Liz In Ink

Haiku 19 -- April 19, 2013

2013-04-21T22:42:04Z

I've been burning the midnight oil these last couple of weeks, thanks to a number of presentations and critiques that have required my attention.

Haiku 19

Lamp looks like the moon
Lopsided and barely lit
No one howls or bays

Haiku 18 -- April 18, 2013

2013-04-19T15:49:55Z

This week has been beyond the beyond.
Hard news.
Man-made and accidental disasters.
Political foolishness.

Meanwhile?
The sun rises and sets, rises and sets.
With beauty and intention.
So predictable, loyal, steady, sustaining....

Haiku 18

Don't leave a party
Stay until the bitter end
Kick up a fuss, Sun!

Haiku 17 -- April 17, 2013

2013-04-19T15:44:06Z

It is my greatest parental joy to watch as my daughters discover their own passions and act on them.
They have grown from tiny babies into really kind of extraordinary people.
I love and admire so many of their choices. So much of what they do.

And then every so often there are these things, like a 12-year-old hurling herself off a 7 meter platform into a pool, that put a lump in my throat. I actually still love and admire it, but often through squinted eyes with a lump in my throat.

Haiku 17

She's a flying fish
My daughter dives; my heart stops
Which of us is brave?

Haiku 16 -- April 16, 2013

2013-04-17T02:43:59Z

Not much need for extraneous explanation here, I'm afraid.
A busy Tuesday -- plans and appointments -- derailed when a 12-year-old bites down on a simple bagel...

Haiku 16

Today's best-laid plans
scuttled for a daughter's bite
and broken bracket

Haiku 15 -- April 15, 2013

2013-04-17T02:40:22Z

Today was a dark day that started brightly.
Or a bright day that ended badly.

Isn't that the way things like this go?

So often we don't know which miraculous or horrific things we'll meet on any given day.

Suddenly, a bright day in Boston -- the streets packed with people from everywhere, celebrating the joy and determination, the strength and dedication, the deep tradition and utter wackiness that is a marathon -- turns into sorrow and mayhem.

There's hardly a thing to say.
We have faith that justice will be served.
We have hope that goodness will prevail.
And we grieve the loss of lives and limbs and innocence.

I'm a runner of many, many years -- too slow to ever make Boston but there in spirit.
This is wholly inadequate, but for now it's all I've got.

Haiku 15

Each time we lace up
it's a promise and a wish
to start and finish

Haiku 14 -- April 14, 2013

2013-04-17T01:09:23Z

My husband tries valiantly with his vegetables each year.

It's tricky.
We have a lot of shade trees.
We have a dog who digs.
We have hot sun and drought.

But he whistles and digs and weeds and whistles and culls until, inevitably, something always grows.

Aren't plants miraculous?
No wonder there are fairytales about them...

Haiku 14

My sweetheart is Jack
just waiting for his beanstalk.
The giant waits too.

Haiku 13 -- April 13, 2013

2013-04-16T21:49:58Z

When my sister and brother-in-law lived in East Africa, they had this awesome outdoor wok made for us.
It's called a marika and when we car camp (as opposed to backpack) we bring it with us.

It provides a lot of bang for the buck:
REALLY yummy easy cooking
A pretty impressive-looking feat
Fun

Haiku 13

Camping, end-of-day
Veggies on an open flame
Rainbow without rain

Haiku 12 -- April 12, 2013

2013-04-16T21:46:22Z

With a climate like ours, we can camp nearly all year round.
But, here's the thing. We don't.
We're busy.
Weekends fill up.
Time flies.

But this weekend we made it happen.
It was everything it was supposed to be.
Lucky us.

Haiku 12

Who needs the indoors
when it's spring time in Texas
and the trees are tall?

Haiku 11 -- April 11, 2013

2013-04-16T21:41:44Z

There was a time I could not believe I was buying a minivan.
What did it say about me, my life, my focus, my aesthetic, my rapidly-dimming hipness?

Nowadays, I just can't believe how old that minivan is.
How one of the automatic doors doesn't work anymore.
How full of dog hair it is, no matter the vacuuming.
How many many miles we've put on it driving across town and across country.

I think it's fair to say I'm fond of the dang thing and mourning her age a little.
There. I said it.

Haiku 11

So many long miles --
one hundred forty-six grand!
Maintenance required.

Haiku 10 -- April 10, 2013

2013-04-10T11:58:04Z

Things start early at our house, well before the sun comes up.
The cats cry to be fed, the pup wants a walk.
Gym clothes are missing. Permission slips need to be signed.

It's Wednesday, right smack-dab in the middle of the week, and we try to wipe the slate clean and call it morning.

Haiku 10

Wednesday rise and shine
with leftover Easter eggs
Each bite a fresh start

Haiku 9 -- April 9, 2013

2013-04-10T11:53:09Z

Sometimes when you're in a hurry there's nothing like a little time on the trail to slow you down.
Especially if a caterpillar's in your way.

