Haibun: The Time of Hummingbirds

Today the haibun prompt is by Bjorn.  He asks us to describe one of our walks or walking.  This is posted at dVerse.

The Time of Hummingbirds
My daily walk covers the same territory but the view is never the same. Snow falls, sleet peppers me, sun bakes me, spring alternately chills me or makes me sweat. Birds fly singly or in droves, hawks circle overhead, snakes cross the path in front of me, the neighbor’s dog sometimes follows me. The grass is deep green or tender new yellow green or brown from winter’s cold. As I walk I talk to myself or I silently compose a poem inside my head. Yesterday I talked to my mother, dead since June. Mostly I am silent, listening to the sounds of the changing seasons. Many times I cut my walk short to climb my favorite tree and to sit – on top of the world! Yesterday I found a tiny rock shaped like an egg. I put it into my pocket pretending it was a hummingbird egg. Today when I came home from my walk, I discovered a tiny brown young brown hummingbird sitting in one of the azaleas. He flew off immediately but I knew the time of hummingbirds had come. I went inside and filled several feeders to hang.
hummingbirds have arrived –
it is still cold at night –
but still we survive

Autumn is Fall(ing) to Sleep

We have a guest pubtender, De Jackson, at d’Verse today who is prompting us to write with the enjambment poetic device. Please come visit and read all the varied submissions for this interesting device.  http://dversepoets.com/2015/11/05/lets-get-jambin/

Autumn is Fall(ing) to Sleep
Autumn is fall(ing) to sleep and
the creek at the foot of the hill is not
the gurgling child it was. Slower now
and grey around the edges. Stones left
behind from summer flooding dusty
and sad at being left behind. The frogs
have vanished and dragonflies
with-drawn to their secret blue cave in
the sky. Autumn is fall(ing) to sleep
withered sere leaves drift aimlessly
in the occasional breeze. (Hum)ming birds
have flown farther south to the land of eternal
jewels – treasures of another age –
placed carefully
in a museum of warmth and sun.
One night soon the stars will freeze in
the blackness of winter. Frosted morning grass
will crunch under my feet as I won(wan)der
shoulders hunched hands in my pockets
knowing going on without you is like
trying to thread a needle with one hand
with frozen fingers. Autumn is fall(ing) to sleep.

Mujō – Change: Tanka set

Tuesday, I am privileged to be the Pubtender and Prompter for the Tuesday Poetics at d’Verse Poetics Pub.  It is getting to be (in spite of the heat!) autumn.  Subtle signs but there if you take the time to notice.  My prompt for today for our community and those who want to join us, is to, in 24 lines or fewer, write about change.  The Japanese word Mujō 無常 means “impermanence”.  It is one of the major aesthetics of the Japanese culture that all things change, nothing is permanent, and to embrace that idea.

I think this quote from Alan Watts says it all – about the culture of change, embracing it, and joining in the dance of change in our world:  “The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”  Please come and visit us to read the discussion about changes, to join in, to enjoy the poems that will be linked with all the different takes on the prompt and to please, add your own if you feel inspired.  A video from my favorite group World Order is included on the post.  The slideshow illustrates changes in the lane and woods by my home – summer and autumn.  My poem is linked to d’Verse:  http://dversepoets.com/2015/09/15/poetics-ch-ch-changes

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Three Autumn Tanka
I.
autumn knocks softly –
a long absent friend unsure
of being welcomed –
gold leaf against green back drop
summer smiling beckons in.

II.
red carp scale clouds hang
in cool morning sky – heavy
dew pearls on thin web –
garden spider curled dead in
corner of its final web.

III.
chill of soundless night –
faint light of crescent moon – time
has no meaning as
one gold leaf drifts down to the
edge of sleeping country road