The Date #wordprompt #sixwords

One

drop

on

the

calendar date

The prompt at 6WSP is Date

Frost #winter #haiku

 

you leave before dawn

 a captive of wintry frost

kiss on the window

The prompt at Carpe Diem’s “Throw that pebble” is Frost.

Carry On #ancestors #haiku

tama-dana ni kanarazu kaze no fuku to iu

 

on the ancestors’ altar
without fail

a lucky wind blows 

© Issa

Light flickers

My father’s hands my son’s

memory’s smile

*

tears cover the trail

father steps into shadow

son clears the path

 

The Carpe Diem prompt is Ancestors. Without our ancestors who / what would we be but a jumble of DNA. Instead  we have the privilege we carry on where our ancestors left off.

 

 

Spring’s Thaw

willow’s tears frozen

memories freed in the thaw

another heart breaks

The last Carpe Diem haiku for March is Weeping Willow.

 

Memory #haiku #moon

yabu- iri ya  mamori- bukuro o  wasure kusa

Apprentice’s holiday:
a good-luck amulet
forgotten in the grass

© Buson

waiting all year

dance to the memory

full moon in her eyes

This Carpe Diem Haiku Kai prompt is in celebration of a holiday that the servants were given: “Yabu-iri” literally “thicket-entering,” is an obscure season marker in haiku for spring (or late New Year). On about the sixteenth of the first month, servants and apprentices were allowed to go home for a short visit. This would have meant that the holiday started  with the full moon.

 

Her Headstone #poetry #death #photography

The words in bold I pulled from a gravestone poem written by a grieving husband to his wife who had passed so young.

 

Charlotte

I spoke your name in harmony with the lark

now the marble holds memories cold

I caressed your hand through the bitterest of fights

now I seek your shadow as you slumber at night

*

silvery clouds trace your smile’s mark

I hear your sweet whispered tone

rustle through the breeze

as you say my name, I freeze

*

a shiver runneth over me

soft hands reach for embrace

we never ever do quite touch

I look  toward heaven far too much

*

longing to catch your loving trace

tears wet my brow, cheeks, face

that once held hot, warm kiss

can only mouth the things I miss

*

I struggle not to throw myself away

 I am yet buoyant on life’s ebbing waves

“May I be faithful to your name  my dear

                                                  nothing in life seems very clear

*

 

I’ll not forget kindness  from above

delivered treasure from the one I love

Next to you darling reserve for me a place

  eternal destiny full of grace”

 

 

I Remember… #poetry #haiku #ancestors

“Remembrance is a form of meeting”.

                                                                                                           ~Gibran

confident your steps

songs echoed in difficult shadows

laughter’s memory

 

My grandmother was a pioneer, a lover of life, a survivor. When she was told to put her daughter in a facility for retarded children, she refused. She spent her years loving, laughing and shedding an occasional tear. I always wanted to have her spirit – I hope I succeeded.

Who is the ancestor in your life that brings a vibrant memory?

Today’s prompt at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai is “Ancestor”

 

A Memory “M” #atozchallenge #poetry

 

Loose letters

compose a written memory…

“Look back

to a fragrant past 

but sadly one that didn’t last

not a promising future

there will never be

removing that circular band

you set me free.”

 tear streamed  I walk

facing heartache of the day

why so long did I stay?

circling about the regrets

I write on a page

ripping the fluttering story

 journal of myself now dead

handing it back to him

the answer circled in red

he had held on

hoping to gain

once again control

“Look back scoundrel

to a shattered past 

but sadly one that didn’t last

you broke it once

so hold it near

pieces of golden band

is all that’s dear”

***

 Metaphor: A comparison that is made directly or indirectly, but in any case without pointing out the similarity by using words such as: like, as, or than,

***

What do you think the metaphor in this poem is???

 

“One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.”

A.A. Milne

Wow we are half way through the A to Z challenge. How are you holding up???

 

Surviving Winter #poetry #photography

you lie so still

nature’s companion

returned to the dust

beneath loamy undergrowth

surrounds you

you disappear into the ground

you to spend this day alone

foraging

and soon very soon

memories of your childhood

evaporate into the day

and you are left

with no memory of why you do this

at all

Memories in a box #haiku #photography

All that remained

she lived in another time

memories in a box

*

memories in a box

one night set free

no holding back ghosts

reminders not needed

the world could see

The prompt at Verse First (hosted by Kim Nelson) is Ghosts, Spirits, Scares. I hope you feel the presence of a ghost  in my verse today.

We were instructed to write in 31 words or 31 lines in honor of October 31st. I chose using the haiku and tanka to write 31 lines.

Tanka:  is written by one poet and not by two (as is the echo form of the Tan Renga) the syllables count is: 5-7-5-7-7