Haiku Sticky #544

This will be the last sticky until May 5. Tomorrow Ekphrastic April begins and every day of the month will feature a work of art and a cherita. This is my small contribution to National Poetry Month.

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

a therapeutic walk

taken under shelter
of an umbrella

one comes to regret
the sunny days
we let pass by

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

indoor cat
squeezes out all she can
...early spring sun

Haiku Sticky #543

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

social distancing
one-way conversation
with a mockingbird

Happy Haiga Day!

I've been self-quarantining for a bit more than a week. The day before I began I went to CVS to get some acetaminophen (I don't generally use OTC pain medication, but I saw it recommended for bringing a fever down. I hope not to need it.) While there, I picked up a deck of cards. I had a library discard, that I thought I might get around to reading, and it required a deck or two of cards. The book was published in 1949, so it's as old as I am!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

self-quarantine
endless games of solitaire
no need to cheat

Haiku Sticky #542

The reason why I almost forget it's Haiku Sticky day.

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

self-quarantine
my days no longer
have names

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

returning birds sing
flowers unfurl their petals

we may miss this spring

not because we wish it
but because our guide dog
is nearsighted

Haiku Sticky #541

The news has been dominated by the coronavirus. Handwashing is the universal advice, but yesterday someone expanded that advice.

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

"hygiene and common sense"

easy enough to wash
hands for twenty seconds

sense is something else--
my dictionary has ten
definitions for "common"

Happy Haiga Day!

I participated in the latest Spark challenge as a writer. The poem below was my response to the work of a young artist. You can see the inspiration piece here.

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

COLLATERAL DAMAGE

Smoke obscures the reality.

The illustration
of human creativity
and factual narrative
is released from its
paper and board covers
only to disperse,
as ash-–the end
product of
incomplete combustion.

When the smoke clears…

someone will recollect
the novels,
the narratives,
the poetry,
the music,
and publish them anew
for untried sycophants
to claim as
collateral damage.

Smoke will obscure the reality.

Haiku Sticky #540

It's Super Tuesday here in Massachusetts and the past few days I've gone back and forth about whom I should vote for. In the end I'm going with my long-time first choice, Elizabeth Warren. The woman has plans and she knows how to make others understand them. Plus, she's a WOMAN and someone needs to break that glass ceiling once and for all. (Wouldn't it be sweet for Warren to be elected this 100th anniversary year of women winning the right to vote?)

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

Super Tuesday
casting off my fears
to vote my heart

Happy Haiga Day!

I followed the challenge posted at Donna Smith's blog, "Are You a Pluviphile?" I've turned my sijo poem, which used Longfellow's quote, into a haiga for today.

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


With Thanks to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.
Ignore the umbrella, your slicker, sou'wester, and your boots.
My mother used to say, "you're not sugar, ya ain't gonna melt."