Month: June 2015

Give Up: a haiku/haibun

Today I sold my “butt rug”, a sheepskin seat cover I used on my motorcycle seat that provided cool air in the heat and warm insulation in the cold. I had no use for it anymore: we sold the bikes three years ago now I reckon – my how time flies.

If you’d have asked me, oh, six years ago if we’d ever be off the bikes I’d have said no, Lord willing, barring an injury or some thing like that. It never entered my mind that very soon our lives would change so dramatically – and so quickly. There’s not a lot of time for riding when you are tending to a child, now 6-years old but merely a toddler then. Who knew that becoming grandparents would be such a life altering event. So, the bikes had to go. I think we made a mighty fine trade.  

Sheepskin seat cover or

Sheepskin seat cover or “butt rug”

looking forward we
can’t see what the future holds
or what we’ll give up

Linked to Ronovan Writes weekly haiku prompt. 

Dinner Talk: a tanka/tan renga

This week’s tan renga challenge brought me, well, a real challenge! I didn’t particularly identify with with hokku so I had to chew on it a bit; a little joke there which you’ll understand when you read the first three lines of the poem! As always for this type of writing, the first three lines are written by another author (this time the famous Japanese poet Basho) and the last two, to complete the tanka, by me. 

boiled rice slop
his old lady fans the treat
with evening coolness (Basho)


attention turns from dinner
diffused by loving laughter

Healing: a haiku 

This week’s haiku promt from Haiku Horizons immediately drew my thoughts to mankind’s relationship with God: it is broken from the start. But by His grace, our relationship can be healed, completely mended, through Jesus. 

a tear in my soul
the curse of father Adam
mended by Jesus


Rom 5:12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.

Rom 5:13 Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break.

Rom 5:14 Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come.

Rom 5:15 But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of forgiveness to many through this other Man, Jesus Christ.

Rom 5:16 And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.

Rom 5:17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ.

Rom 5:18 Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone.

Rom 5:19 Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.

At the Seashore 

This set of haiku was inspired by an episode written for a special challenge at CDHK. The theme is at the seashore and the challenge is to write three haiku using the prompt words waves, seagulls and sundown that are at least somewhat cohesive. This is my attempt.

along the seashore
waves crash singing peaceful song
lulls old man to sleep

along the seashore
seagulls flutter and circle
seeking their next meal

along the seashore
the grip of time slips away
sundown upon us

Quality Time with My Papaw: a haiku/haibun

It was a miserably hot Saturday when all of us kids and our chaperones loaded up for our first annual church youth group fishing trip. Of course we could not have known the weather would be so inhospitable when we scheduled our outing. Hot, sun baked, and dripping with sweat, we all sat for hours waiting for just one bite, even a nibble, on our fishing lines. After what seemed like days not hours, my Papaw finally said, “Well, I reckon it’s time to try something different”.

He reeled in his fishing line and I saw him fiddling about with his tackle; I had no idea what he was doing but whatever it was, I thought, couldn’t produce anything less than we already had. While he changed over to whatever his new idea was my cousin and I went back to our futile attempt to catch something, anything!

A few minutes past and I heard Papaw begin to chuckle as his real began to spool in line. Whatever he had changed in his fishing set up seemed to have made a difference; Papaw had the first bite of the day! All of us kids and the adults, too, that were near him began to gather around to see what he had on his line. After a few minutes of fighting the fish who had taken his bait, Papaw had indeed landed the first catch of the day. But in reality he had out done us all even more than we realized; there was not one fish on the end of his line but two fair sized catfish!

When we asked what he had done he explained, as he laughed so hard tears streamed down his cheeks, what his new setup was. He had split his line and put on two hooks about 12″ apart. Each hook was baited with something no one would have guessed to try as by bait: bubblegum! He explained that with the water conditions he had a hunch that the bright pink, floating odd-shaped bait would be too tempting for the fish to not bite at; his hunch was spot on. The sly old fisherman had outwitted not only us but the fish as well. 

Summers longest day
Stirs memories of Papaw
Spending time fishing

Linked to CDHK challenge long day/summer solstice.