For this weeks #tankatuesday challenge, I use this Monet painting representing the transition from Winter to Spring.
Snow and grass contrast
Like sun and moon in the sky
Sharing a season
Winter to Spring haiku
Articles
Great Pond State Forest
The cover of my poetry book Self of Steam is a picture I took at Great Pond State Forest. The pond was iced over, and the reflection of the forest was ghostly. I thought the picture evoked the title of the book, and the spirit of the poem that it is named after.
Click the cover to purchase my book from Amazon.
I call the tall tree in the upper center of the picture “Great Tree”. I came up with this name to reflect its location by Great Pond, but also because I believe it is the tallest tree in the forest. I like to stand underneath it, appreciating its thick bole and impressive height.
Anna and I went to see our friends today. The above video gives a sense of how towering Great Tree is.
This is Brain Rock. Another of my friends in the woods. I like to stop and visit with both of them. They remind me to slow down, clear my thoughts, and appreciate what is around me.
Big Challenge from #tankatuesday
This week’s challenge asked us to write three tanka and use these “kigo phrases” at the beginning or middle-hinge line:
#1: “the first month with sleet”
#2: “late winter garden”
#3: “blanket by the fire”
Here is mine!
The first month with sleet Hike leaning into the wind Beard reducing sting A mask from the intense cold My head bows to Nature's strength The seeds we have not planted No growth drinks the waning sun Late winter garden A product of fantasy No farms no food then no feast Wind opens the door Icicle beard melts in warmth A blanket by the fire Wine glasses reflecting flames My warmth is doubled by her
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First Frost
I’m back on #TankaTuesday. This week’s challenge is to write about the First Frost.
Frist frost glistening In my headlights as I turn Diamonds perch on grass
This actually happened this morning, so the timing is perfect. Although a sign of cold and winter, the beauty of crystals lit up in the dark warms the season.
Of Streaks, and their ending
For a while there, I was all about streaks. I had a Step Streak on my Fitbit, Snap Streaks on my Snapchat, and a WordPress Streak on my Jetpack App because I posted on this site every day for a while. Yep, I was a streaker.
The first to go was my WordPress streak. I have to say I was always split about daily posting. I felt like I was finding content that was good, but it was tough to keep up the pace.
At one point I was talking to some friends, but when I mentioned posting every day, my boy Bobby was like “Whoa, that’s too much.” He followed up saying that it might be too much for the audience, but it was definitely too much for me to sustain. Bobby reminded me that even though writing is my passion, it isn’t my job.
Last summer swallowed my Snapchat streak. It was over three years old, so this is a sad story. In early August I got to a spot where I was focusing on a landscaping project, and everything else was ancillary. The streak got lost in these weeks, but I felt bad about spacing it. The end of it got me thinking that streaks are important, but that maybe it’s fine to let them go because they aren’t always sustainable.
I learned the most from the Fitbit streak. Over 500 straight days I did at least 13,000 steps. Often it was a lot more.
Continue readingBravery
I held my mother’s hand tightly, and she grasped mine with all the strength of her 88-year-old muscles. We stood on the sidewalk right outside the hairdressing studio. We had been standing there for a while.
Her grip conveyed her fear: it was the step she needed to make from the sidewalk, over the curb down to the parking lot. My car was parked two feet away, running, the passenger door open for her.
I told my partially deaf, partially blind old mother that she’d “Done this a million times before.”
“I know. But I’m scared this time.”
Continue readingEditing as Microcosm
I am hopefully getting near the end of the editing my first book of poetry titled Self of Steam. I am seeing this process as a microcosm of who I am creatively, and even in other parts of my life.
Each step mirrors how I work. Let’s go to a bulleted list to illustrate my point:
- Hit with the enthusiasm for a project, I begin with full engagement, passion and energy. I will get a great deal done in a short amount of time.
- Even when the fire cools a little, I am still caught by the glimmering possibility that is calling me from the still distant end. I work with determination, and look forward to building more.
- The enthusiasm wears off, but my work ethic and ability to focus takes over.
- I hit a major roadblock. Though I wrestle with it, it saps my energy and determination.
- I begin to avoid the work.
- I feel guilt for avoiding the work.
- I return to the work, but the frustration is still there.
- I finally get past the avoidance and frustration, and I get past the regret.
- Project gets finished.
- I wonder why I had to fight it so long, which somewhat mars the satisfaction of completing it.
This is the stage I am at with this website. I feel guilty about not posting, but I am a little overwhelmed by the prospect of keeping it going for a long time. Indeed, I am writing this more out internal pressure than any creative spark.
But this last part isn’t really so bad. I have learned about my capacity to create even if I don’t feel creative. This lesson may just take the place of some of the frustrations of my process.
Someday.
My first Haibun Monday – Equinox edition
I’m learning the Haibun form, which combines prose and poetry. I like this very much, since prose is my first love.
The challenge is to write a post about the equinox. Here’s mine:
Fall fell on its birthday this year in Connecticut. A twenty-degree dip in temperature in one day, cool replacing the wisps of warmth of a day ago. As if it knew its time had come and did not wish to tarry.
The sun is blocked out by clouds, so it is a grey day that we get half of. It’s been too nice for a lot of leaves to fall in the heavy rain: the trees’ green belies this sudden steely Autumn.
Darkness will do for the other half of the equinox. It is flexing now, beginning to feel its length stretch out before it, a host of days to darken.
Still I will balance Rotating, tilting, spinning Cycling through it all
Join the fun here.
Letting Go
One of my favorite quotes from Tao te Ching is “Do your work and then let go, the only path to serenity.” I believe in this idea from my practical experience, and I’m definitely happier when I apply it to my job.
This school year, I have a particularly challenging class, mostly due to discipline problems. I found myself perseverating about this group. I realized I was stressing, and it wasn’t helping the situation at all. Losing sleep is not the path to serenity.
I had to change my mindset. What is “doing my work” in this case? It is of course attempting to get the class on track. Some time outside of the class is necessary to think and strategize what to do. That is all part of the job, so it is my work.
I had to let go of the stress and the stop the sleeplessness. I did this by determining my plan to adjust their behavior, and being intentional and clear about what I needed from them. Once I began doing this, I was able to let go of grinding the thoughts about this class, and just focus on my job when I am doing it.
Not surprisingly, not only have I started letting go, but the class has started getting better. Bottom line, listen to the Tao!
Continue readingHaiku for #tankatuesday
The challenge this week was to write a syllabic poem about this picture:
Here is my haiku:
Water embraces Boats, earth, us, waves lap and splash. Embrace connection. You should give it a try here.
Mark Bozeman 