Shells on a Sandy Beach

Posted on 2022-07-17 by Mellow Curmudgeon

A crab lived and died.
Empty claws and carapace
sing an elegy.

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Photo © Patrick Jennings | Carapace and Claw

Click on the link in the photo credit to read the photographer’s own poem inspired by the fine image.

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flowers, haiku, photography

Lavender Elegy

Posted on 2019-05-25 by Mellow Curmudgeon

My lavender rhododendron contributes a visual elegy to the Memorial Day observances in 2019. Memorial Day is a time for sadness, along with the pride and gratitude that the same plant helped visualize in 2018.

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Memorial Colors
|Lavender salutes
|red, white, and blue of our flag.
|Pride and gratitude.

flowers, haiku, photography

Elegy in 3-5-3

Posted on 2018-01-102020-10-02 by Mellow Curmudgeon

Basho (1644-1694) mourned the death of his friend and teacher Tando with a beautiful sad haiku. A CDHK episode calls for variations on this theme. Mine is an elegy for Tando.

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Basho (1644-1694) mourned the death of his friend and teacher Tando with a beautiful sad haiku:

Chèvrefeuille presents his own beautiful variation on this sad theme in the CDHK episode

Carpe Diem Weekend-meditation #14 Revise That Haiku

and challenges readers to “revise” Basho’s haiku in the same spirit:

My response honors Tando’s influence on Basho (and hence on countless haiku poets) with imagery like Basho’s but a change in the metaphorical correspondence between the 2 people and some parts of flowering plants. As he weeps, Basho also resolves to carry on.

Elegy for Tando
|Flowers fall,
|but seeds will ripen.
|Some will sprout.

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