One of the house sliders is open to the air today. I walked out to the mailbox and once again looked at the fence post falling backward near the road, bluebird box attached. Another reminder to get this and the other three ready for their annual visitors. I came inside and found two screwdrivers; one…
Category: haibun
dVerse — barns, moons, and baseballs
It takes 3.6 million jasmine blossoms to make one pound of jasmine essential oil. There are 9,600 drops of it in every pound. Dividing the number of jasmine blossoms by 9600 comes to 375 jasmine blossoms per drop of oil. When I woke up this morning and looked outside, I saw my barn had burnt…
dVerse — taboos — three accusations
“The Circus” by Albina Felski As the oldest daughter of a mixed family of full-, half-, and step- siblings totaling 7, myself included, I often was left responsible for care taking all of them while mother and stepfather drank at the bar until it closed. The first accusation came when they took me aside and…
dVerse — haibun — War Child
Some say that Mars was the son of Jupiter and Juno, but when Jupiter decided to “usurp the mother function” by giving birth to Minerva directly from his forehead, Juno needed a balancing response. She consulted the Goddess Flora; Flora obtained a magic flower by plucking it ritually, then impregnated Juno by touching her belly….
Reena’s Exploration Challenge #123 — silent scream
Sunset at Montmajour by Vincent van Gogh, painted 1888, discovered in 2013 Vincent van Gogh was born in 1853 in the Netherlands and died 37 years later, in 1890 in France. Born to a minister father and an artist mother, he worked towards being a priest but then rejected the structure of the church. Instead…
Sunday afternoon winter poetry
Yesterday morning brought a red-tailed hawk close to the bird feeders. Only when her head swiveled to and fro and when she repositioned herself on the sapling was she brought to life. It seemed she was willing to risk detection at a chance to eat a warm meal. Perhaps she preferred an unsuccessful hunt to…
dVerse — haibun Monday — Spring
Last week the library offered a free presentation on essential oils where every participant walked away with a spritzer bottle with a tea tree oil, lavender, and orange room freshener. I’ve carried the bottle with me from room to room and into the car. I spritzed my pillow, sheets, and heating pad with it as…
Tao Talk 