Haiku Sticky #483

A flock of birds landed in the backyard causing the cat to hyperventilate. I barely had time to focus on an individual bird, no less look it up to see what it was, before the whole group up and left.

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

migrating flock...
not grounded long enough
to look up its name

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

Christmas rush
...on a field near the mall
geese glean

Haiku Sticky #482

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

lukewarm tea...
the heat of her words
in this cold room

Happy Haiga Day!

© Diane Msyr, all rights reserved.

Text:

snack time over...
sweeping up random
body parts

Poetry Friday--Spark 39

The latest Spark challenge ended last Friday. Up until recently, I've participated as an "artist," but this time round, of the people signing up for the challenge, more were artists than writers, so, I agreed to partner as a writer.

My partner is artist, Mary Hill, and the piece she sent to me is mixed media. I received permission from Mary to post her pieces. Thank you, Mary!

Here is the inspiration piece, "Purple and Gold Landscape 2":

© Mary Hill, all rights reserved.

When I received the file by email, the fires in California were still blazing and in the news, so my mind went immediately to that. The National Climate Assessment was issued a day or two after I received my inspiration piece, and that, too, factored into my response:

Paradise, 2018: a pair of cherita

"It will take a while. But it will get better. It always does." Eyewitness to the Camp Fire, California, November 2018

if we squint we see

the flames of a wild
fire as an aura--

a god's adoring smile
a land and people blessed
a tempering of our souls

optical delusions

radiance mistaken for
divinity still blinds

with eyes nearly closed we
can only blame ourselves
for descending into darkness

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

I sent Mary a cherita from my files as an inspiration piece:

packing to go

no room in
the cardboard boxes

what remains to pack
needs only the space
between her ears

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Here's Mary's delightful response, "Done with moving: Relaxing":

© Mary Hill, all rights reserved.

Consider taking part in the next quarterly Spark round--I know many Poetry Friday peeps are writers or illustrators.

Elizabeth Steinglass is hosting today's Poetry Friday Round-Up. Be sure to stop by!

Haiku Sticky #481

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

lunch with co-workers
...round table discussion
of crab Rangoon

Not-So-Happy Haiga Day

I was never a fan of the Bush presidencies, but I did appreciate that George H. W. Bush was a caring man. The tributes that have come out since his death Friday night, have only served to reinforce that. Surprisingly, news about our current leader took a back seat for a time. (A blessed respite, but too short.)

The following cherita is, unfortunately, more of an rant against he-whose-name-shall-not-be-spoken, than a tribute to a late president. It stands as an example of how my poetry has been tainted. I am sick of the bitterness--make that hatred--that he-whose-name-blah-blah-blah has brought into my life.

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

Text:

"...what the hell was that by the way?"

the contrast so clearly
drawn by a death

it's the soulless that fail
to understand the meaning of
a thousand points of light


The first line is from a July 2018 political rally (only a few months after Barbara Bush's death, I might add). Here's the full quote:

The thousand points of light, what the hell was that by the way? Thousand points of light, what did that mean, does anyone know? I know one thing, Make America Great Again we understand. Putting America first, we understand. Thousand points of light, I never quite got that one. What the hell is that? Has anyone ever figured that one out? And it was put out by a Republican, wasn’t it?