Intro, or: Retrospective

A haibun

The Jewish New Year always comes in the autumn. I’ve always taken this for granted; but, this year, this month, this week, today, suddenly, it strikes me that this is counterintuitive. Spring is the season of growth and rebirth, is it not, whereas autumn leads to deadness?

Lightning hits; air crackles; a thought electrifies.

This tradition surely harkens back to the ancient Israelites’ agrarian form of society. Only in autumn would the ancients have known whether their harvests had been successful. That’s when they would celebrate – with true gratitude.

In other words, the Jewish New Year is inherently backwards-looking – it’s a time to appreciate our blessings.

crisp September sighs
vivified by gratitude
meaning in context

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d’Verse Haibun Monday: September song

At d’Verse, poets were encouraged to write haibun on the theme of ‘September’.

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#TankaTuesday

This haibun was written for this week’s Colleen Chesebro’s ‘Tanka Tuesday’ prompt, which was provided by Sangeetha of ‘Mindfills’. We are encouraged to write syllabic poems on the theme of: ‘The Nature of Lightning’.

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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!