Carpe Diem Haiku Kai

                roar of the midway—

                the toddler’s balloon

                rises in moonlight

In this haiku the scene was touching, of course triggered by “the toddler’s balloon,” because the image I saw immediately in front of me . . . my youngest grandson in tears because of losing his balloon. What I like further in this haiku is the use of the contrast between “roar of the midway” and “rises in moonlight” (loud and quiet). A really nice haiku, in my opinion.       +

                tulip festival—

                we talk about everything

                except the flowers

What a lovely haiku. I can see the image in front of me and see how strong the scene is. How sad to talk without seeing the beauty of the tulips, but I can empathize with that. As I look at myself I love to talk and sometimes while talking I lose contact with my surroundings—and yes . . . then I don’t see the tulips or cherry blossoms. I think that’s human.       +

                pull of tonight’s moon—

                the harbor lighthouse

                a little taller

[No commentary.]       +

                one . . .

                together we count

                the falling stars

As I read this haiku by I just couldn’t help that a verse from Genesis came in mind: “Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them” (Genesis 15: 5). A beauty, I think.       +

                first day of school—

                I eat my buckwheat pancakes

                in silence

This haiku could be written as a short impression of the first day at school of my youngest son. I can imagine that my son did that too . . . we never will know that for sure. Imagine . . . your child goes to school for the very first time. I remember when my youngest son (now 24 years old) went to school for the very first time. My wife and I brought him together into his classroom. He started playing immediately, but as we walked out he cried. He really cried hard. My wife and I weren’t strong enough to leave him at school so we took him with us and tried it again the next day. Again he cried. But finally after a few days my wife and I could leave him in the loving and caring hands of his teacher, notwithstanding his crying. I remember that it hurt us, but we had to “cut him loose” with pain in our hearts. At the end of his first day at school his teacher told us that he had cried for several minutes, but finally he started playing with the toys. My son had won his battle, the battle to be left alone at school. It was really an ordeal his first week at school, but he managed just fine.       +