This week's prompt for One Single Impression is "A Winter's Day." We are having one here on this Winter Solstice day. We had about 8 inches of snow yesterday and we're having more as I type. I'm not very happy with my haiku. I couldn't seem to find my voice this morning - that and a number of distractions - mean I'm posting this quite late. The sun has come out since this morning, though, which is nice. Snow looks pretty even if there is too much of it.
The last photo and poem are about six years old and date to when I first moved back East after a difficult stay in Arizona. (If you click on the photo, you can see the curve sign. It is a very sharp curve indeed.)
CURVES IN THE ROAD
Snow like white shade on naked trees
Lakeside beauty: Cold. Clear. Still.
And I sit here angry and sad
Not knowing why I am ready - but unable - to cry
Grey kitty howls my blues for me and I scold her
She is demanding my attention
Not just to her but to myself
She is smart this old grey girl
Her twenty years of life have taught her a thing or two
More than my fifty-four have taught me, I'm afraid.
So I scowl at her instead of crying
Tell her quite unkindly to "SHUT UP!"
Then go back to what I do worst and best
Feeling restless and lost and rather sorry for myself
Outside the wind blows snow off the trees
And the twenty mile an hour curve sign
Is blurred through the glass
But makes me think that maybe there's a lesson here
I'm wanting to race past these feelings that are coming up in me
These emotional sharp curves
When what I really need to do is slow down and take heed.
~ Katherine Rabenau
23 comments:
Really wonderful wintry post - the photos are lovely and your words capture the cold with some much needed humor - it's just plain cold and blustery around here, and I'm afraid I've misplaced my humor at the moment!
You and I have traded places for I am from New England and now live in Arizona! I am remembering too, a short time in Idaho, a place I love. While I like your haiku's, your longer poem is what speaks to me as so often I let the emotions and memories race past trying to avoid them because I don't want to deal. There is always a sharp curve ahead, isn't there?
the first three photos capture the chill beauty of the present; the fourth photo fits the frustration of the poem.
Loved these - especially the third haiku.
The poem is so beautiful. Snow blowing off the trees. And in the chill of winter, this old gray girl
Looks in the rear view mirror.
Solstice blessings, Raven.
Just thinking about those sharp curves and the frustrations of getting to know the road. It's easy for me to forget to slow down and actually read the signs.
I like the first haiku the best, autumn to winter, perfectly put
I know you are disliking the cold. Me too at 5 above right now. But you always seem to find beauty in the stills you create with your words and photos. You do that well.
These are wonderful Raven!
Gosh, you've had a lot of snow. It's very cold here and the wind howls outside but no snow.
I forgot about the solstice - days are getting longer again - yeah!
Raven, I very much enjoyed your haiku stanzas, especially the one about autumn being sculpted into something new. :)
Hi Raven--
Thanks for sharing this snapshot--in the poem...speaks a lot...
The haiku were beautiful as well--and the photos!!
Enjoyed this a lot--
A cold winter's day
IS just a memory.
I love Hawaii.
The haiku is wonderful. Loved the pictures and poem.
Liked these lines a lot
"I'm wanting to race past these feelings that are coming up in me
These emotional sharp curves "
I have come here from Ms. Kathie's blogs. I have read some of your posts and wold like to revisit.
If you like short stories and paintings, then a short visit to my blogs would be a refreshing event.
Naval Langa
http://cleanfiction.blogspot.com/
Beautiful photos and words! It's hardest to 'still down' when it's not by choice. Very well said...
i raise my steaming mug of coffee to your winter tribute...those photos are appreciated because i would not ever see that where we live now
I love the ending of this poem Katherine ... it is what many of us need to do, slow down and take heed of our emotional landscape and experience. Peace, JP/deb
Lovely haiga (even if they made me shudder).
Great post. Love the photos and the verses!
Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones!
all in a days work
I agree that the haiga are shiver-inducing, and I also agree that they are all so wonderful.
..A Very Merrry Christmas!
..& Thanks for sharing ur poems..
Yes, thank you for sharing. I liked you Haiku poems, they were peppy and bright for the winter's day.
Your longer poem now, you have a mood there that is ready for spring. "And it isn't even spring." I've been on that road and just barely slowed down enough, literally and figuratively. I won't say more except fasten your seat belt.
Now, my favorite wish, 'may your holiday be "bright".'
..
Hello!
I'm out exploring tonight!
I love your poem! I like a pinch of humor in my poetry, too.
~Angie
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