I uploaded an image to my photohaikublog, but thought I’d try a video haiku, too. I’m not sure the latter is as successful as the former, but you can be the judge.

I guess we’ve gotten in excess of five wet inches here as of 4:00 p.m., with more predicted to come. Fortunately, it’s warmed up a bit, causing much of the snow to drop from the trees. Most of our oaks and tulip trees are still in leaf, so a heavy, wet snowfall this time of year can be a destructive thing.

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Speaking of trees, we are in desperate need of hosts for upcoming editions of the Festival of the Trees, the monthly blog carnival for all things arboreal.

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Speaking of blog carnivals, check out the first anniversary edition of the >Language >Place carnival at Dorothee Lang’s personal blog, life is a journey. The theme this time is “Streets, Signs, Directions.”

an hour past sunrise
slug trails glisten
on the highway berm

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red-spotted newt
even on land it still steers
with its tail

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where it lost a limb
a glimpse of twisted heartwood
mosquito in my ear

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old bolete
gnats follow the branching cracks
in its skin

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first rain in weeks
the dry canyons in my moss garden
disappear

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night-blooming cereus
two spiders feed
on a white moth

And if you haven’t visited for a while, yes, the site does have a new look.

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Six hours of broken sleep.
I wake to find a web across my door.

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I eat the good half of a hairy peach
as quickly as I can.

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Distant tropical storm.
A small flock of migrants gusts around the yard.

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Above the blue-and-while dogwood berries,
a blue-and-white warbler.

Waves at Matsushima by Tawaraya Sotatsu (fl. ca. 1600-1643)

Matsushima is a group of islands in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. There are some 260 tiny islands (shima) covered in pines (matsu) — hence the name — and is ranked as one of the Three Views of Japan. Matsushima was very seriously damaged by the Tsunami following the Sendai earthquake in March 2011, with more than 600 people killed.
—Wikipedia, “Matsushima”

hundreds of tiny islands, each
with its own pine tree
like a flag planted by Mother Earth
—Jason Crane, “Matsushima”

* * *

matushima no
iso ni murewiru
ashitadu no
ono ga samazama
mieshi chiyo kana

A thousand years
in the eye of each
& every crane
flocking on the rocky shore
of Matsushima.

—Kiyowara no Motosuke (908-990)

tachi kaeri
mata mo kite min
matsushima ya
ojima no tomaya
nami ni arasu na

Returning
once more to gaze
on Matsushima,
the waves at Ojima lashing
my rush-walled hut.

—Fujiwara no Shunzei (1114-1204)

shimajima ya
chiji ni kudakete
natsu no umi

Islands upon islands—
thousands of shards smashed
by the summer sea.

asayosa o
taga matsushima zo
katagokoro

Morning & evening
like someone at Matsushima—
unrequited love.

—Matsuo Bashô (1644-1694)

Matsushima in Rikuzen Province by Toyohara Chikanobu (1838–1912)

The town was protected by a stunningly beautiful maze of coves and islands, topped with bonsai-shaped Japanese pines, which kept the worst of the tsunami at bay.

The water rose three metres and the town was relatively lightly affected, as the local emergency services chief told a group of stranded tourists earlier this week.

But everything is relative. Tetsuo lived, against the odds, but said some of his neighbours died. He is now staying at a friend’s house.

—The Sydney Morning Herald

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matsushima ya
tsuru ni mi o kare
hototogisu

Matsushima.
Borrow the body of a crane,
oh cuckoo.

—Kawai Sora (1649-1710)

matsushima ya
hito kobushi-zutsu
aki no kure

Autumn dusk—
each island like a fist
at Matsushima.

matsushima ya
kosumi wa kurete
naku hibari

As the light fades
on an islet at Matsushima,
a skylark’s song.

—Kobayashi Issa (1763-1828)

matsushima ya
aa matsushima ya
matsushima ya

Matsushima,
ah, Matushima!
Matsushima.

—Anon. (attr. to Bashô)

CommonDreams.org: “‘So This is America’: Veteran Ray McGovern Bloodied and Arrested At Clinton Speech”
Apparently wearing a peace t-shirt and turning your back on the Secretary of State is considered provocative behavior. Even if she happens to be talking about the rights of peaceful protesters.

Heraclitean Fire: Read the World challenge
Harry Rutherford is a blogger’s blogger — someone who seems able to say something insightful on nearly any topic, from art to birding to football, and never gets stuck in any particular groove. His Read the World challenge is an on-going series of book reviews in which he attempts to read at least one book from every country in the world.

Haiku News
This is not news about haiku, but news in haiku — and good haiku, not the folk kind. Their motto is “the personal is the political is the poetical.” I’d like to see more poetry zines responding to the news in this way. Such as…

Verse Wisconsin: Poems About WI Protests
An on-going collection (scroll up for the call for submissions) proving that the news isn’t always what it seems. For example:

The state of Wisecrack is facing an immediate deficit of $137 milquetoasts for the current fishmonger year which ends July 1. In addition, bill collectors are waiting to collect over $225 milquetoasts for a prior raid of the Patriarchy Compensation Funeral.

Al Jazeera: “Women of the Revolution”
Three Egyptian woman talk about their experiences during the revolt.

Moving Poems forum: “Electric Literature’s single-sentence animations: videopoems for fiction”
Electric Literature magazine’s video series proves that, at least where film adaptations are concerned, sufficiently artful prose is indistinguishable from poetry.

The Observer: “What does the Arab world do when its water runs out?”
Conserve?

Part 2 – Part 3

If you care about freedom, in Egypt or anywhere else, or use social networks, watch this. (FOSDEM=Free and Open Source Developers’ European Meeting.) Eben Moglen is head of the Software Freedom Law Center. In this address (part 3), he announces the formation of a new foundation to create a truly decentralized, tyranny-proof internet. Awesome.

Phoenicia Publishing’s February sale on qarrtsiluni print editions
Now through the end of the month, receive $2.00 off on our four print anthologies, including the new “Words of Power.” Details on website.

shining viscera
I want to pick out
all the hairs

bare quarry rock
just half a mile away
already looks blue

rain beads
on each numbered leaf
in the study group

beside the oak
with a huge round hole
an uncanny silence

back field
fog drifts through branches
rigid with ice

free of its seeds
the dried wild mustard
looks ready for anything

moon in eclipse
I remember every place
I’ve seen that ember

a crowd of weed stalks
they’ll all fall down
when the snow melts

their calls must’ve changed
no hint of Canada now
in these local geese

“No Swimming”
meltwater shimmers
atop the ice

plastic trail marker
the click beetle’s antennae
sweep back and forth

ancient hemlock grove
I find the patch of moss
where I once spent the night

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“Next year will be different”
watching others party on TV

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“Happy New Year!”
The night-shift cashier stifles a yawn

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Rainy New Year’s
the stench of scalded feathers fills the farm kitchen

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A mouthful of what once were leaves
broken tea bag

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Listening to the rain
I pick at an old scab

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The dead cherry’s branches still manage to sway
amorous squirrels

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Mid-afternoon bottle rocket
it’s still New Year’s

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Updated to add:

Donning boots to dance on a sheet of bubble wrap
her 5th New Year

I got the urge to make a videopoem today — perhaps because the videopoetry site I curate, Moving Poems, is on hiatus until Monday. The soundtrack here is from suonho and licensed under a Creative Commons Sampling Plus 1.0 license. (If you’re into making video or audio, The Freesound Project is an invaluable resource, “a collaborative database of Creative Commons licensed sounds.” Check it out!)

Walking it off
through the night & fog
the dazzle of home