#NaPoWriMo 2021 Day Seven

Hummingbird and aloe bud picture by Gretchen Hosking

Hummingbird
Flits over aloe
Tiny wings
Constantly
Pulse as quick as a heartbeat
Keeping her steady

NaPoWriMo Prompt – And now, for our (optional) prompt! There are many different poetic forms. Some have specific line counts, syllable counts, stresses, rhymes, or a mix-and-match of the above. Of the poetic forms that are based on syllable counts, probably the most well-known – to English speakers, at least – is the Japanese form called the haiku. But there are many other syllable-based forms. Today, I’d like to challenge you to pick from two of them – the shadorma, and the Fib.

Good afternoon and welcome to take two for #NaPoWriMo day seven. WordPress was stuck on autosave and would not let me publish. When I hit the refresh it did not save any portion of my draft. Luckily I write out my poems long hand in my poetry journal first. The only part I’m stuck writing anew is this paragraph.

I decided to try the shadorma and fell back on my favorite subject – The Hummingbird. I’ve already written poems with the Fibonacci sequence and carried the syllable count well passed eight. Here is a poem I wrote near the end of #NaPoWriMo five years ago. As you can see, the syllable count gets a little unwieldy as it grows – Verse Grows.

Well it looks like WordPress is not in an autosaving loop right now so I’m going to try and publish this in order to get on with the rest of my day. Hope to see everyone again tomorrow.

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Hummingbirds – Sure sign of spring

Sitting on back porch
Hummingbird buzzes my head
Sure sign spring is here

Good afternoon readers. Yesterday I got a text from Gretchen while she was supposed to be in German class; There’s a hummingbird outside my window. I think it was distracting her away from the computer screen. I just laughed wasn’t anything I could do about it. Later in the afternoon I went out into the backyard to enjoy the sunshine and as I was sitting on the back porch I heard a loud buzzing. I turned my head slowly and said, I hope you’re a hummingbird. Sure enough a huge hummingbird was hovering right near my ear. And of course I had to ask, You wouldn’t be the same hummingbird bothering my child earlier, would you? The bird didn’t answer me and flew off.

It seems every spring the hummingbirds enjoy our aloe. Here are a couple haiku I wrote two years ago about the birds and spring. And last year Patricia shared my hummingbird haiku on her Pea TV moment (once again hummingbird capture credit goes to Gretchen). This year is no different the aloe and hummingbird are once again a favorite subject in my haiku.

2021 Haiku Expo

Thank you to the Arizona Matsuri haiku expo judges for selecting one of my haiku for honorable mention. My other entries were:

Cactus shadow grows
Sun sinks below horizon
Ochre sky above

Canada geese honk
Flying over winter home
Snow covered cacti

Pea TV Moment on Haiku Day

Good morning readers and welcome to day seventeen of napowrimo also known as haiku day because of seventeen for the 17 syllables in haiku. Please excuse the interruption of today’s prompt. I will get to it later. But first I wanted to share this Pea TV Moment Patricia over at poetrypea was kind enough to accept. She has compiled quite a few haiku moments from some talented poets. Please go over to her website and check them all out.

I must make a confession. I have spied the hummingbirds feeding on the aloe often. I wrote the haiku, hoping I would be able to capture one moment on video. I should know better as the photos of the hummingbirds at the aloe I’ve posted have been borrowed from my children. Well a few weeks ago, we were sitting at the kitchen table for dinner. My whole family was aware of my quest, and we spotted a hummingbird skimming the aloe. The first attempt did not get enough footage. But a few minutes later a hummingbird was back, Gretchen said, give me your phone, Mom. So Gretchen was actually the one who successfully filmed the hummingbird. She just showed me another video she took last night on her phone. A hummingbird was actually sitting and resting on one of the aloe stalks. She said it must have been there for a good ten minutes because when she first spotted it, she didn’t have her phone. She raced down the hall to her bedroom, grabbed her phone, and the hummingbird was still on its perch.

March and April are always a good time of year to watch the hummingbirds feed. As you can see, the aloe really enjoyed our wet winter; they bloomed exceptionally well this year. Farther down the row of aloe closer to the front yard is where the rosebush is planted. It now has over a dozen buds in bloom. Shawn and I went for a walk yesterday and he said the rosebush really seems to flourish in death. Good grief. But he does have a point. If our rosebush had 3 or 4 buds in a year (at separate times) I thought it was nice. It really has taken off this spring for some reason.

March Draws to an End

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

 

 

Earth Day – Pantun

Aloe along our front door walkway

Hummingbirds swoop and hover near aloe
drinking in the sweet nectar of flowers
Rejoice in nature, let’s not be shallow
Earth is a lifeboat humans devour

NaPoWriMo Prompt Day 22 – In honor of Earth Day, I’d like to challenge you to write a georgic. The original georgic poem was written by Virgil, and while it was ostensibly a practical and instructional guide regarding agricultural concerns, it also offers political commentary on the use of land in the wake of war.

Welcome back to day 22 of NaPoWriMo and Happy Earth Day! Here are the instructions for writing a pantun. I believe this little piece can be considered georgic, as it is about nature and does present commentary on our use of nature. The picture of the aloe was taken by Shawn Hosking. Once more I’m borrowing a photo of his without permission. And yes, hummingbirds visit the tall flowers on a daily basis.