My last post from the silent writing retreat with Natalie Goldberg. On our last day she had us write haiku. If you want to join in, it’s simple. Set a timer for 30 minutes and start writing, write ten haiku in thirty minutes. Keep your hand moving. And Natalie says “Don’t bother counting syllables, the only true test of a haiku is that it creates a sensation of space, a gap for your mind to fill.”
Haiku
green tea, cooling
i wait for you
winter comes
body held still
pen trembles silently
she catches haiku
black crow, silver light
sparrows backlit
in grey
worn wooden beads
right hand moving
a prayer
strawberry pancake with cream
i think of afghanistan
and cry
summer of writing, once again
i will make
these promises
seven sets of deer antlers
white against adobe wall
the hunter gone
blue-capped and orange-vested
he scoops up a handful of gravel
and waits for his muse
white meccano bridge
who scooped out this gorge
with his heel?
three women walk towards me
silent, compact, grave
i think if my mother
beautiful Marianne!