Poetry Friday--A Blossoming Spring!

Despite the fact that it is New England, and there's a chance we can get snow right up until May, I'm taking the blossoming of flowers as a reason to believe that winter is over.

Other parts of the country are in full bloom, and, the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, D.C. begins tomorrow. That is one festival I hope to attend before I die! In celebration of the cherry blossoms and upcoming National Poetry Month, I have created a haiga using another of the ukiyo-e images from the Library of Congress. This one is from the artist Toyonobu Ishikawa (1711-1785). The Library of Congress has it with a title of "Hanging poems on a cherry tree." A lovely idea--hanging poems on a flowering tree! I wrote a little haiku to go with the image:

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved

Do a simple online search and you'll find many poems about blossoms including this one about cherry blossoms by Robert Herrick (1591–1674):

TO CHERRY-BLOSSOMS

Ye may simper, blush and smile,
And perfume the air awhile;
But, sweet things, ye must be gone,
Fruit, ye know, is coming on;
Then, ah! then, where is your grace,
Whenas cherries come in place?

At the library I once made a large wooden column, which stands near our check-out desk, into a "Poet-tree." I put poems amongst cut-out paper leaves. I don't know if anyone even noticed it, but it was my way of sneaking a little poetry into my job.

Visit the Poetry Friday Round-Up being held this week at The Drift Record/Julie Larios.