Happy Haiga Day!

 

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

a colorful thought:

blue is a devoted
handmaiden to sadness

give her a summer sky
a blooming hydrangea and
she may look for a new job

Happy Haiga Day!

 

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. 

Text:

vacation at the bungalow

we played card games
with stale chips as chips

most days, though,
were spent with noses
pressed against cold glass

Happy Haiga Day!

A few weeks ago, in a post Covid gathering, there was a discussion of the proposed Juneteenth federal holiday.  At least one person spoke up to say she had never heard of Juneteenth.  If you, too, were unfamiliar with the holiday and want to learn more than has been presented in media snippets over the past week, start with this post from the Library of Congress.

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. 

Text:

Juneteenth

"how come I never
learned that in school?"

American minds may
yet be emancipated by
a proclamation of truth

Haiku Sticky #597

 © Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

temperature in the 90s

spider runs up and down
the kitchen wall

where it finds the energy
I don't know, but I can't
stop watching it in awe
 

Happy Haiga Day!

 © Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.  "Three Pears" by Paul Cézanne.

Text:

early June

the pear tree interlaced
with walnut-sized fruit

come September after
birds and squirrels feast
we'll be lucky to find three

Ekphrastic April, Day 26: "Les Tricoteuses"

 

"Les Tricoteuses" 1915 by Jacqueline Marval [1866-1932] 

I am a cat

and cannot control
my innate impulses

humans knit in front
of me as if they expect
I won't go for the kill

 

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Ekphrastic April, Day 24: "Flora"

 

"Flora" (1913) by Louise Abbéma [1853-1927].

 

I am housemaid to an artist

portrait sitters are prim--
no clean up required

those who partake in a
tableau vivant vex me with
drama (and flower petals)

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Ekphrastic April, Day 21: "Self-portrait with Green Background and Blue Irises"

 

"Self-portrait with Green Background and Blue Irises" (circa 1905) by Paula Modersohn-Becker [1876-1907].

 

portrait with green background

in 1905 she thought she'd
have many more irises to paint

but death hid grinning in
the foliage--he knew she
had only two springs more

 

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Ekphrastic April, Day 19: "Chez Moi"

 

"Chez Moi" (1887) by Harriet Backer [1845-1932].

 

my room full of sunlight

when I, too, am sunny
I close the door to play

and sing a dance hall ditty
before settling down to
more interminable practice

 

 © Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Ekphrastic April, Day 15: "Blooming Apple-trees. The Trees are in Blossom"

 

"Blooming apple-trees. The trees are in blossom" (1899) by Maria Yakunchikova [1870-1902].

apple trees in bloom

spring, albeit briefly,
perfumes the air

in a few months the scent
of over-ripe apples will
languish through autumn

 

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Ekphrastic April, Day 11: "Skaters"

 

"Skaters" by Marianne von Werefkin [1860-1938].

 

ice skating

at night I think of myself
as a dark presence flying

over the ice snatching
bits of private conversations
like a bat catches mosquitoes

 

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

 

 

Ekphrastic April, Day 7: "Self-Portrait in Purple Velvet"

 

 "Self-Portrait in Purple Velvet" by Mary Bradish Titcomb [1858-1927].

 

 
self portrait

you think you know me
--an old maid in purple

I may dress the part, but
under no man's thumb I can
wander, paint, and BE me

 

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.  

Ekphrastic April, Day 5: "Les volets clos"

 

 "Les volets clos" (c. 1900) by Elizabeth Nourse [1859-1938].  The title translates into English as "The Closed Shutters."

 

shutters closed

decorum is simply
a part of growing old

that's what I tell myself
as I look for new ways
to conceal age's effects

 

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Ekphrastic April, Day 4: "The Boston Sunday Herald: Easter"

 "The Boston Sunday Herald: Easter" (1895) by Ethel Reed [1874-1912] 

 

a happy Easter!

 

just 21 years of age
and making a living

my bills are being
posted around Boston
--the world is next

 

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

 

Ethel Reed quickly became an illustrator of note in the mid-1890s.  She created posters (then known as handbills or bills), book covers, and illustrations.  She had turned 21 on March 13, 1895 and Easter was on April 14 that year.  Sadly, she passed away in 1912.

Happy Haiga Day!

 

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

pandemic year two

the old signposts have
been worn away

now's not the time to
realize that moss can grow
on all sides of a tree

Happy Haiga Day!

In years past I've forced many a hyacinth bulb.  The flowers were always full and fragrant and an inspiration for many of the poems found under the label, "hyacinths and other flowers."  The photo below is the best of the four bulbs I attempted to force this year.  The rest barely poked up their heads before shriveling.

 

 

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

 
forcing hyacinths

during this pandemic
the wait unbearable

and in the end
delight for neither
eyes nor nose

Happy Haiga Day!

 

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text: 

second storm in a week

shoulders still aching
she looks beyond the trees

to piles of snow that
will only grow higher
and last until spring

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. 

Text:

waiting for fall to end

raking and bagging
raking and bagging

with patience new 

cooler winds will arrive
to blow the rest away

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved. 

Text:

fall 2020

stepping on the cracks
to break the back

of he who is working
to make the fissures
too wide to cross

Happy Haiga Day!

 

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

tomato bumper crop

mid-October and
the pandemic continues

despite all else
we can depend on
a salad