Snow day and dishwashing haiku
by Patricia | 1.20.10Just as the deep snow here had melted to half-gone and I’d broken usable trails through the month-old snowpack remaining, a new storm blew in, dropped another five or six inches, and undid my hope for a winter thaw. Two more storms over the next three days are expected to fluff things up even more. While I work up the energy to go out and re-break trails—for myself and for animals, on whom this unnaturally long winter has been very stressful—I thought I’d try something different at WIZ to pass time.
Traditionally, haiku express insight into the movement of a season across the face of a landscape. But since the form is of a meditative mind, its nature can be stretched to explore particulars of a variety of conditions. In a recent conversation with greenfrog, topics of awareness and dishwashing flowed together. The prospect of dishwashing haiku arose. Well … and why not?
So for WIZ’s next winter while-away open invitation, the name is dishwashing (which I happen to find especially pleasant in wintertime); the game is haiku.
To begin:
Warm tap water, cool
Winter light pouring in streak
Plates in kitchen sync.
Let the One-liners begin.
January 21st, 2010 at 7:56 am
Clatter dish away to towel soft turn of cloth
I never tried a one liner before. Did I get it right?
Steam on the windows
fingers draw a smile down low
small child sees, smiles back.
January 21st, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Roses are red
Dishwater green
Haiku is quirky
So I uses a dishwasher and
iambic pentameter, both poorly.
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:48 pm
A sponge swipe reveals
beneath accumulated
grime, an empty bowl.
January 25th, 2010 at 9:06 am
Lora, “One-liner” is a pun. Haiku can be “one-liners” in the sense they can be they can single sentences, whole. But they can also be meditative pieces on the nature of “One-ness.” Another of my obscure jokes, apparently.
But I like both your smiling haiku and your One-liner.
Marie, I think you wrote the Anti-Haiku! Contrast is good.
greenfrog, sharp as always.
January 25th, 2010 at 9:07 am
First dish: sensory
Breezes gust twixt spine and hands,
Curl in the back’s small.
January 26th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
The soft suds blanket
Warm water, bowls, knives, and cups –
Fingertip mazes.
January 27th, 2010 at 8:49 pm
We still have about 20 inches of snow on the ground. Nowhere to go but into the sink.
In bubbles’ clear walls
Glint minute kitchen windows
With pink and green panes.
January 28th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Sounds like it might be time to wash the windows. *smirk*
Water spatters the
Window over the sink with
self-reflecting gems.
January 29th, 2010 at 5:39 am
You folks are reminding me of how I would tip the detergent bottle upside down then right side up, and then squeeze it hard. Bubbles would come out by the dozens, floating all around that side of the kitchen. The kids LOVED my magic.
January 30th, 2010 at 10:22 am
@greenfrog: *giggle*
Sounds like it might be time for you to fix the faucet. How-to hint: it shouldn’t require dismantling cabinetry.
And stop making me laugh! I’m trying to notice things, you know? Serious business, noticing. (Stifled guffaw)
Outside pump pulls loose
Strands of well water into
Plaits that hands undo.
Top that.
January 30th, 2010 at 10:23 am
@Lora,
That sounds like a missed haiku-op to me. I’d like to see what you can do with it if you have time and inclination.
January 31st, 2010 at 3:28 pm
one missed haiku-op
equals a nap, a chapter;
dishes still in sink.
;)
February 2nd, 2010 at 9:49 am
Still too much snow to go out venturing, but we seem to be entering a thaw. Finally! (jig of joy)
By cup-and-bowlfuls,
on knives’ blades, dishwashing moves
light across the sink.
February 2nd, 2010 at 3:17 pm
squeeze the detergent
the genie in the bottle
obeys with bubbles
February 12th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Sorry to break up the banter with a less refined perspective, but a little poetry once in a while is good for even a soul like mine. I’m not sure if this more is about the dishes or the snow:
Pile is high again.
Hard to start, but once begun:
Strangely relaxing
February 14th, 2010 at 11:37 am
Hi Adam! Glad to see you here.
I like your merging of snow and dishwashing. A good haiku. Thanks for adding a link to the chain.
Hot suds loosen stuck
Crumbs, snags of dishes, the day’s
Knots tied in the hands.
After nearly two months, we’re finally beginning to see a few patches of bare ground, mostly around the bases of trees.
February 23rd, 2010 at 8:43 am
Despite recently seeing my first strand of Canadian geese fly loose overhead, winter clings to my mind. Two days ago, I watched yet another series of snow squalls roll toward us and snow–again–blur the long view.
Skies, dishwater grey;
Cold, white froths curl down; the done
Season drains southward.
After this thread, I fear winter will ever be linked in my thinking to dishwashing.
Is that a bad thing?
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Can dishwork include odd gardening implements waiting for warmer weather on the patio?
Flakes fall straight, cast a
Shadow of snowshine beneath
A empty pot’s rim.