Haiku moments

I took a six-day, self-imposed haiku challenge after joining a Google Plus community called "Haiku: The essence of a poetic moment." In the beginning, I was just an enthusiastic follower and admiring reader of the other members' works until I hit an AHAHAHA!!! moment while taking morning walks with both my grandchild and point-and-shoot camera.

Why not take a renewed dip into this compressed but still highly dramatic form that celebrates many elusive instances in Life, if only we observed and applied more the way a child intently watches and concentrates on playing at the same time? A secondary (by the way only) source of amazement is how each haiku shared in G+ gathers a hundred or so views. The number of hits is visible to the writer. Connections are being made everywhere. All it takes is a passion to pursue and continue those connections. In other words, don't stop believing. Keep on writing to your own natural and fascinatin' rhythm.

These six haiku are gifts to the oldest of my two children, Kimi, who turns 30 at midnight. Haiku birthday, K!

on this June morning
fullness of the moon unseen
stillness of tides...time
June 4, 2015

camera captures
what eludes a pair of eyes
fly on a petal
June 5, 2015

i watched the light dance
with shadows on grains of wood
but beer he wanted
June 6, 2015

what is summer's sound?
is it this gramophone's blast
glorious in purple?
June 7, 2015

now that my prayer
flag is faded, twice folded
intentions remain
June 8, 2015

a green world it sees
down side up in its brief life
wings in the morning
June 9, 2015

Photos by Babeth Lolarga

Ms. B regrets she is unable to post much today

Morning shadows cast by leaves and a strange woman Photo by Babeth Lolarga

Due to deadlines unmet and more official work coming in for the coming days and weeks, I'll not be posting much on this space, except for occasional sightings of shadows.

One sometimes forgets that shadows also beautify or amplify the world. And there is no reason to even fear the encroachment of shadows late in one's life (but that's in a figurative sense already).

In my observation of the lives of musicians, actors, visual artists and those pithy creatures called writers, it's the shadow or dark side that has a way of, how shall I put it, "informing" their works and making them more interesting. By a strange twist and turn here and there, they emerge as angels in the end.

How come I'm thinking of Star Wars, angels and demons so early on this morning of a Monday? Ahhh, Monday, that dreaded day of days!

Here's the trigger or the writing prompt for today's blog. It's a quote from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, that character who, as portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch in a hit TV series, embodies that struggle of darkness and light.

"It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but that you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it."

Some things just are

"Not everything has to have a point. Some things just are." - Judy Blume

Like my latest fascination for people's shadows or how these appear at certain times of the day. Sun's appearance is required.

The Button and her Booboo cast two shadows, small and triple X. Photo by Babeth Lolarga