Spring Sunset Avondale, AZ
Could I draw a self-portrait
of someone I’m not?
It’s hard to imagine
Staring out the bedroom
window as a hummingbird
sips from the aloe bud
thoughts drift…
How long is spring?
Is the sun still rising
or has it begun to set?
Hummingbird and aloe bud picture by Gretchen Hosking
Pretty small creature
Flitting about aloe blooms
Spring is in the air
Hello Readers and welcome to the last day of March #NationalCerebralPalsyAwarenessMonth and the unofficial start to #NaPoWriMo. Today’s prompt at NaPoWriMo.net –And now for our early-bird prompt (optional, like all our prompts!) Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poetic self-portrait. And specifically, we’d like you to write a poem in which you portray yourself in the guise of a historical or mythical figure.
And no the above haiku is not for the prompt. The haiku challenge word on twitter today is pretty and after reading the self-portrait poem by Mary-Kim Arnold, I was thinking about birds. We have had several (or maybe one several times) hummingbirds visit our aloe this spring. They are quick little creatures and I haven’t been able to photograph them, but lucky for me I borrowed a photo without permission.
Playful zephyr lifts
away winter blues, touting
how lovely is spring
So far I have not written too many new poems in 2019. I’m slowing up too early in the year, but back in February I did write a “sportku” for the poetry pea podcast (look at my only February entry for the link to listen) and I wrote a couple for the Arizona Matsuri Haiku contest. The festival was the last weekend in February; it seems even they are running a little slow this year because I just got the link to this year’s ebook today. And I was pleasantly surprised to see one of my haiku made honorable mention again this year. After I submitted the haiku they included on page 58, I recounted my syllables – oops… I didn’t think the haiku would be chosen. I put eight syllables in the second line, but maybe due to the fact it’s 17 total syllables and English and Japanese syllables aren’t equivalent, it works. My haiku in the 2018 ebook.
Meanwhile Shawn and I had our 2018 taxes done yesterday. Today’s #haikuchallenge word is ghost.
Tax season haunts me
as I watch my refund shrink
face pale as a ghost
At least we did get a refund but it was significantly smaller than previous years; still better than owing. My return to work paperwork was accepted so now I’m just waiting for the invite to grade essays. Then my afternoons will be busy reading though it hasn’t impeded my poetry writing before this year I just seemed to have lost momentum.
Selfie with Frame from Facebook
March brings awareness
Cerebral palsy does not
Shallow-pate one’s mind
Welcome to Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month. The #haikuchallenge word today is shallow. Of course I had to find a way to use it and promote the first day of March.
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