~ My response to a CDHK challenge for a tan renga based on a Jane Reichhold haiku harks back to the often-quoted opening lines of a William Blake poem. ~
Tag: clouds
October Cloud
Sailing on fall wind,
a flock of droplets migrates.
Each is a small world.
Sailing ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #286
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What Lovers Watch
The prose and poetry below respond to a CDHK challenge about love in summer. At 50 words in total (not counting boilerplate), they could have responded to an earlier challenge in the same series but were not ready in time. Can’t rush love (or barbecue).
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© Betty Shelton | 123RF Stock Photo
Lovers joined the crowd on the beach last night, watching fireworks shot from a barge. Now they watch the sunset.
© Dan Hahn
Sunset on the Next Day
The clouds burn yellow,
smolder red, and fade to gray.
The love keeps burning.
Rockets lit the sky last night;
more fireworks in bed tonight.
Clams in the Clouds
Two haiku (each inspired by a photo of clouds imitating clams) illustrate the synergy between poem and image in a modern haiga (with a photo as the image). Haiku #2 uses a modern kigo (“abalone”). I took the calm photo; Sue Ranscht took the dramatic one.
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The cloud images in this post were in an earlier post (for a photography challenge) that emphasized synergy between pastel pink and green. Now I am responding to a haiku challenge with emphasis on synergy between poem and image in a modern haiga (with a photo as the image). Haiku #2 uses the modern kigo abalone.
To those who have not seen many nacreous clouds, the poems’ metaphors might seem far-fetched. Presenting the photos along with the poems they inspired may reassure readers willing to trust that the photographers refrained from deceptive editing. I took the calm photo; Sue Ranscht took the dramatic one.
© Sue Ranscht | Space, Time, and Raspberries
Clams in the Clouds #1
Serene clouds
give mother-of-pearl
to old eyes.
Serene clouds
give mother-of-pearl
to old eyes.
Clams in the Clouds #2
Molten pewter clouds:
some are tinted pink or green.
Abalone shell.
Molten pewter clouds:
some are tinted pink or green.
Abalone shell.
Sky Sights and Sky Sounds
Sky Circles
Riding the spring wind,
hawks with still wings and shrill cries
claim territory.
© Steve Byland | 123RF Stock Photo
A lot happens in the sky.
Hawks stake claims.
Clouds sometimes imitate clams.
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Pastel Synergy
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This post ends with 2 haiku, each inspired by a photo of clouds imitating clams. I took the calm photo; Sue Ranscht took the dramatic one.
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Pastel Colors
Tho I usually prefer deeply saturated colors, I love the pastel pink and green sometimes seen in a cloud, when the angles are just right in the triangle formed by the cloud and the sun and the viewer. At my latitude, it is a rare sight. I have had just one chance to photograph the elusive synergy of pastel pink and green:
Dramatic photos of pink and green in clouds can be seen by searching online for
[mother-of-pearl clouds] or [nacreous clouds].
There is also the marvel by Sue Ranscht that appears below. Fair warning: the image credit links to a post in a series, with a striking image for each episode in a fantasy epic. The series is so addictive that it hooked me despite my aversion to fantasies and impatience with epics.
© Sue Ranscht | Space, Time, and Raspberries
Clams in the Clouds #1
Serene clouds
give mother-of-pearl
to old eyes.
Serene clouds
give mother-of-pearl
to old eyes.
Clams in the Clouds #2
Molten pewter clouds:
some are tinted pink or green.
Abalone shell.
Molten pewter clouds:
some are tinted pink or green.
Abalone shell.
Looking Up or Down
How something looks may depend on how it is viewed. Consider storm clouds.
Clouds ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #146
Storm Clouds #1
Looking up, I see
trees wary of churning clouds.
Wish I could look down.
~ ~ ~ ~
Storm Clouds #2
Looking down, I’d see
clouds caress dear Mother Earth.
Rain for thirsty trees.
Image Sources
- While doing a little yardwork before predicted rain, I glanced upward and noticed how trees framed a bright cloud in a darkening sky. I ran for my camera and took a few photos. For this post, I tweaked the image to mimic the ominous look I had often seen but not photographed.
- The Blue Marble image was downloaded from NASA Visible Earth: The Blue Marble. Making NASA’s image cost a lot more than making mine. That’s OK. It was money well spent.
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Oneness of High and Low
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The oneness emphasized in
Carpe Diem Theme Week “The Songs of Milarepa”
(2) “flying clouds”
encourages becalmed sailors.
Carpe Diem Theme Week “The Songs of Milarepa”
(2) “flying clouds”
encourages becalmed sailors.
Heralds in the Sky
Flying clouds reveal
unseen wind above limp sails.
The crew dares to hope.
Warned by a Shadow
From some viewpoints, a shadow has a bright side. An example is my response to a CDHK challenge to use the word [shadow] in a haiku.
Carpe Diem Haiku Family — A New “Shadow” Challenge
Image cropped from © Ryanfaas | Dreamstime.com
Lost Lunch?
Sunlight breaks thru clouds
and sends hawk’s shadow downward.
Prey darts for cover.
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Lovers Watching a Sunset
A haiku that began as part of a comment on a post by Sieglinglungenlied gets a title and a life of its own. An outstanding sunset photo by Dan Hahn complements the haiku to form a haiga.
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This post’s haiku began as part of my comment on Sieglinglungenlied’s beautiful and creative post Partners, Flying through Clouds. I realized later that the haiku could live outside the comment with an appropriate title. (I like titles for haiku anyway.) Thank U, Sieglinglungenlied. Thanks are also owed to photographer Dan Hahn, with details at the end of this post.
Lovers Watching a Sunset
The clouds burn yellow,
smolder red, and fade to gray.
The love keeps burning.
Image Source
It would have been nice to illustrate the poetry with a series of 3 images that show the same clouds at successive stages of a sunset: yellow; red; gray. Even if I shoot such a series in the future, I would never be able to get a series that includes the lovers. So I did an image search, found many fine images of sunsets being watched by lovers, and found an outstanding one by Dan Hahn that showed all 3 color stages, in different clouds at the same moment. Bingo.
The image as used in this post has been cropped to emphasize the clouds; U can see the original in full glory by clicking on the link in item #1 below. Haiku lovers will also enjoy item #2, and there are other treasures on Dan Hahn’s website. Prints can be bought.
- Lovers at Sunset in the Cape Cod gallery
- Dawn Zen in the Seasons gallery
Chiaroscuro
Autumn is the best season of the year and also the shortest, unless we submit to calendar tyranny and say that “late fall” includes the leafless gray weeks before the winter solstice.
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I have a daylight photo that looks much like a shot of the full moon thru colored leaves, so I can illustrate Chèvrefeuille’s beautiful evocation of true autumn while responding to
Carpe Diem Haiku Experiment #1 an introduction
with a short haiku (in 3-5-3 form) about how short the season is.
© Chèvrefeuille
light of the full moon
shines through colored leaves
at last … autumn
Ending Too Soon
Wind speeds up!
Leaves fall in panic!
Clouds roll in …
Mellow Curmudgeon 
