I guess it’s the barometric pressure or something, but you know those days where you can just tell that everyone’s walking around with a lump in the throat?

It’s like we all notice on the same day that our hearts are spongey and our kids are moving through the world without us and our dogs are old and our words are inadequate and trouble is brewing.

It’s like we all notice we’re human and that the earth is spinning and keening and paying no attention whatsoever to the fact that we’re this close to flying off.

It’s like we all notice that we’re utterly alone and, yet, in it together.

It’s just a little much sometimes, don’t you think?

Today was like that and I’m pretty sure that I’m not the only one who was madly relieved when the sky just cracked open and let it rip.

Haiku 27

— Liz Garton Scanlon
   04/27/09

Haiku 26

Haiku 25

— Liz Garton Scanlon
    04/25/2009

Yesterday morning I posted about haiku and I linked to a haiku video and I thought about haiku,
but I didn’t have time to write and post my own.

(I know, I know. 17 syllables. Should take 17 seconds. But it doesn’t. At least not for me. I am the queen of spending about 6 months on 200 words which may well be a sign of illness but so be it…)

I’m good to my word, though.
A haiku a day.
So, yesterday afternoon my daugher inspired this when she updated me on her Painted Lady caterpillar (named Lazy Jane, after a Shel Silverstein character):

Haiku 24

I’m off for a school visit with second graders, so my own personal haiku will have to wait ’til a little later this afternoon. In the meantime, if you’d like to catch up on the daily haiku I’ve been composing all month, click here and scroll backwards. I’ve been having the best time with this lovely little form.

And then go enjoy this short video of Robert Hass reading his translations of Issa’s haiku at the Dodge Poetry Festival awhile back. It is DELIGHTFUL! The thing I love so much about this clip is the humor in every breath. Who knew haiku could be so funny? Partly, it’s Hass’ wry delivery, to be sure, but it is also the genius of the form that such a close observation of almost anything is either heartbreaking or hilarious.

Happy Friday, friends, and namaste.

I just got home from teaching my three-and-a-half hour Thursday night marathon.
And I have a school visit tomorrow.
And I’m in one of my "can’t seem to sleep through the night even though I’m exhausted" phases.
So, nothing witty or thoughtful or philosophical tonight.

Just this:

Haiku 23

— Liz Garton Scanlon
   04/23/2009

Hello and happy Earth Day!

Did you know that the first Earth Day was in 1970? 
Which makes sense to me.
There was a whole lot of awakening going on then.
I grew up during the first Do Not Litter campaigns and participating in Walk for Water protests, not to mention the women’s movement and the space program.

It seems like we could’ve gotten more right by now, y’know?
I mean, I don’t want to dwell on my own age, but 1970 was a good, long while ago.
Right?

Still, here we are.
It’s Earth Day again.

My daughter went off to school today in her hand-sewn Asian wrap pants made of recycled sheets and we ate supper on the grass in the park tonight. We have a river running smack through the middle of our town that is healthier than it used to be, and all of the electricity in our home is supplied by wind. As far as I know, the oceans are still full up with water and the Alps and the Rockies are still standing.

All is not lost.
All is not right, but all is not lost.

There is a lot we can do — from reusing and recycling goods, to cutting back on our own fossil fuel emissions, to lobbying our government to do right by Mama Earth.

But also? We can pay attention.

Haiku(s) 23

Just yesterday I was going on and on to everyone I know about our stellar spring.
About getting a good hit of vitamin D by day and slipping into jeans at night.
About the once-a-week rain.
About the frequent temps-in-the-70s.
About how this is the whole point of living in Austin, Texas.

Ahem.

Today it was like 94, my friends.
Ninety-four.

Haiku 21

— Liz Garton Scanlon
    04/21/2009

I am the lone non-musician at my house.
We have a violinist, a pianist, and a guy who could make music from a soup can and twine if he had to.

It’s not like I’m tone-deaf or anything; I just don’t have a handle on an instrument.

Still, I was as thrilled and satisfied as the rest of them when, this weekend, our great piano search culminated in… a piano! (Small One’s been learning on an electric keyboard for a couple of years and was ready for something with wood and strings and soul…)

But when you’re shopping via Craigslist and estate sales, you don’t necessarily find the find on your first go-round.
Or the third.
Or the fifth.

Still.
Patience is a virtue and we now have the instrument we were meant to have.
There is jockeying around who gets to give it a go.
The dog howls.
The air reverberates.
Even I can’t resist…

Haiku 20

— Liz Garton Scanlon
    04/20/2009

Haiku(s) 19