Category: haibun

2020.08.18: touchstone

Have you ever read something that triggered an innate knowing that you didn’t know you had? Every fiber of your being is aware of this knowledge except the neurons in your brain. Is it possible for the neurons in your brain to process messages that they don’t understand? Is it possible for the other cells in your body to sense something but the higher functioning part of the brain, the so called mind, doesn’t recognize the pattern or understand its significance? Of course it is because our bodies know they’re sick but our minds don’t always know until the symptoms are so severe that our minds are forced to admit that something’s wrong. So it is great joy when we discover something mundane that we already knew. It’s like coming home to ourselves.

without cicadas
how will one know of summer
and when school begins

2020.08.02: guiding light

I had a wonderful childhood. We lived in a sprawling city that was always bustling with sights and sounds and smells even into the night. When school was out though I spent the summer living in the village where my parents grew up. Everyone knew everyone there, and a child could walk safely from one end of the village to the end and be watched by relatives or friends the entire way. So it was like a rite of passage when I was allowed to walk home by myself after staying for supper at an auntie’s house. Even if it was less than a hundred meters, I still remember the full moon lighting my way and the pride in my chest. A magical memory…

full moon in August
but i can no longer walk –
to Grandfather’s house

2020.06.19: full circle

I’m feeling a little melancholic this morning. Today will be the last time I will work from home as my workplace is transitioning everyone back into the building. I’m grateful for being able to stay working the entire time when many did not. I’m also joyful for this glimpse of something different, sometimes better sometimes not. Life goes on.

oatmeal and sliced fruit
a breeze slipping through the porch
a taste of fullness

2020.05.25: remember & honor

Just want to take a moment to remember all the women and men who laid down their lives to protect their friends and so that future generations can have the freedom to choose to live as they see fit as long as they don’t infringe on another’s liberty. Let’s honor their sacrifices by choosing to speak out against oppression and oppose tyranny in all of its forms, especially when it comes from us or our side. Let’s always choose justice with mercy and truth with love. Happy Memorial Day.

outing in the rain
a joy unexplainable –
the freedom to choose 

2020.05.20: odd duck

We observed something strange when we were out walking last week. A mallard duck did a fly by behind us, wheeled around a tree, and landed on the front yard of a house in front of us.

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He calmly watched us walked past him then nonchalantly proceeded to cross on foot across the street behind us.

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Can any animal behaviorist please explain?

“always curious
why my cousin the chicken
wants to cross the road”