Wednesday, March 31, 2010

what i've been reading . . .

"The way that mythologies work their magic is through symbols. The symbol works as an automatic button that releases energy and channels it." --Joseph Campbell in Pathways to Bliss, Mythology and Personal Transformation

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sitting

a pine cone
sitting on its shadow
winter zazen

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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

gnarled

ocean wave and rock bluff
the pine
gnarled to perfection

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touching the sun

touching the sun
in the stone
butterfly feet

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Sunday, March 28, 2010

preeninge

preening drake
the hen pretends
not to notice

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chrysalis husk

a gentle breeze
trembles the milkweed
chrysalis husk

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Friday, March 26, 2010

her name

her name
written in frost
the silence of snow

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Thursday, March 25, 2010

osprey

the shape of wind
in its branches
silent osprey

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Wednesday, March 24, 2010

falling

falling
from the sun --
osprey's cry

"Minos may control the land and sea," said Daedalus, "but not the regions of the air. I will try that way." So he set to work to fabricate wings for himself and his young son Icarus. He wrought feathers together, beginning with the smallest and adding larger, so as to form an increasing surface. The larger ones he secured with thread and the smaller with wax, and gave the whole a gentle curvature like the wings of a bird.

Icarus, the boy, stood and looked on, sometimes running to gather up the feathers which the wind had blown away, and then handling the wax and working it over with his fingers, by his play impeding his father in his labours. When at last the work was done, the artist, waving his wings, found himself buoyed upward, and hung suspended, poising himself on the beaten air. He next equipped his son in the same manner and taught him how to fly, as a bird tempts her young ones from the lofty nest into the air. When all was prepared for flight he said, "Icarus, my son, I charge you to keep at a moderate height, for if you fly too low the damp will clog your wings, and if too high the heat will melt them. Keep near me and you will be safe."

While he gave him these instructions and fitted the wings to his shoulders, the face of the father was wet with tears, and his hands trembled. He kissed the boy, not knowing that it was for the last time. Then rising on his wings, he flew off, encouraging him to follow, and looked back from his own flight to see how his son managed his wings.

As they flew the ploughman stopped his work to gaze, and the shepherd leaned on his staff and watched them, astonished at the sight, and thinking they were gods who could thus cleave the air.

They passed Samos and Delos on the left and Lebynthos on the right, when the boy, exulting in his career, began to leave the guidance of his companion and soar upward as if to reach heaven. The nearness of the blazing sun softened the wax which held the feathers together, and they came off. He fluttered with his arms, but no feathers remained to hold the air.

While his mouth uttered cries to his father it was submerged in the blue waters of the sea which thenceforth was called by his name. His father cried, "Icarus, Icarus, where are you?" At last he saw the feathers floating on the water, and bitterly lamenting his own arts, he buried the body and called the land Icaria in memory of his child."

from: http://thanasis.com/icarus.htm


and a link to osprey symbolism here: http://www.wildspeak.com/vilturj/totems/wosprey.html

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what i've been reading . . .

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

touching

touching
night ocean
night sky

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Monday, March 22, 2010

shoreline

winter shoreline
the weight
of my shadow

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artichoke season

checking

checking to see
if the rose buds have bloomed
this tiniest of bees

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Saturday, March 20, 2010

don't

"don't"
she says--
winter moon

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Friday, March 19, 2010

no matter

no matter
where the gull lands
its shadow too

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not knowing

not knowing
what caused these ripples
still pond

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where

where the sprinklers
don't reach
cactus in bloom

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Tuesday, March 16, 2010

what

what do i do now?
the storm
spinning the weathervane

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Monday, March 15, 2010

feeling

feeling the storm
before it arrives --
crazy old windchimes

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moon shadows

moon shadows
autumn in the creak
of the rusty gate

Sunday, March 14, 2010

spring cleaning

spring cleaning
the house spider
starts from scratch

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Saturday, March 13, 2010

break

break in the rain
snail
hitting full stride

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Friday, March 12, 2010

new link

new link:

haijinx

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casting

casting until the bobber
is just so . . .
mouth of the moon

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Thursday, March 11, 2010

crisp

crisp stars
the weight of the minnow
before the hook

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what i've been reading . . .

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

jeans

jeans made beautiful
by the perfection
of her ass
wondering why i'm always
one step behind

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what i've been reading . . .

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

shush

the shush of a wave
and her prints are gone --
evening's sudden chill

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what i've been reading . . .

Monday, March 08, 2010

what i've been reading . . .

the homeless man

the homeless man
cocks his head
gullspeak

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Sunday, March 07, 2010

how closely

how closely
they huddle together
midnight stars

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what i've been listening to . . .

Saturday, March 06, 2010

night ocean

night ocean
all the gulls
i cannot see

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help

is there a word in japanese that comes close to the Indian (aesthetic) word 'rasa' ? especially in it's relationship to poetry and haiku?

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what i've been reading . . .

Friday, March 05, 2010

low tide

low tide
the sandpiper's shadow
stirring the silt

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what i've been reading . . .

Thursday, March 04, 2010

bullfrog

a bullfrog blinks
slow ripples
in my stillness

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what i've been reading . . .

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

3 AM

3 AM a homeless man and his shadow the same darkness

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interesting stuff i've been reading

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

outside (non-haiku) reading

if only

if only my wife . . .
the silence of crickets
as i draw near

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Notes from the Gean

Monday, March 01, 2010

Haibun Today

both hiding

both hiding
in the rose garden
a dandelion
quivers
at the child's touch

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