and carry her to the next. One night she had a dream: She was transformed! She had wings! And the best part? She woke from her dream to find that it was true! She could fly on her own from blossom to blossom! She began to breathe a prayer: “Spirit of wonder! Spirit of love! Thank you for my new life. I will cherish every moment of it, even when my wings become faded and tattered.”
Why are you waiting?
The road your grandmothers walked
is calling your name.
More The Whirligig #261
More Writers’ Pantry #15 at Poets and Storytellers United
If You Dance
If you dance, you’ll need some salt.
Tumble down into the vault,
Where the salt is mixed with wind—
No, my dear, it’s not been tinned!
Best to take the salt at once,
Lest you turn into a dunce,
Crying with the living dead,
Who do not care what you’re fed.
Still, the best is yet to come:
See the dead man bind the drum
To his forehead with a string?
And you thought it was just bling!
Do not dread what is to come;
Though the dead man beats his drum
At least he’s not beating you!
All is well, and this is true.
Poem © 2019 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Sunday’s Whirligig #216
Guide
Mid-December rainbow, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Southern California
last autumn rainbow
guiding my stumbling steps home—
wind shifts to the east
Haiku and photo © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
More Haiku My Heart at Recuerda Mi Corazon
Music
Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
desert wind rattling
in a discarded paint can—
this too is music
Haiku and photo © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Macro Monday 2
More SkyWatch Friday
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Music”
Choosing
Footprint in a sandy wash, Apache County, Arizona
choosing a new path
before the wind can erase
yesterday’s footprints
Haiku © 2016 and photo © 2011 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Haiku Horizons: “Choose”
More Midweek Motif at Poets United: “Path”
Songs
A dry wash in Apache County, Arizona
“I hear America singing,” Walt Whitman wrote, “the varied carols I hear.”
I too hear singing, but instead of songs coming from throats of carpenters, masons or boatmen, I hear the songs of sky and star and stone. The songs of weeds and wind and wild things. The songs of crow and cricket and cottonwood. All these songs come from the high desert, and like the Siren songs that seduced Odysseus and his companions, I cannot ignore them.
I hear them as I help a student proofread her essay. I hear them while I confer with a parent about his son’s behavior. I hear them while I am grading papers.
At day’s end, I slip into comfortable clothing and walk into the nearby wilderness. The stones and weeds and dust greet me with rejoicing. They knew I would come.
three stones confer with the wind—
my house is too small
Revised haibun © 2016 and photo © 2012 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Poetry Pantry #323 at Poets United
Twilight
Organ pipe cactus (Stenocereus thurberi) blossom, Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
Not a breath of wind
ruffles the cactus blossom
at the twilight hour.
Haiku and photo © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Macro Monday 2
More Haiku Horizons: “Wind”
More Carpe Diem’s Summer Retreat 2016: “One with Nature”
Spent
Northern Arizona
Having spent itself,
the wind settles in the grass
for a lengthy nap.
Haiku © 2016 and photo © 2011 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More Haiku Horizons: “Wind”
More Carpe Diem’s Summer Retreat 2016: “One with Nature”
Storm
Apache County, Northern Arizona
summer storm brewing—
a tumbleweed skeleton
quivers in the wind
Haiku © 2016 and photo © 2011 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
Despair
Morning twilight, Sonoran Desert, Southern Arizona
not a breath of wind
to hasten the sun’s rising—
teacup leaks despair
Haiku and photo © 2016 by Magical Mystical Teacher
More SkyWatch Friday
Magical Mystical Teacher 