Monday, February 1, 2016

Still waters under the bridge



Picture Credit:   Gabriella


We pass along this way, too many times to count.  Whether in the early morning or late afternoon, we amble along the park content with our short stories and small gossip.  The walk always felt short, tinged with the smell of ripe apples and plums on the ground. Around the bend, we would run home, with our pockets filled with small stones.

But today I don't notice the bare trees nor river tide. Not even the fruits mulched on the soil. Only the empty fields stretching wide under grey clouds.   There were no pigeons or geese nor any children loitering around. There was only this silence, reverberating, swishing with sharp thrust of the coldest air.   


rain trickles down
silver light on webbed twigs -
an owl hoots, unending



Posted for D'verse Poets- Haibun Monday - Hosted by Gabriella  ~  Thanks for the visit ~

25 comments:

  1. How the view can surely change depending on time and who you're with.

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  2. I love the image of filling pockets with small stones, then the sharp contrast of emptiness in the second stanza. I can hear that owl's unending call: Who...who?

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  3. Effective use of contrasts in this haibun, Grace, in the images as well as the tones. Interestingly I took this photo at the beginning of spring during a week vacation. Some days were like in the photo while others felt like summer was coming. I am ready for warmer and brighter days.

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  4. The last sentence of your prose made me feel the chill of the silence and its loneliness. Enjoyed the atmospheric howl of the owl in the haiku!

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  5. "empty fields stretching wide under grey clouds." and this reverberating silence...such a powerful visual haibun even without the image. Wonderful, Grace!

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  6. The images that this gives are so good. There's a sense of nostalgia and yet contentment!

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  7. This is just "gorgeous," Grace. The haiku is so well expressed. I love this form and what you did with it.

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  8. Very beautiful, Grace. You captured those grey winter skies and empty fields. I love that owl hooting.

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  9. The view can change drastically depending on our age, mood, company, the weather...you captured a feeling of emptiness and almost of acute pain.

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  10. This has the feel of the coming off winter...whether literal or figurative.

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  11. Wonderful images, Grace. Ending left me with an eerie feeling.

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  12. Beautiful Grace. And what lovely image :)

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  13. Beautiful Grace. And what lovely image :)

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  14. I love the way you end this, as if night just goes on and on and on (the owl), despite all the talk about daytime walks in the rest of the poem. It's like, life was once happy and carefree --- the days of a child. But now, there's brokenness and sorrow, loneliness, barrenness. You're hurting so much, and you just want this night/winter season to pass so that the fruit and beauty (and closeness/mended relationships) can return. The springtime of love, whether it be romantic, friendship, or familiar in nature.

    Beautiful, beautiful work, Grace.

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  15. more winter tones... you mentioned it was cold where you are - here, there were 50 mile per hour winds all day yesterday, with gusts over 119 mph in some area. trees came down, lots of swirl and rattle...

    have a good week ~

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  16. I think the second part touched me most.. when we feel that way even nature seems to be void of comfort. A silence that has weight... I love the concluding haiku

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  17. Why does rain seem to bring sad poetry? So many emotional haibuns today. Yours is beautifully written, and I love the haiku.

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  18. you created a wonderful mood and so many emotions.

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  19. The haiku made me sigh deeply. The whole haibun like an extended haiku - the feeling of the season and happier company and then the turn - the loneliness, lack of comfort. Just an outstanding haibun.

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  20. Connection the Life
    the moving.. the
    art.. imagination
    creativity
    at play
    in Nature
    at Mind
    and Body
    of human quelled
    by spells of electronic
    devices..

    Home
    schooLed by
    Nature..:)

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  21. From the title to the last word – wonderful.

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  22. Splendid - I enjoyed the sharp contrast between memory and reality ... a lovely haibun .. Bastet

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  23. Your haibun fits Gabriella's photo artfully! The mood seems both nostalgic and foreboding, like river's flow through both arches of bridge.

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  24. I liked the clear distinction of mood and aesthetics. The owl seemed to be vocalizing the feeling of loss or loneliness in the end. Beautiful.

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