Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

So many bastards, so little time.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

When I was faster i was always behind.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Second rate reporter says what?

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

The lights are all blinking red.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

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On The Road – Munira – The Seasons

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Munira

Traditionally, the season in which a haiku is written is an essential element. In fact, in Japanese, each haiku contains a particular word (called a kigo) which indicates the season. (You can find a list of some of these words online.) As with the other traditional elements of haiku, we modern western writers are less fussy about insisting on the kigo, but the seasonal cycle still plays an important part in our haiku writing.

In this post, I’ve picked haiku and photos that specifically relate to each of the four seasons. Some of them mention the season by name and others contain a kigo. When I finished collecting the haiku, I realized that I had three poems for summer and winter and only two for spring and autumn. I decided that made sense because summer and winter are the extreme seasons. They both begin with the solstice (the longest day and the longest night). The difference between light and dark is more extreme as is the temperature. Spring and autumn are the fluid seasons. They each begin with the equinox when light and dark are in balance. They are transitional seasons, carrying us from one extreme to the next.

The cycle of the seasons mimics the cycle of our own lives so we begin today with spring, the season of birth and rebirth, of flowers budding and blossoming, of leaves returning to the trees. And we end with winter, the season when nature turns inward, when vegetation seems to die and we begin and end the active part of our days in darkness.

On The Road - Munira - The Seasons 9
Lac Brome, QCMay 7, 2014

shy spring
the ferns
in prayer position

Haiku Canada Review – October 2016, Volume 1

On The Road - Munira - The Seasons 8
Lac Brome, QCMay 3, 2014

May comes up
through
last year’s leaves

On The Road - Munira - The Seasons 7
Bellingham, WAAugust 11, 2022

what we can imagine—
all the shades
of blackberry

On The Road - Munira - The Seasons 6
Bellingham, WAJuly 3, 2022

world view—
through a bite-sized hole
in a summer leaf

On The Road - Munira - The Seasons 5
Bellingham, WAJune 22, 2022

white roses
gone wild
the times we live in

On The Road - Munira - The Seasons 4
Bellingham, WANovember 17, 2020

gray skies—
so many
Novembers

New England Letters #102, November 14, 2019

On The Road - Munira - The Seasons 3
Lac Brome, QCNovember 4, 2011

autumn wind
I blow the fire
into being

Frogpond, Winter, 2014
http://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.ca/feb. 22, 2017
New England Letters #100, September 15, 2019

On The Road - Munira - The Seasons 2
Lac Brome, QCJanuary 1, 2015

pine needles on snow
the lined faces
of the old ones

New England Letters #117 February 14, 2021

On The Road - Munira - The Seasons 1
Lac Brome, QCDecember 29, 2018

beech leaves cling
to winter trees
harder now to let go

On The Road - Munira - The Seasons
Seattle, WAFebruary 4, 2019

snow falling
past streetlights
the city pauses

Reader Interactions

26Comments

  12. 12.

    Yutsano

    I especially love the simple truth of the Seattle haiku. Also interesting since you were probably stuck when you took that picture!

  18. 18.

    munira

    @Yutsano: I was at my sister’s contemplating driving down to California, a trip that was postponed for several days. But it was so beautiful I didn’t mind.

  19. 19.

    Geminid

    @WaterGirl: Maybe Quinerly will give us some pics from her trip to Southeast Utah. She’ll travel some spectacular country, and the town of Bluff sounds neat.

  26. 26.

    John S Green

    Hello Munira,

    Lovely presentation, as usual. My two favorite haiku are:

    1.

    shy spring

    the ferns

    in prayer position

    2.

     

    pine needles on snow

    the lined faces

    of the old ones

     

    Cheers,

    John

Comments are closed.