Haiku 9

Today rushes by
This caterpillar comma
says hold up, slow down

Haiku 8 -- April 8, 2013

2013-04-08T14:44:59Z

I get a bad case of poison ivy nearly every spring -- and it's usually thanks to my dogs or cats.
They go stomping through the woods, break the tender stalks and leaves, and come home dripping with the toxic oil.
I pet them. Naturally. That's just what I do.

It is hard to maintain suspicion, skepticism, fear or anger on a morning walk but poison ivy doesn't bring out the best in a girl.

Haiku 8

Oh, poison ivy --
fresh and pretty but so mean,
dusting the dog's coat.

Haiku 7 -- April 7, 2013

2013-04-08T14:38:59Z

Public art is nothing so much as a concrete expression of hope --
that beauty still matters, even in this mad, mad world...
that we as people can come together around it...
that there is value in pausing and breathing and taking note.

These pretty strings of glass buoys in a canal in Scottsdale said all that to me.

Haiku 7

Glass, light, reflection
punctuate the waterway,
say: pause, stop, wow, why.

Haiku 6 -- April 6, 2013

2013-04-08T14:27:02Z

A weekend away is made evermore potent if palm trees are involved.
Don't you think?

Haiku 6

Palm tree as symbol:
Nothing that I have to do
except write haiku

Haiku 5 -- April 5, 2013

2013-04-08T14:24:50Z

To me, hiking is the ultimate in multi-tasking:
Take in fresh air? Check.
Get exercise? Check.
Absorb beauty? Roger that.
Mediate? Ooom.
Commune with companions? Yep.
And on and on.
I love how it both grounds me and sets me free.
Today was no exception.

Haiku 5

Saguaro reaching
for the available sky.
No need for deep roots.

Haiku 4 -- April 4, 2013

2013-04-08T14:18:44Z

This morning I flew to Phoenix for a little work and a little pleasure.
It was dark when I left Austin and brightening when the high desert came into view.
To me, there is nothing like an airplane ride (even an airplane ride in a cramped regional jet after a long slog through security) to give a gal a fresh perspective.

Haiku 4

Sunrise over wing
World wakes up to day down there
Clear from way up here

Haiku 3 -- April 3, 2013

2013-04-03T15:13:06Z

We wait and wait and wait for rain around here.
Last night, it came.

Haiku 3

The dry creekbed floods --
one rain changes everything!
A surprised dog swims.

Haiku 2 -- April 2, 2013

2013-04-03T15:09:24Z

I traveled by bus to Houston today with my daughter and her entire 6th grade.
It was a long and noisy trip, but also a heavy one -- we were visiting the Holocaust Museum there.
The students were amazing in the museum -- quiet, wide-open, receptive, empathic.
It was a lot to take in, even for the adults in the group, and they did so beautifully.

So, at the end of the day when morning rain had cleared and the doors swung open, it was no wonder that the kids exploded into a nearby park like a flock of birds. It was a sweet and beautiful thing...

Haiku 2

Hundreds of students
School's out and the rain's stopped
Here's spring's candy cane!

Haiku 1 -- April 1, 2013

2013-04-01T19:34:56Z

April!
Spring!
My birthday month!
My sweetheart's birthday month!
And -- ta da -- National Poetry Month!

Each year I love it and each year I celebrate by writing and sharing a haiku every single day of the month.
This year is no exception -- and what better reason to re-invigorate my sorry and neglected blog?

For the next month you'll find my haiku here, and/or on my facebook, and/or via my Twitter account.

And I'd like YOU to keep me company by writing haiku of your own. You can share yours in the comments here or on facebook, or with your own tweets. And I just may feature some of them in my occasional wrap-up posts along the way! Plus, at the end of the month, guess what? Prizes! So, let me know if you're in and then get on with it! Can't wait to read what you come up with...

Here's mine:

Haiku 1

Not a breath of wind
Kites hang hopeful in the tree
We all yearn for flight

Thinking Big

2012-07-17T20:51:38Z

It's been a good long while since I've posted here,
but I'm so excited to share that my newest picture book releases today!

THINK BIG, illustrated by the vivid and imaginative Vanessa Brantley Newton,
is a celebration of all things art. And when I say all things I mean all things.

(Including cooking? Yep.
Knitting? Yep.
Photography? Yep.
Pottery, writing, drawing, song? Yep yep yep yep.)

If you want to know more about the how's and why's of that, here's a guest post I did at Cynsations today, thanks to the graciousness of author extraordinaire Cynthia Leitich Smith!

(And you should definitely pop over there if you'd like a copy of THINK BIG because there's a giveway!!! Wahoo!)

And if you'd like to know what the kind folks at Kirkus think of the book, you can have a look here. (That mention of Glee is, surely, the closest I'll ever get to having a TV show of my own so yay for that!)

But, blah blah blah and linkety link.
What I REALLY want to say is this.
It is summer. There are kids on vacation all over, at least, the northern hemisphere.
And there is a lot of competition for their attention.
Video games, blockbuster matinees, swimming and sleeping in and reading for pleasure.
There are also just an endless array of fun, creative, self-inspired artistic opportunities at their fingertips.

