Yuki no Hana: Snow Flowers

Monday, January 11, I will be privileged to host the first Haibun Monday of 2016 at dVerse Poets Pub.  I am using a photo I took a couple of years ago as the prompt for the haibun.  I hope you all will come visit and read some of the documents that will be posted.  The prompt is open for a week so if you are inspired, you will have plenty of time to submit your haibun.  Haibun is an ancient Japanese poetic form attributed to Matsuo Basho, when he kept a travelogue of his observations interspersed with haiku among the prose.  A unique and interesting poetic form to be sure.  There are many “how to’s” on the internet.  Some find it a very relatable form of poetry because of the prose that accompanies the haiku.  It is often a personal and intimate form.  I hope you will come and visit.  I will be updating this post with the link when it posts on the dVerse site Monday.  Yuki no hana is Japanese for snow flowers – a quality of snowflake or flowers that bloom out of season in the snow.  The photo is of my generations old flowering quince – blooming early in winter instead of spring.

copyright kanzensakura

The day was ice. Bare tree branches against the iron sky were a frieze of unreadable runes. Only the distant sweet call of a cardinal broke the almost silent hissing sound of the falling snow. I stood and watched the snow fall, listening – like a single stone in an ancient Zen garden. Snow – white. Tree trunks, branches – dead black. All around – black against white – a sharply contrasted photograph of a deep winter landscape – except for a small bit of rosy pink. A single explanation point in the ancient tangled branches of the flowering quince. I could not resist.  The stone moved to gently touch the blossoms, to press loving lips against brave petals in the storm.

snow flowers blossom
out of season – unmindful
of pitiless storm.