Wabi Sabi #lonely #homeless #haiku

alone with my fears

oars barely strike the surface

boat is shoaled

*

can you spare a dime

my eyes hunger for the past

my cart empty

 

 

 

This week’s Carpe Diem Haiku Kai writing challenge is to try our hand at Wabi Sabi.

Kristjaan breaks down the two concepts:

“Sabi: As fascinated as Westerners have become with the word, the Japanese have maintained for centuries that no one can really, truly comprehend what sabi really is and thus, they change its definition according to their moods. Bill Higginson, in The Haiku Handbook, calls sabi – “(patina/loneliness) Beauty with a sense of loneliness in time, akin to, but deeper than, nostalgia.” Suzuki maintains that sabi is “loneliness” or“solitude” but that it can also be “miserable”, “insignificant”, and “pitiable”, “asymmetry” and “poverty”. Donald Keene sees sabi as “an understatement hinting at great depths”.

The Technique of Wabi:

The twin brother to sabi who has as many personas can be defined as “(WAH-BEE)-poverty- Beauty judged to be the result of living simply. Frayed and faded Levis have the wabi that bleached designer jeans can never achieve.”

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Shopping C’ Art #flashfiction #amwriting

“It’s fine art!”

She proudly waved her hand at her creation

This once little known artist had gotten a grant to turn a two-mile long canal into a gallery.

Where there had been reeds and lily pads there were one hundred shopping carts.

“It’s brilliant!”

He smiled to the tour group he was leading.

“This artist has portrayed what life  was like for the middle class in the 21st century. Four-person families lived out of one shopping cart. We kept the shopping cart belonging to my grandparents.”

“It’s sad!”

A young boy cried out. Who will feed the ducks???

This weeks watery prompt for Friday Fictioneers is inspired by Janet Webb. Our hostess Rochelle deserves the honor of a set of waders this week.

Here is the link to the more “political” post that this photograph inspired.

My First Ride #Flashfiction #gas #car

Seems like yesterday

March 1st 2025 when I bought

my first two-seater shopping cart vehicle for $5000

It sure beat traditional automobiles;

gas had gotten up to $1200 for a fill up. My parents parked our SUV and lived in it.

shucks a bag of groceries was $1000 for bread,, milk, cheese, and a pound of hamburger

you had to economize back then.

my best girl loved getting tangled in the wire baskets in the back seat.

oh the memories of being young and in love

now we have a family sedan with heated handlebars. Dog gone if they didn’t convert fuel from corn oil to turkey manure.

The prompt of the shopping cart vehicles comes from Friday Fictioneers