Frogs and........ haiku.

My seed trays come in very handy for making a comfortable resting place. When he left, there was a small frog-shaped indentation in the soil. :)

Speaking of frogs..... here's a beautiful haiku by Japanese haiku master, Basho:

old pond........
a frog leaps in

water's sound

(Basho ~ a long time ago)

Only a few words but it creates a scene vividly. So I wrote my own haiku about a frog......

a sudden movement
hops across my patio
a lovely fat frog
(Lesley ~ March 2005)

The syallabic count for haiku is fairly structured and I know mine doesn't quite fit perfectly but it's so enjoyable thinking up these 'picture poems' without worrying about strict form.

Here's one I wrote about one of my favourite creatures, the snail......

moving forward
by faith, one step at a time
quite fast for a snail
(Lesley ~ March 2005)

Near where I live there's a big old house surrounded by rusty iron railings. It's particularly pretty in early Spring when the grounds are covered in drifts of aconites.......

drifts of ochre
Spring's firstborn jewel
the Aconite
(Lesley ~ March 2005)

That year I was clearing a neglected garden for somone when I encountered a tiny flower thriving amongst the overgrown grass.......

amidst the debris
old rusty cans and brambles
one golden crocus
(Lesley ~ March 2005)

We had heavy falls of snow that March, hence this tanka about the little crocus........

it's lost now
in games of hide and seek
under the snow
syllables gone awry
brain numbed with the cold
turn a blind eye
(Lesley ~ March 2005)

(Haiku: Japanese short poetry of 17 syllables with the syllabic pattern of 5-7-5
Tanka: Japanese verse form of 31 syllables ~ five lines with a syllabic pattern 5-7-5-7-7)

I haven't kept any of my writing either before or after these, so I must have thought they were quite acceptable..... despite the undisciplined structure. :)

One of my favourite drawings by our daughter