For Shay’s photo prompt on Sunday Muse BlogSpot. The haibun ends with a senryu and not the typical seasonal haiku.
Kitten Photos
“Taking pictures is like tiptoeing into the kitchen late at night and stealing Oreo cookies.” – Diane Arbus
Decades ago, I was a photographer. Not a taker of pretty of pictures but a paid-for-photographs-by-a-Philadelphia-newspaper. I also took autopsy photos for extra money. The photos I took were a queasy combination of the dead and food styling. Sometimes the paper would use me as a stringer and I would travel to a small town to take pics of mourners at a funeral, an exceptionally bad car wreck, or the local gardening club. Most of the time I hated my job but it paid the rent. Like most young underpaid photographers, I ate a lot of hotdogs at the Pen and Pencil – the local press club. The hotdogs swam in hot water in a slow cooker and were free. The scotch you had to pay for. I used to drink a week’s salary in scotch during this time. This temporary career choice of three years built up in me a hatred of having my picture taken and taking snapshots. People ask, why don’t you take pics of your garden or your food? Well, read what I did to pay the rent. On our 20th anniversary, my husband and I glared at the waitress who was taking our picture as we sat and waited for our dinner.
Like being a chef, being a photographer involves smoke and mirrors. Careful and precise knife work and the right ingredients. My favorite photographers were Henri Bresson and Alfred Stieglitz. They would have made great chefs I think. But I was young, a mere kitten. I learned to combine smoke and mirrors and precise knife work when I cooked. I never really caught on when I did photography. You can only put so much finesse into an autopsy photo after all. I regret the photography phase of my life – especially the phase of intruding in people’s lives. Hold still. Let me take your picture while you sit on the commode or weep for your dead mother (who was vaguely famous) or lie naked on a table waiting for the knife.
photographs
in black and white –
life doesn’t hold still
Another submission for Grace’s Quadrille Prompt – green. Come visit us! 44 word poems – won’t take you long to read and in this case, it is easy being green.
copyright kanzensakura
Pleasures of green
emerald, peridot, jade –
jewels of summer –
largesse of fields freed for us
to scoop up and enjoy –
a green lover that touches and teases
all our senses –
taste, smell, sight, touch.
smooth skins, hard lengths,
pleasures of green.
Warm, inviting – waiting for our use.
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
Today, Gabriella wants us to celebrate our “everydays” in poetry. We write poems for grand loves, loss of love, big occasions, but these poems are our everyday – our morning coffee routine, our drive home from work, our bread making day….I have posted several of these classic haiku over the last few days because they are about my everyday and the joy in the beauty of those days. Please pardon me for posting again but I am doing so for this venue and to give a bit of my everyday to you all. The photos are simple cell phone photos of sun, blue sky, trees and an almost hidden early appearing half moon.
copyright kanzensakura
半月 Hantsuki
summer half moon drifts
in a sea of blue – floating
sakura petal.
夏空 Natsu sora – Summer Sky haiku
serene summer sky –
birds nap in hidden nests as
hawks drift overhead.
copyright KanzenSakura
春雨 shun u (gentle spring rain)
Gentle spring rain falls –
The sound like faraway waves
Or breath of a child.
komorebi 木漏れ日
summer morning sun
filters through leaves – gold dapples –
shadows dance trees sway.
hantsuki – half moon; natsu sora – summer sky; shun u – gentle spring rain; komorebi – sun filtering through leaves
The first plum blossom:
Sweet star shines under blue sky
Birds make their wishes
April 1st is the first day of NaPoWriMo where the challenge is to write 30 poems in 30 days. I’ve not done this before and I hope I can keep it up! There are many bloggers participating in this. Some are members of the dVerse Poets Pub, of which I am a community member. I look forward to reading lots of new poetry! http://www.napowrimo.net/
The cherry blossoms are not showing yet where I am located. Some early plum, wild pear, and peach blossoms are beginning. My flowering quince, usually the earliest to bloom, is lagging. The buds are nice and fat and look ready to pop…The Japanese plum buds are much larger and a petal here and there can be seen. This cherry blossom forecast is for Japan. I am a little late posting it due to various life events, pneumonia, etc. The slide show is from photos from the past couple of years. I used to work in an office park where there were sixty-five cherry trees – my own private festival! Also, there are some short videos of my favorite guys, World Older. JATA – Japanese Association of Travel Agents – produced these videos showing parts of Japan. The music is hypnotic and the guys are showing more of their surroundings rather than the videos being about their choreography.
While there are all kinds of festivals and fun events going on, the time of cherry blossoms is always a solemn time for me. Even though I am excited to see their beauty after a long cold snowy winter, I still feel ..mono no aware…物の哀れ – the pathos of things; impermanence – 無常, mujō. These are feelings of a gentle sadness, wistfulness. The Samurai were also associated with sakura as their lives were so transient.
I hope you enjoy this mini-trip to Japan!
Updated February 19th, 2015 as Sakura Map has updated their cherry blossom forecast for 2015 sakura season. Just a reminder that these dates are the estimated opening date for cherry blossoms and full bloom should be around a week or so after.
Fukuoka | March 22
Matsuyama | March 25
Hiroshima | March 27
Miyajima | March 27
Kyoto | March 28
Osaka | March 27
Nara | March 29
Nagoya | March 25
Tokyo | March 26
Yokohama | March 26
Kanazawa | April 4
Sendai | April 10
Today at dVerse Poetics Pub, we are having a joust of sorts. We are to choose a line (or more) from one of two poems (or both) chosen by the previous bartenders, Brian and Claudia. Here is the link: http://dversepoets.com/2015/02/26/pick-a-line-and-get-that-joust-started/ I chose a line from Claudia’s poem. it is in italics.
copyright kanzensakura
Branch blown by the wind –
fingers stick out from the snow
reaching out.
I threw out bread for the birds
On both ends,
A sparrow perched,
their feathers fluffed with the cold
and bright eyes seeking
out the bits of bread closest
to their perch.
The full branch lay encased
under the snow
holding steady – an invisible bridge.
the sparrows chirp
and cock their heads
and converse about their plans.
“later we will cross tower bridge into the night”.
In the morning
I see no trace of their
tracks but the bits of bread are gone.
kanzen sakura 
