Variations on a theme

Haiku: 


days of rain
baby water dragon*
likes my yard


*Eastern Water Dragon, Australian lizard.




Tanka:


in my yard
the intruder stands
with bold gaze
claiming ownership –
this tiny lizard



Cherita:

I look out through the glass door.


A baby water dragon stands proud
in the rain-soaked yard, gazing back.


I turn, grab my camera. In that moment
it disappears, I’m focused on an empty spot.
I still see the vivid defiance, the ownership.



'We must stay positive!' many exhorted, as fires destroyed much of my country. I found such advice intensely annoying. What, play for the sinking of the Titanic? And anyway, I felt I was only capable of dark, despairing poems. Then one wise friend advised me to find small things to still love about the world and write of them, so as not to pass even more despair to others. I couldn't at first; then, finally, turning to micropoetry seemed to offer a way.

(I've decided I like the cherita best on this occasion, and am making resolutions to use it more often.)

I'm sharing this at Weekly Scribblings #6 at Poets and Storytellers United: Turn Cliché Into Poetry or Prose.

Fires everywhere ..

Fires everywhere

horizons blanked out by smoke.

Never thought I

hater of cold as I am

would suddenly long for snow.

Stopping to photograph ...

Below the big jacaranda in the schoolyard, loud boys play cricket.

                                                 *********

Stopping to photograph the jacaranda, I forget you are dead.

Spring haiku

Oh!
the bougainvillea –
purple splash

tendrils
reach from the vine
seeking

drab trees
brighten overnight –
new blooms

Nearly Ready

‘I’m nearly ready,’ she says,

‘to wear my Ugg boots outdoors.’

(I think she refers to the extreme cold,

but) her words have me discover:

I’m either eccentric or daring!

I open ...

I open my door to a cool clear morning – the mountain carved, sharp-edged.

Sharing with Writers' Pantry #55 at Poets and Storytellers United.

Blooming ...

Blooming in sub-tropic winter: geraniums with deep red petals.

Late afternoon light ...

Late afternoon light.

Schoolchildren, bags on their backs,

begin traipsing home.

With just a small shift ...

With just a small shift of position, the window shows trees or blank walls.