Tag: death

Haiku & Other Poetry, tutto e niente

Life Unfurls

Tina Stewart Brakebill

Recently, I had the honor of being chosen by Elisa Ang as the Featured Writer for Pure Haiku’s  Unfurling theme. When Elisa explained why she chose me, she noted that

the writer expresses life’s journey–from the time it springs forth to the time it bids farewell in profoundly creative way…” 

I absolutely love that she got what I was trying to do! So one last thank you to Freya and Elisa and a new thank you to Colleen’s Poet’s Choice Challenge for providing me the opportunity to present the five haiku as the fluid set I imagined them to be. 

 

naïve, dawn springs forth

suckled by the morning dew

to create new life

 

ensnared by margins  

feral and tempestuous

verdant youth rebels 

 

patterns and fresh shapes

once green but now withering

nature’s grand design 

 

childhood memories

flutter like lace in a breeze  

setting my mind free

  

an echo repeats

revealing infinity

but still our time ends 

Picture1

 

 

Haiku & Other Poetry, tutto e niente

For Sue (a Haiku)

Tina Stewart Brakebill

Unmet but felt met

Leaving this world as she lived

Lifting with her words

IMG_0751
Author’s Photo 

I never met Sue Vincent, but when I learned she was ill, I wept. And when I logged into Word Press today (after several days absence) and learned she was gone, I wept again. Tears are blurring my view even now. We often never know the ways we affect other people’s lives but I’m glad I got to say “thank you” before she departed. She made me believe that my silly little poems sometimes mattered. And her work was beautiful until the very end. I hope she knew how much she mattered. If you have not, take the time to read Swift Passage.

Like Sue, it’s beautiful. 

Flash Fiction, Random Rants, tutto e niente

Who’s Counting

Tina Stewart Brakebill

Three days. It had been three days since they delivered the box. Technically, three days, four hours, and 37 minutes. But who’s counting.

She knew he was there. The gate squeaked. It had been over two weeks since he’d left. Technically 15 days, three hours, and 22 minutes. But who’s counting.

Or 14 days, 21 hours, and 13 minutes since he’d returned. Drunk, sunburned, screaming multiple profanities at her window. But who’s counting.

Maybe he’s dead. Like Benjamin. And Lila. One more makes 213,323. But who’s counting.

Alone. Still. 197 days, three hours, and 23 minutes. But who’s counting.

(99 words. But who’s counting.)

the-gate

PHOTO PROMPT © Jean L. Hays

Thanks to Rochelle and her Friday Fictioners Challenge.

Channeling my negative energy into words. At least I’m writing. UGH!

Haiku & Other Poetry, tutto e niente

only the grass

Tina Stewart Brakebill

I

as elephants brawl

and the foolish close their eyes

only the grass aches

view of a graveyard
Photo by sergio souza on Pexels.com

II

monsters laugh with glee

when the preying buzzards swirl

o’er the barren shell

gray scale photo of trees
Photo by Ian Turnell on Pexels.com

This haiku set was inspired by current times. Read into them what you will.

Thanks to FOWC and the prompt of “crazy” for which I substituted “foolish.” (Hope that’s OK with Fandango!)  And thanks to NaPoWriMo and their challenge to find an idiomatic phrase from a different language or culture and use it as the jumping-off point for your poem. I chose the following:

Kenyan proverb: “When elephants fight, it is the grass that gets hurt.”

Meaning: Fights between the powerful only hurt the little guy.