1 September 2020 (geese)

a new month

on my ukiyo-e calendar

flying geese

30 January 2019 (egrets)

NB: Haiku are not supposed to have titles; a title is seen as a “fourth line,” an over-explanatory crutch. My “titles” have usually been a word or two as a reference for me to find a particular haiku again when I scroll through a month’s worth of posts. Even including that much, though, has bothered me, because I didn’t want them to be thought of or read as titles. So for now, I’m only going to “title” my haiku with the date. I’ll probably keep it up until the day I spend an hour searching for a specific haiku...

Today’s haiku is a variation of a response I made to some woodblock print images that I posted today as a prompt for my Virtual Haiku Workshop group on Facebook (if you’re on FB and interested, please send a request to join us). 

Egrets in Snow (1927) by O’Hara Shoson (Koson) 

white magic

snow disappearing

on the heron's back

February 6: Life imitating art

One of my favorite art genres is the 19th century Japanese woodblock print (ukiyo-e). Shoveling out after this latest in a long series of generous snowstorms, I was surprised to find I still possess any capacity for finding beauty in this absurdly snowy landscape.

A Japanese print--
snow-laden willow arching
over my driveway.