Maybe they'll make a pinata!
Or learn how to finger-knit!
Or write and direct and perform a play (like the truly renown Mystery at Palm Hotel I did with my cousins about 35 years ago).

Whatever it is, I hope you'll let them make a mess, make some noise and THINK BIG!!!

Poetry Friday -- Poetry Sisters Renku

2012-05-04T13:52:56Z

Well, it's been awhile since my beloved Poetry Sisters and I
have banded together to make merry.
Life, as you know, interferes.
But as we chatted during National Poetry Month,
we thought of an easy way to rectify that:
haiku!

We worked together on a renku -- a string of haiku and 2-lined stanzas -- linked seasonally and semantically.
Andromeda debuted it on her blog this morning and I'm going to share it here, too:

The Poetry Sisters' Daisy Chain

fall leaf in April
wearing last season's fashions--
shunned by the green crowd                           lps

nature’s first green is gold
progeny emerge in flame                                aj

white melts into green
gardens blush Crayola proud
blooming shades of spring                              tsh

strolling down the pebble path
rose-cheeked dreamer lost in thought            aj

palest pink dogwood
April breezes whisper by
petals flutter down                                          kf

ink dries on palest pages
garden rows plow down sillion                       aj

Brash green garter snake
Hoe laid beside June daisies
Book and tart limeade                                   sh

serpent jewel, puckered words,
work abandoned, glory claimed                    aj

afternoon drifts by
wispy clouds, half-closed eyelids
distant playground sounds                              lps

cloud congestion, dully pewter
petrichor from distant patters                       td

tapped on leaden skies                                td
rain’s persistent percussion
arrhythmic ad lib

a morse-code chicken scratch                     lgs
a fresh start too hard to resist

the rain leaves its mark --                             lgs
such an inscrutable plot
begs to be re-read

red again so soon and down
persimmon fingers shiver                             aj

(Much love and credit to Laura Purdie Salas, Andromeda Jazmon, Tricia Stohr-Hunt, Kelly Fineman, Sara Lewis Holmes and Laura Purdie Salas...)

Visit Wild Rose Reader for Poetry Friday today.

April 27-30 and Haiku 27-30

2012-04-30T17:51:39Z

On Friday, I left home at 5:00 a.m., drove to Houston,
did a full day's school visit and drove home again.
It was not the most haiku-ish day, if you know what I mean.
Which is why my piece for that day is about ... coffee.

Haiku 27
4/27/2012

First sip burns bitter
and still I take another.
Black sky grows milky.

And then it was the weekend.
I just love weekends.
And spring break.
And summer break.
I would rather have my kids knocking around here a bit than rushing off every morning like the world's a'fire.

Haiku 28
4/28/2012

A bare foot dangles,
feather duvets swell, settle.
Who says it's morning?

Haiku 29
4/29/2012

girl with basketball
dad with good time on his hands
unbeatable team

And today?
Today is Monday, in case you hadn't heard....

Haiku 30
4/30/2012

like swimming cross-wise
each stroke long, effortful
until I give in

April 26 and Haiku 26

2012-04-26T18:02:56Z

Haiku 26
4/26/2012

Each turn of the wheel
spokes fly and land, fly and land.
Am I bird or boot?

April 25 and Haiku 25

2012-04-25T16:56:01Z

Dreams are weird sometimes.

Haiku 25
4/25/2012

The fan churns the air
Imagine sleeping outdoors,
birds on your pillow

April 18-24 and Haikus 18-24

2012-04-24T17:44:41Z

Oh, blow me down.
We have had a true braided-string of crazy at our house this past week.
Some biggish hurdles, some little Murphy's Law-type stuff.
But all put together in one big pile, sheesh, it was enough to make me a little dizzy.

So, one casualty has been my blogged haikus.
Partly because we were down a computer (that was one of the Murphy's Law-type issues) and partly because I just could not make the time to make it happen.

BUT. The good news???
I still wrote a haiku each and every day in the notebook next to my bed and I'm going to post them all now.
And I have high, high hopes that this next week will go as planned, one haiku at a time.

Haiku 18
4/18/2012

Conjugating verbs
Thinning out the garden plot
What goes next to what?

Haiku 19
4/19/2012

Running in the dark
Each step is an act of faith
The trail trips me up

Haiku 20
4/20/2012

12-day old baby
downy head against my neck
fixes everything

Haiku 21
4/21/2012

Is this a cliche:
"a tulip like a girl's skirt"
even if it's true?

Haiku 22
4/22/2012

Most things are better
in a boat, on the water
Spider thinks so, too

Haiku 23
4/23/2012

Cat in the garden
The wind shakes the old oak clean
Cat in the catkins

Haiku 24
4/24/2012

Wind chimes, crisp blue sky --
Is there a wrong side of bed?
The squirrel still complains.