Category: Poetry

We keep hearing of how important it is to pay attention to body language, to make eye contact, to use and observe non-verbal clues for effective communication. We’re told how it is not just the words that we use but all the other signs our bodies display that make a conversation meaningful.

This is especially true for love…the words ‘I Love You’ are empty and meaningless if there are no actions to supplement the words, or if the follow through is antithetical to the concept of love.

Here’s a Haiku that, I hope, conveys what I’m trying to say in a better way…

Speak to me of love
let your eyes, your lips, your touch
do all the talking

Tell me what you think.
Do you notice when people say things that don’t resonate with what their bodies are showing you?

This beautiful yellow-footed green pigeon – or Hariyal – was photographed early one morning by my brother-in-law, and it inspired a haiku…as well as several hashtags…

#covid_19 #secondwave
#hopeforthebest #natureisbeautiful❤️
#natureshots #natureheals #natureneedsnofilter #natureneedshealing

New day, new options
Standing out or merging in
Either way, stay safe

Such a serene, gorgeous bird, don’t you think? I had to Google its name – I do hope I’m right about it being a Hariyal…

How do I keep my mental health from crashing to the floor in the second year of the pandemic?

I look to my sister’s dog for comfort…He understands the ways of the universe better than I do.

Here’s a haiku celebrating Coco, the Cool Cocker Spaniel!

Cloudy spring morning

Contagion casts a pall…

let sleeping dogs lie…

Isn’t that wise of Coco? What you can’t control, why not just sleep it off? Not easy, though…

Still, this too shall pass!

Even though it is almost summer, and even though (or especially because) we’re [still] in the middle of yet another surge of the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s something about the idea of spring that rejuvenates the spirit.

Languid sunrise

bedewed foliage offers

vapory homage

Skipping on new grass

signs of spring draw weary eyes

bare soles imbibe hope

How are you coping, folks? Where do you find what you need to keep calm in these difficult times?

Last night was a noisy one with thunder roaring overhead and strong winds rattling the windows and doors. It rained mightily, but then, like all storms, this one too passed…

Keen slivers of silver

slice the moonless summer night

rain pounds parched skin

I wrote a Haiku today in response to a #vss365 prompt and posted it on twitter before I remembered that I had pledged to include anatomical elements in each Haiku. Obviously, then, I felt compelled to modify it.

I’m posting the original one here and also the modified one. Have a look…

*vss365 (very short story, one for every day of the year)

The original verse:

Iridescent paint

Nature’s sublime canvas glows

Murky air plays foul

The modified Haiku:

Iridescent paint

Nature’s canvas enthralls

The heart yearns afresh

What do you think? Which one works for you?

I’m learning how to write Haiku and I’m determined – as a tribute to my physician roots – to use anatomical elements in each one that I create. Let’s see how that goes…

I HAVE to start with the eye…