Thought Prints

oh the joy jasmine wafts on the breeze soul full That haiku was written in April, 2020.  In this year dominated by a worldwide pandemic the memory of the scent of jasmine brings comfort.  Doing what a mother does so well, nature nurturing. Anjali mudra breathing deeply peace Free write to spill out all the tangled thoughts.  Love, sadness, loss, fear, joy, excitement, dejection, failure, achievement all mixed in the whirlwind called life.  Diaphramic breathing brings prayerful calmness. worries written on parchment dissolve in flames Is the devil in the details or in the worry of things we cannot change?  Things that brush against our lives that leave stains on our thoughts, is that the devil?  Will I let go of the worries in the flames? sunrays in the arms of angels peace   

Carpe Diem #1809 Wedding Bells Today's challenge is to write a choka.  Here is our host's explanation: "The choka can be of almost any length, because its form depends on alternating phrases (or lines) containing either seven of five sound units (onji). The end of the poem is signaled by two lines of seven sounds. So the form is five/seven, five/seven, five seven, .... , seven/seven." when my love is near the sight of him fills my heart my soul is engulfed with the love seen in his eyes my life is better because of his presence now rapture in his finger's touch © petra domina Thank to Chèvrefeuille for his dedication to haiku and this Kai!

Carpe Diem's Tan Renga Wednesday #11 family tombstone Five years ago this very morning my mother died.  I had spent the night with her at the new nursing home we had just moved her to the previous day.  She was not happy.  Due to loss of eyesight in one eye, falling and breaking a wrist in less than 5 weeks she developed delirium.  She was still enough of herself that as we were getting her ready for bed she made one statement.  "I am gonna get up and walk right out of this place by morning."  Around 7 AM I left to get a cup of coffee and stretch my legs.  When I returned her life force was gone.  adding father’s name to the family tombstone with room for my own © Nicholas Virgilio saints gather to greet arrivals she ran to Dad's arms © petra domina

Carpe Diem #1657 Tan Renga Challenge May 2019 (4) Ocean Sanctuary sunday morning  all the waves in white kneeling on the beach © Jane Reichhold (Taken from "Ocean Sanctuary" an anthology of haiku inspired on the North Coast of California) The challenge is to add two lines to this haiku. sunday morning all the waves in white kneeling on the beach                                     © Jane Reichhold without loosing their virginity monks bow in front of Mother   Mary             © Chèvrefeuille My take on this: sunday morning all the waves in white kneeling on the beach                                     © Jane Reichhold black and white stilts act as priests   incense smells of sea mist          ...

Carpe Diem Weekend Meditation #38 A Trip Along Memory Lane #1 Carpe Diem Special How happy! Bathing in the tub full to overflowing  The above one line poem by Sumitaku Kenshin (1961-1987) really sent me down memory lane.  Until I was a teenager my family lived on a farm.  The year Sumitaku Kenshin was born, my family moved "in town".  That move brought us into a new age, indoor plumbing.  Until that time there was a galvanized tub for baths and a path for other bodily necessities. Baths were taken on the screened in back porch during the summer months.  There would be 3 to 4 inches of water in the tub.  Water drawn from the well just outside the house.  Some of the water would be heated in the teakettle on the stove in the kitchen.  Youngest child would bath first.  Then up through the ages of the children.  Daddy was always the last.  In the same 3 to 4 inches of water.  Once baths were done, the tub was o...

Carpe Diem #1176 Theme Week Hafiz (2) lover from the bare branch comes the cherry blossom bud the child emerging from mother's watery womb the first gasps of breath unfolding under watchful eyes seeking the full light and joy of The Mother's love and familiar voice swaying the in the morning breeze sakura petals open in praise ©    petra domina Thanks to Chèvrefeuille for daily prompts on  CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI

Carpe Diem #1166  Nightflower . . . [ This month we will explore the beauty of Persian poetry and especially the poetry by the renown poets Rumi, Hafez (or Hafiz) and Saadi. Yesterday we started with two beautiful poems by Rumi, one of them the name-giver of this month "praise to the emptiness". ] . . .  Chèvrefeuille vastness stars in the night sky glowing flowers ©    petra domina Thanks to Chèvrefeuille for daily prompts on  CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI

Carpe Diem #1086 Waltz of the Flowers by Tchaikovsky the bed covered in rose petals stands awaiting lovers' waltz ©    petra domina Thanks to Chèvrefeuille for daily prompts on  CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI

Carpe Diem #1076 clay Uncle Clay was my hero.  Uncle Clay was in the tank division under George Patton during the Battle of the Bulge during WWII.  His brother, my Uncle Bud, was in the war, too.  Uncle Bud was in the hospital in England when his infantry division advanced using the tank division of Uncle Clay.  These two brothers returned from that war.  Being a baby boomer I was born not long after thy returned.  Uncle Bud was not around as much.  Uncle Clay was always around.  I loved him with the love of a young child.  He loved me so very much, too.  He wanted me to meet his girlfriend and her children before he would marry her.  I fell in love with the girlfriend and her children just as he had.  Uncle Clay, Aunt Celistine, and Jerry are gone now.  Now only ChipChip and I remain.  But that love from Uncle Clay still is with me. from the earth molded by hands of strength a loving heart © ...

Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu #90 Back In Time "Let The Music Inspire You" Be inspired by this music, Felitsa by Yanni. vibrating strings stroked by hands filled with love soundboard resonates the child's embracing  memory of mamma ©   petra domina Thanks to Chèvrefeuille for daily prompts on  CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI

On my way back to the afternoon session of my junior year in high school the rock and roll music from KLIF was interrupted.  It was 1963.  The President of the U.S. was in a motorcade in downtown Dallas and shots had been fired.  I arrived at the small town high school just minutes later.  The afternoon classes would not even attempt to be held.  The news finally was announced that the President was dead.  Tears rolled down my cheeks as well as many other students and teachers.  I had driven on that street.  Classmates recalled at our 50th reunion last fall that they had picked up books for the school from the Book Depository just days before the shooting.  It was a pivotal moment for many of our generation, one we never forgot.  Like our parents and the bombing of Hawaii.  Or 9/11. Last evening, 7-7-2016, I was just messing on the computer as there was nothing on TV.  All the blogs were read and I wandered over to facebook. ...

Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu #80: Memory Lane: Utabukuro (or poem bag) Honeysuckle vines entwined around the old, deformed willow tree behind the overgrown rose bushes.  Spring would bring a flush of blooms through out the old yard.  Lilacs, lilies, iris, roses and of course the honeysuckle.  The young maiden would break off a lilac or two and then wind a length of the blooming honeysuckle along the stem.  This would be gingerly placed behind her ear.  An instant princess. midsummer night - the scent of Honeysuckle tickles the senses                    © Chèvrefeuille the warm breath of his love . aphrodisiacs . .                        ©   Janice 'petra domina' Adcock I must admit that my exposure to haiku is mostly on CDHK.  I admire the writings of our host and the other participants.  In the moment I read Chèvre...

Carpe Diem #925 Love lusty moments simmered slowly through the years satisfying embrace ©   Janice 'petra domina' Adcock Thanks to Chèvrefeuille for daily prompts on  CARPE DIEM HAIKU KAI