Winter, or: Spring

A haibun

Next week, our 7-year-old daughter will have her first birthday party.

We have, of course, celebrated her birthday at home every year, and she always gets more gifts from her parents and grandparents than she knows what to do with. However, this will be the first time that she’ll ever have had a birthday party to which she’s invited any friends.

There are several reasons for this, but the greatest reason for her never having had a birthday party with her friends is the COVID-19 pandemic, which shut down our societies to various extents for the past two years. It’s been a “winter of gatherings”, which negatively impacted countless family and community events all around the world: weddings, funerals, holidays, birthdays…

Last year and the year before, when our daughter turned 6- and 5-years-old respectively, she would have been old enough to enjoy a birthday celebration with her little friends… So, we’re very, very thankful that she won’t be denied the joyous memories of this 7^th birthday celebration.

February frost
teases of not-yet-springtime
we celebrate life

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d’Verse ‘Haibun Monday’

Theme: ‘Winter’

At d’Verse, poets were challenged to write haibuns with the theme of ‘winter’.

Haibun?

New to Haibun? Write a paragraph or more of prose, or prose poetry, then follow it with a haiku—one that includes a season word, and juxtaposes two disparate images that, when paired, give us that “aha!” experience.

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Let’s write poetry together!

When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

–Ben Harper (b. 1969)

Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!